Board Retreat or "You're Next, Lakeside."

Well, life gave me a break to write a post on my own blog to offer my impressions of the BOE retreat from Monday.

I will skip the Ruby Payne diatribe as that would take a post by itself to address to many flaws and outright stereotyping, classism, and racism Ruby Payne perpetuates.

After RP, discussion included an idea from Dan Becker to keep the boundaries as they are and ask for volunteers to switch to North. This seems to make sense as the number needed is to small to take from one or more schools without having a negative impact on those students. We talk about having the right number of sections, but are willing to take 5 kids from one grade and throw them into a new schools with few if any peers they know and then expect the families to participate in school activities across town. Doesn't make much sense.

Ben Schneider asked repeatedly what the BOE is defining "equitable educational opportunities" as being. That seems a reasonable question so that we know what our goal is and helps us to make it measurable. So, what was discussed was that students should have the same scheduling opportunities at both schools.

Shelly Muza brought in data that more students at North were taking upper level math and science than at West. West had more students taking upper level Foreign Language than at North. Mrs. Bowen commented on finding out what the difference between North and West was considering they have the same Spanish teacher. I'm shocked that upper level Spanish is apparently more important than upper level math and science. Maybe she was referring to figuring out if students were having to choose between math and science or Spanish. The discussion did continue with asking how many kids get their first choices when scheduling. Because of the size of North and the number of students there, there are not as many sections of some classes. This might cause scheduling conflicts which is a problem for Amy Weinsheim whose daughter cannot take what she wants, drama, because it is at the same time as something else she needs to take. Sounds like a lesson in life.

I would love to see every kid get what they want, but is everything they want what they need? Should we have classes of four students so that every kid gets their first choice all the time? Who do we decide gets that privilege and who doesn't? Don't West students have the same problem as large as their school is and as large a population that they have? Wouldn't this be a great opportunity to learn how to make choices like the adults they are about to become, learn to cope with a little disappointment, and find other outlets like summer school enrichment, the Recreation Department, YMCA, UWO programs, and other community programs?

When asked how to get the right number, Becker and Schneider mentioned going to the middle schools to let students know their options and to point out the academies our high schools have. How many people in this community even know that our two high schools have academies or what they are? How many Oakwood families know that when their child completes the EAA Charter in their school, if their child is still interested, they could continue their studies at North in the EAA Academy. How many families know that there are medical-type and business-type academies? Oh, both high schools still have the traditional track and no one has to stay tied to an academy if their child decides aeronautics is not for them. If a student is interested, they can start getting ready for a college program in high school and save themselves time (and money) choosing a major.

It would cost nothing to add this information to the website and school newsletters. It would cost nothing but time to go to the schools and talk to the students about their options. We already do something like that when we talk to eighth graders about choosing classes for high school.

Mrs. Bowen felt this was the definition of "social engineering." Funny how that term was poo-pooed when used as a reference to busing rich kids to poor schools to fix poverty. Anyway, no one else brought any other ideas to the table until Wayne Traska came up with his Lakeside option after they broke up for group scenario development. After an entire day of discussion and small group work, there were two ideas on the table presented by three BOE members with nothing from the "fab four" as I recently heard the majority called. I'm thinking that was not a term of endearment.

I have gotten several phone calls and emails from people who were, like me, in the room at different points during the retreat. One person stated that neither Becker nor Schneider supported the Lakeside plan but were cornered by the facilitator to give an answer. Both men agreed to go further in developing the plan to see if it was a possible solution but did not like the idea without any information to support it. Other information I received was that McDermott and Kavanaugh told the facilitator during the break out session that they either could not or would not develop an idea (totally unconfirmed). Bowen and Weinsheim worked together for a time discussing Jazzercise by one report until Mrs Bowen went wandering through district offices according to a second independent corroboration. I'm glad Weinsheim's mother was able to pick up little Lola just before lunch so Amy could get down to work. It is difficult for a mom, or anyone else, to concentrate when there is a three-year-old in a room full of boring adults for 2+ hours. Traska apparently was working on the Lakeside plan by himself and Becker and Schneider hashed out Becker's idea.

