Down to Two

Well, the Long-Range Facilities Plan is down to two scenarios for the Administrative Steering Committee to focus on for the January 10 BOE meeting. Keep in mind that only one will be presented to the Board in a workshop. THERE WILL BE NO VOTE ON JANUARY 10. Sorry about the caps, just wanted to be clear on the process.

scenario 1:

Same as before

Franklin, Shapiro, and Green Meadow will feed into Tipler and then into West.
Traeger and Oakwood will feed into Traeger and then into West.

Merrill, Read, and Jefferson will feed into Merrill and then into North.
Webster, Washington, and E. Cook will feed into Webster and then into North.

The Positives (as taken from meeting documents)
*$1.2 million annual savings in operational costs.
*Only one school has boundary changes: only two have feeder changes.
*Closes six schools.
*Three K-8's allows District to divide up CD and autism programs.
*Easier to implement years one and two due to CDMS at Lincoln needed to relocate in year one.
*Waits until year 7 to build GM/Lakeside ES (if need is there).
* Allows for reevaluation of new elementary school in year nine based on growth.

The Negatives
*Based on the premise for Green Meadow/Lakeside on "if you build it they will come."
*Only one school moving - Jefferson to Merrill.
*Growth potential at MS level is limited.
*Potential for building concerns at Merrill.
*Perception that west side is getting more than north side.
*Two north side elementary schools are over capacity from the beginning.
*Neither Washington nor Jefferson help us get to the 420 capacity number for elementary schools.


scenario 5:

Franklin, Smith, Jefferson will feed into Tipler and then into West.
Traeger, Shapiro will feed into Traeger and then into West.

Merrill, Oakwood, and Read will feed into Merrill and then into North.
Webster, Washington, and E. Cook will feed into Webster and then into North.

The Positives
*Addresses the socioeconomic isolation in the community.
*Best for Special Ed students.
*Overall lowest cost.
*North/West high school enrollment evened out.
*Allows for reevaluation of new elementary school in year seven based on growth.
*Building on each side of town.
*There is room for west side growth at the middle level.
*No longer has river and highway as divider.

The Negatives
*Oakwood parents may have concerns with students being bussed to Merrill.
*Lakeside/Green Meadow parents may have concerns with bussing into Shapiro and the size of the schools.
*Tight at the HS - North over capacity.
*If there is northside growth, North will be even more capacity.
*Leaves Smith, Merrill, Jefferson and Washington with less than optimal school size of 420 students.
*Kids from three smallest schools will be moved to the largest ES.
*MS at capacity with exception of Traeger.
*Oakwood is planned to be built at 675 with no room for growth at Merrill Middle.
*Year one Lincoln is closed with no plans or foreseeable room to relocate the CDMS program.
*Lincoln is also the fiber optic hub for the northside and plans would need to be made to address this.

The CRT gave feedback as to what we liked about the entire process to this point, what we liked and didn't like about each scenario with one final request of the ASC each.

The remaining timeline, as I understand it, is that the ASC will take the CRT comments and decide which scenario to develop for the BOE workshop. Jan 8, the CRT will meet one more time before the BOE meeting and give our reactions to what develops with the scenarios. Jan 10 is the workshop for the chosen scenario with the BOE members also receiving the other four scenarios in their packets. Jan 24, the BOE could vote to implement years one and two of the chosen scenario. If the BOE asks for revisions on the 10th, there may not be a vote on the 24th. The process is one step at a time.

My personal reactions are that this process has proceeded much further than I thought it would. So much information was gathered and a lot of thought went into each scenario. People like Dr. Heilmann, Shelly Muza, and Brenda Haines did a tremendous amount of work with the ASC to develop these scenarios and then help the CRT understand them. It is very clear that Mrs. Muza's mother's touch was evident in the little details a parent would think of and care about as well as her educator's eye for what teacher's need. Ms. Haines did a tremendous job of making sure all information was provided to everyone in a timely manner and in a very detailed and complete form. Dr. Heilmann has been visiting schools and talking with PTOs to help everyone understand what is going on during this process. The ASC has been running their posteriors off gathering information and answering CRT questions, though we never meet together. I think many, if not all of the CRT, agree that we have a much better understanding of this process though we couldn't do it ourselves. We are very impressed with the depth and degree of information and the inclusion of the community in this process.

