Unfortunately, the Pioneer Press did not fully grasp the final report, or
selectively chose one option to get people riled up-I don't know which. I was on that
task force; we discussed many possibilities and the final report which was submitted
to the School Board last night for their consideration included 15 ideas discussed
over the course of several meetings and post-meeting e-mails. The four-region
neighborhood school busing plan was only one of many ideas batted around, and it was
not popular with some of the affected schools and their representatives. This plan
would not necessarily decrease the number of city-wide schools, but could do so. We
read and discussed reams of research suppolied out by the transportation department,
among others, including maps with dots indicating bus stops for children in attendance
at each school in the city. Some schools with a magnet or city-wide status aren't
actually pulling kids from much farther than an enlarged attendance or preferance area
would do, and changing their 'focus' may not dramatically change their population.
Specifically, the report concludes:
In reviewing this Final Report of the School-Community Task Force on School
Choice, it is important to note that the opinions of task force members should be
regarded as thoughtful but highly preliminary conclusions. The time available to task
force members for analysis and discussion was limited, and not all key district
stakeholder groups were adequately represented on the task force. As a result, this
report endorses further study rather than actual implementation of specific options
for change.
I believe a copy of the report is available at district HQ. I'd give them a call
so everyone can find out what we discussed and concluded. I just wanted to ease
everyone's concerns that huge changes will be taking place next school year. They may
or may not, but no specific recommendation was made by the task force.
Thanks!
Lori Windels
West Side
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