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Rewind back to 2006-2008. There were plans put in place, the BOE and BOCC were working better together. The BOE was working with the municipalities. Were they a fantastic partnership? No. But they were at least working together. The plan had multiple new schools scheduled to be built, concentrated in high growth areas, old schools were to be demolished and replaced, and there were bond referendums supporting it.
2009-2010. Market crash, high unemployment, change of guard on the BOCC and BOE (both always change btw), construction grinds to a halt, people selling their houses to leave and new people coming in grinds to a halt.
2010 - BOE pulls the new construction from their strategic plan. Was it short sighted? Yes. Was it a reality of the economic times and tight budgets? Yes.
2012-2014 - Growth picks up, and here we are.
We do need a joint plan between the municipalities, BOCC and BOE to ensure the schools (and all the county infrastructure) supports the continued growth. They don't have to stop it or limit it as long as they can effectively forecast and PAY for it. That's the type of planning we need across the county.
Unfortunately, they do not want to work together now, leaving the BOE to create their own plan within their own control. Their initial proposal was to redistrict now to get us through 5 years without readjusting every year - AND they want to get new schools funded and built by the end of that 5 years. We don't all agree with that plan, but that's what they laid out. It's a multi-generational plan that they build within the confines of zero funds.
Come election time (Primary and November) remember this. Vote in BOCC, BOE and City representatives that DO want to work together for the good of the whole county and that do understand the complexities of this issue.
Agree - the only way to go forward is to have BOCC, BOE & town representatives that will work together and understand that UC is on a fast growth path due to location. Together they can control how fast UC grows with proper planning while making sure the infrastructure matches the growth and not play the present catchup/reactionary loosing game.
3. K-6 = I may actually be ok with this if it were modified a little, one of the lower cost options and I'm not real sure about costs/$$$s they are using
- ES seats have the most capacity (2,478 seats open)
- MS seats are over capacity and need to be split up
- Redistrict ES's within cluster (some of the Kensington and New Town kids would go to Waxhaw, Waxhaw would split feed Parkwood, Cuthbertson, etc.)
- Add trailers where needed
......Only 6th graders would be in trailers at schools where used to create a 6th grade village away from the younger kids
........6th grade trailer villages include 6th grade media center trailer, band trailer, elective trailers
......NO OTHER TRAILER USE IN THE SYSTEM, only 6th graders and guaranteed for not more than 1 year
......All trailer villages made secure with security fencing
- Option without 6th grade trailer villages
......You could also maybe cluster 5th/6th graders into an existing school like SRES for Marvin Cluster, Waxhaw ES for Cuthbertson, etc., etc. and cut out trailers completely
......Always hated the idea of 6th graders with 8th graders (too much of a difference)
- Middle Schools become Jr. High Schools (7th and 8th grade)
- Create 9th grade Freshman schools at under utilized HS like Parkwood HS, Forest Hills HS, and ???
- High Schools would become Senior High Schools (HS utilized as 9th grade schools would be combined with other HS)
- 5 different bell schedules (ES, 5/6th, Jr HS, 9th, Sr HS)
- Transportation costs are the big unknown and would probably be an issue but it would force clusters together in 9th grade for one big happy community
- Again I haven't modeled it or know the numbers exactly but this might be palatable to all and sort of looks like it might work. Kids may even manage transitions better, who knows
- It's all about fully utilizing seats and buses
I like this or variants around this
It is most realistic on short term to keep it going while getting approvals for school additions and/or new schools...
And in 2010 they scrapped all those plans to demolish anything when they cancelled the proposals to build new schools. Read! Please put the pieces together. Long term plans go awry and they have to adjust.
If the condition of the schools was such that they originally felt the should be demolished and replaced, and then they cancelled the replacement, logic would dictate that they needed to do major repairs and upgrades to the schools to keep them open wouldn't it? Just because they cancelled the plans to demolish them didn't suddenly make them safe.
When the BOCC finally decides to abide by the court ruling and give the BOE all the money it is owed, the BOE can address the schools that are badly in need of help. There's no reason that couldn't start immediately except that the BOCC is not releasing those funds. Does anyone believe that the BOE wouldn't address those issues in the schools if they could?
Monroe HS is looking to have the NC Principal of the year... but nobody wants to go to that "lower ranked school"? Has anyone talked with the principals of the these other "lower ranked schools"? Are they bungling baffoons? What about the principals of these schools deemed a category of "demolish"? They work there every day... do they believe the school needs to be demolished? What about the principals at the schools with the leaking roofs? What do these principals think?
I ask these questions because these people report up to Dr Ellis and she should be very aware of the conditions of these schools and their ability to house the planned number of students in the redistrict proposal. To infer that you "know better" about the condition of these schools is terribly flawed. If you had a conversation with a principal of "lower ranked school ABC" and that principal told you that the school cannot handle the additional students based on the condition of the facility, then you should raise this and call it out to the BOE.