I will post which scenario is chosen as soon as I know. Please, feel free to ask questions or comment on the two scenarios and take a look at the additional information on the OASD Website.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I know, not very PC, but it seems wrong to wish someone something I don't believe in. After all, aren't we basically saying that we wish each other happiness, good health, love, and peace? So, regardless of you religious affiliation, or lack of, may all the good wishes of happiness, health, love, and peace be bestowed on you and your family, from me and my family.

And in the spirit of the season, here's a little Christmas story to read in between checking Santa's location on Norad...

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through our home
Wrapping and taping caused carpal tunnel syndrome.
The stockings were tossed by the TV and chair,
In hopes that dear mom would remember them there;
The children were wound up in blankets so tight,
visions of presents took hold well past midnight;
And dad with the rum, and I with nutmeg,
Had just settled down for some nog made of egg,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
I peeked through the shades and Kent turned off the lights
and we spotted the 'Nick' man with a sleigh of delights,
The deer had just trampled the inflatable Frosties
the sleigh had torn down half the lights from the eaves
Nick's bag got ripped on the candycane path lights
and the dog was marking the sleigh's bright, red taillights.

Pretty silly you say, and not really a poet
but your still reading and didn't even know it.

As I drew back my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

That would have been nice, that would have been grand
'cept the gas fireplace was narrow and has a big fan.
The firemen were called and the wall torn down
St. Nick rolled out with a puff and a bound.
His humor was intact though his suit was all mussed
Nog all around, (no rum for the drivers) and laundering a must.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
He laughed and he giggled when finally we asked
"Any presents for us in your deep velvet sack?"
"Oh, maybe for the kids, and the little dog too,
but I got more important plans for the two of you.
You've got work to do to help out 'round here.
People need your ideas, your service, sincere
to bring Oshkosh together for the future is so dear."

He laid down some ideas, we chipped in a few of our own
and then he was off to another neighbor's home.
There is a lesson in this, please let me explain,
that it takes more than Santa to bring us together again.
We all need to work and contribute to this
or lost we will be in a bankrupt abyss.
Join us and together we will do our best
to bring Oshkosh together, the premier of the midwest.

Or something like that...

Anyway...

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

With love from the Monte Family

Four scenarios

I have been hearing how confusing the four scenarios are to follow. The district website did not include the side-by-side comparison the CRT saw on Monday. I will try to sort out the information with some of my notes from the meeting based on explanations we got from ASC. I've also included the "bottom line" information that we have to this point. Keep in mind that these (except status quo) are scenarios, no plan has been chosen. There will be a workshop on Jan 10 with the BOE. Nothing has been decided yet. If you feel strongly about a specific scenario, good or bad, contact both committees. All of the scenarios can be seen here, as far as which schools will feed into which, where CD/autism will go, and where SAGE will go.

Status Quo: Nothing changes, everything stays the same. Will cost the district $39,180,620, which will require a referendum and an additional hiring of teachers to total $636,000 more.

scenario 1: Green Meadow gets rebuilt entirely, E. Cook gets add-on, Oakwood gets built larger (probably two story), Shapiro gets rebuilt partially. Sunset and South Park are closed. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Lakeside, Oaklawn, and Smith are closed and may be sold to offset costs. Cost of the plan is $59,095,520 with a staffing and administrative savings of $1,242,000. Sales of buildings may reduce the amount that would need to go to referendum in year 3 of the plan.

scenario 2: E.Cook gets add-on, Oakwood gets rebuilt, Green Meadow gets rebuilt. Sunset, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Lakeside, Oaklawn, and South Park get closed. Same sale scenario as before. Cost of the plan is $56,454,820, with a staff and administrative savings of $718,000. There may end up split classes (one teacher two grades in one room) at Washington, Smith, and Jefferson. A referendum would be necessary in year three to continue with timeline.

