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Searching for space solutions, board drops year-round idea (Posted May 14)
»Public Meetings info archives
| After considering the matter [of year-round education] and evaluating resident opinion, most board members concluded that the idea offers little if any educational value and does not fit the district’s mission. |
D41 is out of space, and will house 12 classrooms in portable units in the fall. To address overcrowding, the Board of Education has been conducting a public and participative process to develop solutions. One option under study has been Multi-Track Year-Round Education (MYTRE), a scheduling option in which students go to school the same number of days as they do now but on staggered shifts so that all students are not in the building at the same time. At its May 13 public facilities meeting, the Board of Education rejected further study MYTRE as a solution and set the following direction:
Continue using portable classrooms for the short-term and study the impact of using portables over time.
Currently, the following portables are in place:
Forest Glen: 2-classroom unit at Forest Glen
Lincoln: 2-classroom unit
In the fall, the district will add the following for a total of 12 classrooms housed in portables:
Churchill: 4-classroom unit
Hadley: 4-clasroom unit
In all cases, the district has shopped carefully for used units in good condition and has done the bulk of the installation, electrical and cabling work in-house. The portables are air-conditioned, carpeted, fully networked, equipped with computers and storage and landscaped.
The complete cost has averaged $60,000 - $130,00 depending on the age of the unit, its size, and required site preparation. Annual costs are utilities and maintenance.
Contract for a new enrollment projection study.
The first step is to get a clearer picture of coming enrollment. A study done in 2002 projects slight gains over the next few years, but recent local trends like teardown-rebuilds and the possibility of more subdivision and development of large parcels (mostly north of Geneva Rd.) have added more uncertainty about future enrollment trends.
Explore and analyze staffing patterns that might be employed with limited space.
This could mean such options as using aides, team teaching, increasing class sizes and multi-grade approaches.
Provide cost and architectural analysis of building a 5-6 grade center, an elementary school or a pre-kindergarten center.
During previous public workshops, these options garnered the most positive response from participants from among numerous plans preliminarily reviewed.
Continue the highly public, participative planning process. If it turns out that funds are needed to solve the overcrowding issue, ask the public for them via referendum. Realistically, the very earliest a referendum could be put on the ballot would be April, 2005.
The tax cap law requires districts to ask the voters to authorize more tax funds. The board reiterated its belief that this decision properly rests with the public. Some residents have suggested that the district avoid a referendum by borrowing money from other governmental agencies, but the board believes this approach would put D41’s financial stability at risk since there would be no provision for bringin in additional tax money to repay the loan. |
Superintendent Dr. Jack Barshinger said that the administration would submit a recommendation for the firm to conduct an enrollment study at the June 21 regular Board Meeting and have data for the board on the other measures by early fall.
A motion to continue studying MTYRE failed on a voice vote with no affirmative votes.
As part of gaining an overall perspective and doing its homework, the board has been investigating MTYRE, which can increase building capacity by as much as 33%, as one of many options. Public reaction to the concept was swift and unequivocal, with parents organizing to stop further study of a plan which they saw as damaging to D41 and the community. After considering the matter and evaluating resident opinion, most board members concluded that the idea offers little if any educational value and does not fit the district’s mission “…to provide the highest quality programs and services.” While some board members thought there was still value in learning more about the strategy, they felt the issue was too divisive in the community. All board members expressed gratitude and admiration for the public’s role and input in the decision. As Board Member Carol McElvain noted, “Thank you to those who have participated over the last nine months [of public workshops], whether at meetings, by letter, email, phone or at the soccer field, I appreciate it. This reconfirms the true passion and price the community has in its schools.” Board Member John Marcheschi added, “Your input is going to be taken into account and the process [of planning for space] will happen in public.”
The district has limited funds with which to address overcrowding; if the new projections support the need for more space, the board said it would need to go to referendum to ask taxpayers for more money.
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