First of all I want to thank Mr. Pérez and the committee, this has been a very open and responsive process so far. I’ve been at a lot of the meetings and am impressed by the amount of involvement that they have allowed the community to have.
I also appreciate the consideration given to Indian Hills early in the process. There were many of us being moved out of the boundary that were very concerned about it and the committee listened and responded and we appreciate that.
It’s clear that Indian Hills needs to help relieve some of the pressure in neighboring schools. I think the school, the staff, the parents and the kids understand that and welcome, at a certain level, the opportunity to grow.
However, I believe that Plan #3A, adjusted, overcrowds our school – we look at the addition of the Ladd Acres families on the west side and the folks east of 198th and then this Copperleaf subdivision, which is just right across from Brown here. When I calculate it all out and add in Kinders, it looks like it is going to be 6 additional classes and it is going to take us to about 96 or 97 percent capacity or higher. We’re concerned that we’re possibly going to lose room for small groups to meet, we’ve got a computer room and a staff room that we would have to give up to accommodate those kinds of numbers.
Another concern is when we look at Quatama and where it is going in - it doesn’t feel like the other schools are getting good relief from that new school. I see the numbers in Orenco dropping quite a bit but don’t really see a movement of Tobias students over there to ripple the relief across to Reedville, which we know has been extremely overcrowded for many years. I think it follows through on the other side when we look at Brookwood and Eastwood schools which are right up, again, against the Quatama border - it doesn’t seem that any relief is propagating out from that new school, and that’s a concern.
When I look at slide 15, which shows the current numbers and future numbers, it’s very hard for me to make any sense from that because I know it only represents 1-6 graders, and we know there are going to be Kinders, it’s a number greater than zero, they are going to be in our schools.
The other thing that is missing is current capacity. The latest capacity data that I have been able to find is on the website and it is from 2006. I know that portables have been moved into some schools and so that has changed but it makes it very difficult for me as a parent in the district to really evaluate this proposal without knowing what the end result is going to be based on capacity.
What I’m looking for is some sort of official summary from the committee that includes:
1) current verified capacity. Does that include portables? Are those portables going to be moved? Are additional portables going to be moved in?
2) something that accounts for Kinders, it looks like it’s around 15% of grades 1-6. It seems like there should be some way to add that into the data
3) also, something that shows us what the expected growth for each school is. I know that Orenco, with Quatama coming in, is coming down to about 60%. They are extremely crowded now but they are going to come down significantly. I know there is going to be growth in that area but what number is the committee looking at to understand that and make sure that the boundaries are optimal for the growth and that we’re not counting on more growth than will occur, especially given the current economic situation?
We just want to make sure that the bond money being spent benefits all schools, not just a few neighborhoods.
Finally, to families that are being added to Indian Hills, we know that there are some that will be added, sorry if we are not your first choice for your children, we understand the desire to stay in the school you are currently in - that is perfectly understandable: We will welcome you with open arms…if there is enough room to actually open our arms.
I heard someone ask Mr. Pérez “If you’re moving us to Indian Hills what will you do to make sure that it stays a high quality school?” I’m sure Mr. Pérez will answer the same [way] he does for any school in the district, we will get a building with facilities, transportation, high quality administrative staff, 1 great teacher for every 26 students. That’s what the taxpayers allow him to give us.
My question back to parents coming into Indian Hills is “If you are coming to our school, what will YOU do to make sure that Indian Hills STAYS an exceptional school?”
And for anyone that is wondering, yes, I will be going to the spanish language meeting at Century.
No comments:
Post a Comment