In the end, though... as a BOE member, who would you listen to with regard to the condition of the schools - seemingly hot headed anti-redistricting folks quoting old facilities reports OR the Superintendent who communicates with the principals in these schools today?
I like this or variants around this
It is most realistic on short term to keep it going while getting approvals for school additions and/or new schools...
I like this as well. Especially the 9th grade deal...we are going to need something like this for cohesion when all is said and done
Did you even read what I said or do you think that repeating the same thing over and over will eventually get you the desired result?
Let me scale it down a bit... WE (you and I) do not know the current conditions of these schools better than the principals who are in them every day. Even individual parents of students in those schools won't know better than the principal. An old facilities report... an old BOE member... a current BOE member... NONE of them know the CURRENT condition of the school better than the principal today.
The principals report up to Dr Ellis... her staff created a redistrict proposal. To pretend that YOU know better about the impact on the schools is a joke. You don't have the information that the administration has TODAY. You can make ASSUMPTIONS based on old facilities reports, FB posts, and the limited public data available... but that's all you have. On top of that, you wouldn't give a rat's testicles about the condition of any school in the whole county EXCEPT the ones you are assigned to... So when you're targeted for re-assignment you suddenly care about schools you wouldn't attend? There's no way you would be assigned to WUES and SVHS - you're just using those examples because you believe they fit some bigger conspiracy. Nothing more.
If the BOCC really cared, they would give the BOE the money they were awarded by the courts to make the existing schools better for the whole county... but they chose to grandstand on the trailers. Bad choice.
Have you talked to these principals? Because to assume that no one else has and to assume that they are fine with the conditions because Dr. Ellis has proposed the redistricting is not helping. I HAVE talked many of the administration at at one of these schools and they are not happy with the conditions and have said that their hands are tied. They report it but that's it. Plus if they "stir the pot" too much there is fear that they will be moved. And one of the schools I am concerned about is actually the school I am fighting to keep my kids IN!
Please use recent facts instead of parroting the FB scare tactics based on 5 year old info. While I'm at it they are also babbling about capacity inaccuracies from those Jan 2009 reports. If they have looked 3 months later at the April 2009 facilities committee minutes they would see that the schools readjusted their capacities based on recent classroom construction.
There you go again.... stating those facts.
Well since, Jan 2009 is what we are going with, why is nobody in an uproar that our Cuthbertson Highschoolers are going to a school with NO complete roof, plumbing,HVAC, and electrical "in progress"? This is OUTRAGEOUS!! Our children deserve better. I am going to email the BOE right now to say that incomplete plumbing is unacceptable!
Right here... in the January 2009 reports that are dated the same month as those other ones:
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[/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Site work is in progress[/SIZE][/SIZE]
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[/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Plumbing is in progress[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
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[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2]HVAC is in progress[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
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[/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Electrical is in progress[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
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[/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Roofing is nearing completion[/SIZE][/SIZE]
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Have you talked to these principals? Because to assume that no one else has and to assume that they are fine with the conditions because Dr. Ellis has proposed the redistricting is not helping. I HAVE talked many of the administration at at one of these schools and they are not happy with the conditions and have said that their hands are tied. They report it but that's it. Plus if they "stir the pot" too much there is fear that they will be moved. And one of the schools I am concerned about is actually the school I am fighting to keep my kids IN!
I don't think you are pointing out anything here but the obvious. Nobody is going to be happy with a leaky roof. Nor severely overcrowded hallways and classrooms. They are both issues. And they both need to be addressed. And they take this thing called MONEY. Some people have a HUGE problem with 3 million dollars being put on the table to buy MCRs when there are many other things that the money could go towards to improve *cough, cough* the things you are complaining about above. And for anyone who finds overcrowding a high scoring school with MCRs as a superior alternative to some of the other alternatives, wellllllll.... let's just say that you are scared of something OTHER than a leaky roof.....
I don't think you are pointing out anything here but the obvious. Nobody is going to be happy with a leaky roof. Nor severely overcrowded hallways and classrooms. They are both issues. And they both need to be addressed. And they take this thing called MONEY. Some people have a HUGE problem with 3 million dollars being put on the table to buy MCRs when there are many other things that the money could go towards to improve *cough, cough* the things you are complaining about above. And for anyone who finds overcrowding a high scoring school with MCRs as a superior alternative to some of the other alternatives, wellllllll.... let's just say that you are scared of something OTHER than a leaky roof.....
I was answering the specific question MikeyKid asked about whether anyone had talked to the administration at these schools because he was sure that if these problems were such an issue that Dr. Ellis would know about it and therefore not be proposing redistricting more kids to these schools. I am well aware of the conditions at these schools and well aware of the lack of support both financial and from the community that they have received over the last many years because my children attend one of these schools. My kids have also spent many years in trailers so I know first hand the pros and cons of them. And no one has had an issue with all the trailers on all of the campuses, until now. I find that ironic.
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