Here is part of an email I received from a community member:

"I was at the end of the "retreat" - when they were trying desperately to have everyone agree on ONE option to present. Mr. Becker and Mr. Schneider still had concerns about the option you've read about. I was very impressed with Mr. McDermott, who kept trying to delay putting all their eggs in one basket because of the two members' concerns. However, before they got to that point, Dale Feinauer split the members into two groups - a group to work on each option and the drawbacks it could have so that they could nip any concerns that may come up. What was interesting to me, was that Mrs. Bowen did not sit with her group (the current option) to brainstorm these ideas, concerns, crunch numbers, etc. She walked about the Administration Office the entire time. When it got back together and debated until about 4:10-ish and they still did not have a solid consensus on the current option, Mrs. Weinsheim announced they had thirty seconds to decide because she was leaving and she didn't care what happened. That's what she said !! Dale Feinauer picked up on it and reminded her that she did care, but she just needed to get going. She retorted that no, she didn't care. And, no, Amanda Wimmer was still not there at the end, either, but Jeff Bollier still was. So was WOSH.
From what I got for the 80 minutes I was there, which most of it was spent in these two groups, was that Mr. Schneider and Mr. Becker came into the retreat with the Roosevelt plan. Mr. Traska came in with the Lakeside plan."

So now the community is told by the ONW in a recent article that the BOE consensus is for the Lakeside plan of busing Lakeside kids to Merrill and North. First question when seeing the parents talk about the difference in busing, what happens when the corner of Jackson and Murdoch is under construction to turn it into a roundabout? That doesn't even get into the multitude of reasons why this is a really bad idea. I am so glad we are getting our money's worth. I wonder which student program is going to get cut with all the facilitators hours our BOE is clocking.

Further discussion of this idea is taking place on the ONW blog Oshkonversation. This is my recommendation that I posted there:

I think our course of action right now should be:
1. Figure out which buildings we need and are keeping.

2. Present two boundary plans (with flexibility to tweak as needed) to the community in a Town Hall meeting at Kimball Auditorium so it can also be televised. Have it on a Saturday afternoon to optimize community participation (unless the BOE doesn't want that) and ask the community to listen to the options and come to the microphone with suggestions as to how to make one or the other work or reasons why one or the other cannot work.

Bring us together to figure out a solution. Give us ownership of what our tax dollars pay for. Let us help the BOE figure this out. Yes, there will be some people not happy, but at least they get to participate.

3. Make a decision based on the values presented in an open, public forum and not based on values identified in an orchestrated meeting.

Here is my alternative to the whole shebang:

How about a real compromise? I know similar, if not the same, ideas have been brought up before by many. How about making Oakwood a K-8 (Oakwood is supposed to have construction done to it anyway), build up, not out. Then funnel Oakwood to North with the expectation that some parents, depending on West's enrollment, could open enroll into some of West's academies. We would not need as much construction as if all of Oakwood were to attend North. Then we move Traeger's northern boundary south so some children would be going from Traeger's attendance area to Oakwood's. Keep Traeger K-8. Traeger is no longer overcrowded. Then sell Lakeside to the Town of Black Wolf, who offered already, and use the funds to refurbish and expand Green Meadow with the help of families down there who would volunteer to help in a heartbeat. We get to keep at least on rural school.

Then send Lakeside's population to Jefferson (assuming Smith is closed, which is a bad idea), Shapiro and Green Meadow depending on which school the student lives closest to. The remaining schools could play with the K-3 idea, though K-4 makes more educational and academic sense according to recent actual research. Since they are closer to each other, partnerships could be formed between the K-3s and 4-8s for mentoring and such. Saves on transportation, construction/additions, and community heartaches and headaches.

Fix the disparity between North and West with simple marketing, word of mouth is free (so is administration talking to students), and volunteers. It is supposed to be a temporary problem anyway. Make sure resources are balanced among the schools.

Finally, FOCUS ON THE GOSH DARN FACILITIES!!!