Update: I went to the "citizen task force" meeting last night. After 2 hours, it was decided to take my school, and a couple others off the list. I left, tho the news media reports the meeting went on for 2 more hours after that.
Originally, when the budget deficit started, the plan was to redistrict high schools at the same time as close schools. Then the deficit increased, and it was decided to hold off on the high school issue because it would take longer to sort through everything and they wanted a quicker fix.
There are 3 schools (including mine) in my area that feed into our area high school, that were on the list. Of the three, and 2 others that are in our area, none have enough empty rooms to take on the overflow generated by a school closing. Even my school of 323 students, if half went here, and half went there- it would only be to a new trailer city at each school.
There are schools not too far away that have room, but they feed into a different high school.
So for next year at least, my school is safe from closure. If the county plans to redraw the attendance lines for the high schools later, then we could be up again.
Our building is more than 50 years old. Four years ago a teacher retired who had herself been a student at our school when she was little. What was hard about the meeting was hearing other staff/parents from another school in our area bashing our building as "decrepit, depressing, and dark". I was astounded, thinking "What are you talking about? Our building is not decrepit" I even said as much to her, and later moved to be with others from my school.
The meeting itself started off hearing from parents of the schools involved, some of whom simply let their children speak. At the end of that section, some parents pushed their children forward anyway, thinking it'd make the task for look like bad guys if they made the kids sit down without speaking, or perhaps hoping to tug on their heart strings even more. In the end, 2 children were heard and the rest had to return to their seats.
The task force is made up of volunteers, and they don't get paid for these meetings. I don't envy them the job of whittling down the list to 4 schools to recommend to the board to close. Even after they do, there's talk of 8 more schools to be closed the following year.
At one point in the evening, hearing the parents speak about the wonderful programs at their schools, I really thought my school would get the axe. We're not big, we don't house magnet programs or teach International Baccalaureate curriculum. We're a small school that is home to a diverse community of black, white, African (Sudan, etc), Indian, and Pakistani kids. We have a large special needs program. We have an award winning garden that we use to teach kids where food comes from and brings the community together, we've made AYP (adequate yearly progress: ie, we pass state mandated testing). We don't however have huge academic ribbons. I got sad as the task force talked about the actual process of locking up schools, boarding windows, lawn maintenance etc. When one member of the task force brought up the fact that there was nowhere to put the children of any of the three schools, and that they weren't going to change "cluster lines" for the high schools, I felt a ray of hope. It was with much relief that our school was pronounced off the list.
There were other issues brought up last night, I'm still sorting through my feelings on that, as well as the teachers from my school that didn't show up... One school near us had 85 parents/staff show up, and we had only 18. It made me feel like somehow we care less, are less organized... and if we are, then eventually we could close due to apathy.
In the end though, these decisions are largely made without regard to feelings, as it is such a firebrand issue. No one wants their school closed. No one wants their property values to go down when a school closes. No one wants their kids to be bused further than is reasonable, and trailers are not the answer.
Social Entropy
3 weeks ago