scenario 3: A new school would be built on Northwest side of town, north of lake B, Oakwood would be rebuilt, and Shapiro would be remodeled. Sunset, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Lakeside, Oaklawn, South Park, and Green Meadow would close. Same sale scenario as above applies. Cost of the scenario is $54,236,650, with a staff and administrative savings of $877,000. A referendum would be necessary in year two.

scenario 4: Oakwood rebuilt, Merrill remodel, Webster remodel, E. Cook add on, and South Park remodel into Elementary School. Sunset, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Lakeside, Oaklawn, Shapiro, and Green Meadow would close. Same sale scenario possible. Total cost is unknown. Not all figures in but will be over $59,888,020. A referendum would be necessary in year two. Dr. Heilmann pointed out that this scenario makes the least fiscal sense. Mrs. Muza pointed out that this plan does the most for equalizing socioeconomics in the two high schools.

All of these scenarios require a referendum, but the whole amount would not be taken at once. The amount needed would be taken as needed with disclosure to the public as to where on the timeline we are and if any costs have changed due to sales of other properties, etc. All of these scenarios can work with either a split high school (9/10, 11/12) or with the current two 9-12 schools. The split high school concept would solve for the socioeconomic disparity between the two schools.

Several of us preferred the first scenario and dislike the fourth the most. However, the CRT does not make any decisions. We are just tasked with reacting to the scenarios, asking questions, making comments and suggestions. I have brought points to the board that have been told to me, emailed, and from phone calls. Feel free to contact me if there is anything you would like the CRT to keep in mind or the ASC to consider when making their decision.

Take a look at the feeder list on the OASD website, and let me know what you think. CRT will be meeting again on Dec 27 at 4ish with location TBD.

As an aside, a group from the district is leaving this morning for Gurnee, IL to take a look at their split HS. No decisions have been made on this scenerio. The high schools are faced with the two possibilities of staying the same and adding on rooms, or splitting the schools and adding on rooms. Nothing has been decided.



Happy Holidays from Michelle Monte.

Latest CRT scenarios

Please bear with me on this one. I'm going to try to give you some idea of the scenarios we have been discussing. Please not that none of the scenarios are all or nothing. We have been assured, and I am passing that assurance on to you, that pieces from one can be put into another scenario depending on the needs of the district and costs of the plans. We are still waiting for some additional info and will be meeting again Monday at 4:00.

scenario 1: Tipler and Traeger feed into West and Merrill and Webster Stanley would feed into North. Green Meadow and Franklin would feed into Tipler and Oakwood and Traeger Elem would feed into Traeger Middle. Merrill Elem, Read, and Jefferson would feed into Merrill MS and Webster Elem, Smith, E. Cook, and Washington would feed into Webster Stanley MS.

scenario 2: Tipler and Traeger would feed into West and Oakwood and Merrill MS would feed into North. Franklin, Jefferson, and Smith would feed into Tipler and Traeger Elem, and South Park would feed into Traeger MS. Oakwood Elem and Read would feed into Oakwood MS and Webster Elem, E. Cook, and Washington would feed into Merrill.

scenario 3: Tipler and Traeger would feed into West and Merrill and Webster would feed into North. Franklin, Shapiro, and Smith would feed into Tipler and Traeger and Oakwood would feed into Traeger. Merrill, Read, a new school on Ryf (sp?) Rd, and Jefferson would feed into Merrill. Webster, Washington, and E. Cook would feed into Webster.

Please keep in mind that these are rough drafts. If the school is not listed, the consideration is to close it. None of the plans are set on and all of them required more information for us to comment on them. Questions were asked and concerns were expressed. One of mine was not having a school to the south of the city as that is supposedly one of two growth areas. The area near the Ryf (sp?) Rd property is another supposed area of growth which was why a new school was factored into a scenario. There are still a lot of variables to be discussed.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know and I will be sure to get them to the committee. Or contact any of the other CRT members.

G'night.

Response Team and BOE meeting

To save time and space, I decided to combine recent CRT information with BOW information as they overlapped this week.

