Rita Miller wrote:
At the East Area Parent Advisory Council meeting on Monday night, the
district announced its intentions to close three to four schools in the
East Area. We have worked hard to make our community schools in this
area great schools, but the district policies have the cards stacked
against community schools. For example, community schools cannot draw
from as large an attendance area as magnet schools. And being small
schools by nature, the community schools are passed over for programs,
such as ESL, that could increase enrollment and keep the schools
financially viable. Despite the difficulties, we in this area feel that
our community schools are a vital part of our community, and want them
to survive and thrive.
I would like to know what each of the school board candidates would
propose doing to resolve this issue.
Catherine Shreves responds:
I was not at the meeting on Monday night, so I can't speak to what was
said there. However, only the school board can vote to close schools,
and there has been very little discussion about this possibility (except
with respect to one school, Morris Park), so any assumption that the
board has decided to close schools is at best, premature.
We do have some concerns with some of the really small schools that are
experiencing declining enrollment, and we have been in conversation with
these schools for a couple of years. The school district is convening an
East Area River Schools Task Force to make recommendations to possibly
close or merge facilities in a manner consistent with the realities of
declining enrollment and the strategic goal of providing excellent
learning environments for students. Representation on the task force
from each school involved will include the principal, three
teachers/staff. and three parents, or seven participants from each
school. We have invited neighborhood/community representatives to serve
on the task force as well. The task force will have subgroups
representing "school clusters" according to geographic proximity.
Clusters of schools participating in the task force include:
Sullivan, Longfellow and Cooper
Hiawatha, Howe, Dowling and Sanford
Northrop, Keewaydin, Wenonah and Morris Park
Letters are being sent home to the families of students who attend these
schools. The task force convenes on March 25 and will meet throughout
April to present its recommendations to the Board in May. While the task
force will base its decisions on data such as enrollment projections,
transportation and geographic distribution, its goal will be to preserve
excellent learning environments for students. If you'd like more
information on the process or have an interest in serving on the task
force, you can call East Area Superintendent Birch Jones at 668.0140.
Catherine Shreves
School Board Chair
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