Monday the CRT requested the split high school idea be tabled until we could work on some year one and two scenarios. We also asked to see more high school scenarios in the near future. I spoke to one administrator who said that they are working on other ideas that will be brought to the CRT soon.

The BOE meeting's second workshop was about the 9-12 restructuring and included ideas from the BOE and administrators for creating more space and where we are going from here.

Mr. Hoffmann, principal of North, said 5 more classrooms could be created above the media center.

Mrs. Bowen suggested capping study halls at a maximum of one and eventually get rid of them entirely.

Mr. Sween suggested covering over the courtyard at West to create more classrooms.

Mrs. Weinsheim suggested an optional early morning class period.

There will be an increase in credits from 22 to up to 28. Probably around 24-26.

Discussed three block schedule configurations with 8 classes alternating 4 each day. Block scheduling requires and additional 900 hours of FTE and will need to be figured into the budget.




As an aside, A comment was made that driver's ed was required to graduate. I question if this should continue or if we should cut driver's ed and use the 3-4 classrooms for academics or labs. We could encourage private driver's ed businesses to open and build a relationship within the business community that way. I would hate to cut that. I remember what it was like to be a freshman and so close to driving. It was awful, to put it mildly, finding out that was the last year driver's ed would be offered in my high school.

I welcome other suggestions and responses to include continued discussion on athletic department funding from a previous thread.

Candidate Announcement

Okay, this time it is for me...be gentle.

Yes, I am going to run for school board. Maybe you heard my announcement on WOSH this morning.

Below is my press release. I will address issues and questions you post as they come up instead of trying to cover everything in one post.

Michelle Monte for School Board.

Community member and active parent is announcing her candidacy for Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education.

Oshkosh, WI. December 1, 2006 --- Since moving to Oshkosh, Michelle Monte has been active in her children’s school, in her church, and in the Oshkosh Community. She has spent the last two years learning about the Oshkosh Public School District. Monte goes to the meetings and has posted her notes on a blog she started to help promote communication in a district that was sorely lacking. She has spoken to the board about concerns she and other parents and students have had regarding cutting instructional time, cutting student programs, and the district budget and taxes. Monte’s passion to make sure her four children have the best possible education and determination to prevent any child from being left behind has driven her to take the next step of running for the OASD Board of Education in the upcoming April 2007 election.

Michelle Monte was born and raised in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. While growing up, she also lived and attended schools in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin and Hawaii. In 1996, Monte moved to Manitowoc where her children attended public school. Monte also graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with a degree in English and a license to teach. Her personal and professional experiences give her a unique perspective on what is and has been done in various school districts.

These experiences also honed Michelle Monte’s ability to think outside the box, an ability she currently uses as a member of the Community Response Team. This team responds to the ideas the Administrative Steering Committee presents for the Long-Range Facilities Plan. Monte is working with other community members and district administration to help develop a Long-Range Facilities plan for the Oshkosh Area School District. Monte has also used her “outside the box” thinking to come up with ideas to cut costs and raise revenue.

We continue to face unfunded mandates like No Child Left Behind. Over the last several months, OASD and the Oshkosh Community have determined that it is time for change if we want to ensure our students get the best possible education and our teachers have the best possible facilities to work in to provide that education without taxing Oshkosh into poverty. We need strong people to make tough decisions.

Another goal of Monte’s is to help bring the community together. For too long, Oshkosh has been a city divided well beyond high school rivalries. In order for the Oshkosh Area School District to achieve any goals for the future, the city of Oshkosh needs to come together as one community for our children and our future.

Michelle Monte is mother to four children in the Oshkosh Public School District in elementary and middle school. She has one child in the Autism program. She is a full time graduate student at UWO. Monte holds a job as a Graduate Assistant and as a Test Center Administrator on the UWO campus. Monte has been active in the Parent-Teacher Organization and is on the Site Council representing families of children with disabilities at her children’s school. Monte also coaches junior bowling in Appleton and teaches second grade catechism at her church.
It is time for change on the BOE. It is time for Michelle Monte on the BOE.

Contact:

Michelle Monte, Candidate
OASD Board of Education
920-233-9878
monte07@new.rr.com