Time to Consolidate Long Island Districts (Hempstead, Elmont: section 8, real estate market, school districts)

[nbres]

Originally Posted by watamensch

What is the goal here? Better education? Lower costs? Leveling the playing field?

All Three: Better Education at a Lower Cost in a more Equitable System.

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by watamensch

What is the goal here? Better education? Lower costs? Leveling the playing field?

The goal here is to keep the education at the level we have it and lower our cost. It may even be that the playing field DOES get leveled, but again kids from a "poorer" district won't all magically be put into another school, as WHAT school a child will attend will STILL be based onwhat neighborhood the house is in.

We'er talking about streamlinging all those administrative costs, ..which will mean a lot of jobs lost (all those supers wiht high paying jobs.. CUT). At the same time, they'll need to do something about the salary structure of teachers, pensions etc... like making them State Employees... something.

Ther's great quality education elsewhere without the high taxes..LI needs to adopt a system that cuts our taxes.. PERIOD!

[yeaitsme]

Originally Posted by TristansMommy

The goal here is to keep the education at the level we have it and lower our cost. It may even be that the playing field DOES get leveled, but again kids from a "poorer" district won't all magically be put into another school, as WHAT school a child will attend will STILL be based onwhat neighborhood the house is in.

We'er talking about streamlinging all those administrative costs, ..which will mean a lot of jobs lost (all those supers wiht high paying jobs.. CUT). At the same time, they'll need to do something about the salary structure of teachers, pensions etc... like making them State Employees... something.

Ther's great quality education elsewhere without the high taxes..LI needs to adopt a system that cuts our taxes.. PERIOD!

all I can say is YEP! Exactly!

[fopt65]

Let me tell you about consolidation from my experience on LI. I live in Franklin Square so our high school is part of Sewanhaka's Central District which is compised of 5 high schools. Each HS has administators which then report to the central district. We don't save a dime! We are more top heavy in administration than the stand alone high schools in the area. Plus we get the "benefit" of being the HS that provides ESL classes, although all of those kids come from Elmont. So now, school busses are run throughout the day at $3.60 a gallon to transport these kids. The other HS run different programs in which again the kids are driven throughout the neighborhoods.

My taxes to this disctrict are higher than my taxes to my elementary school system and since our voting power is now diluted among 5 neighborhoods, we have lost local control of our high school. I would vote to get out of this central district tomorrow if we could.

Consolidation is not the cup of tea you think it is. If people want consolidation, move to NYC. Deal with the Board of Ed and see how that is.

Also, if people on this forum are so truly interested in helping out those districts they deem as being in need, volunteer your time there. Be a reading tutor, or write a check to the district. I'm sure they'd appreciate it. Or better yet, move to that district and enroll your children in that school. Buy a foreclosure in that neighborhood. Your tax money will then be given to that district to help educate the children.

[ClarkStreetKid]

Something we have in our schools (elementary through HS) are School Resource Officers, one of the benefits of schools being run by the county. The tougher schools have one officer assigned full time where the safer schools have one officer rotating between 2 or 3 schools that are close together. Does LI have a similar program for it's schools?

Also in the approved Police Complement are 22 School Resource Officers, which is an increase of one position over FY2006-07. As previously discussed, a School Resource Officer is being added in FY2007-08 to correspond with the opening of Elko Middle School.
The School Resource Officer Program is a joint effort between the Division of Police and the Henrico County Public Schools. The program provides a School Resource Officer at each County middle and high school, 21 officers. Also one School Resource Officer is responsible for gang prevention issues Countywide. The Henrico County Public Schools provides funding for 16 of these Officers while the Division of Police funds the remaining six positions.

[pdcnret]

Originally Posted by TristansMommy

The goal here is to keep the education at the level we have it and lower our cost. It may even be that the playing field DOES get leveled, but again kids from a "poorer" district won't all magically be put into another school, as WHAT school a child will attend will STILL be based onwhat neighborhood the house is in.

We'er talking about streamlinging all those administrative costs, ..which will mean a lot of jobs lost (all those supers wiht high paying jobs.. CUT). At the same time, they'll need to do something about the salary structure of teachers, pensions etc... like making them State Employees... something.

Ther's great quality education elsewhere without the high taxes..LI needs to adopt a system that cuts our taxes.. PERIOD!

Don't automatically assume that your children will still attend neighborhood schools in a consolidation. Take a look at the North Carolina board where they bitterly complain that kids in Wake County are bused all over the county to deal with overcrowding situations. Other districts, such as in the Tampa, Florida area, will bus kids to achieve racial balance. There are no guarantees that kids will attend their local schools unless the consolidation is structured to do so. There are probably as many variables as there are consolidated districts.

[AnthonyNYC]

Nbres and Tristansmommy, I am just curious after hearing from forum members that live in areas where there is consolidation, what are your thoughts?

Thanks,

Anthony

[ClarkStreetKid]

Originally Posted by pdcnret

Don't automatically assume that your children will still attend neighborhood schools in a consolidation. Take a look at the North Carolina board where they bitterly complain that kids in Wake County are bused all over the county to deal with overcrowding situations.

Interestingly enough I just heard that one of the two principles I remarked about is heading to Wake County to work in the schools. He had managed a school that went from 0 to over crowded in two or three years as the surrounding development grew. At one point he told me he was getting around 70 new kids a week! A great guy with smarts, a flexible mind and experience. I'll check into it but I'd bet his experience was why he got the job.

FWIW My oldest son went through 3 elementary schools and my youngest went to 2 because of over crowding at the school we were districted for. We actually volunteered for the move from school 1 to school 2, move to school 3 was also great as we had anoher great principle starting that one up. The key IMO is getting a great principle that will attract great staff which will attract people to the underpopulated school. Another method is to make the underutilized schools magnet schools or school of excellence to attract students.

[ClarkStreetKid]

Originally Posted by fopt65

Also, if people on this forum are so truly interested in helping out those districts they deem as being in need, volunteer your time there. Be a reading tutor, or write a check to the district. I'm sure they'd appreciate it. Or better yet, move to that district and enroll your children in that school. Buy a foreclosure in that neighborhood. Your tax money will then be given to that district to help educate the children.

You were the one that said a child could excel there, and I know that's very unlikely to happen. But you are right that people could volunteer their time and money so that's not a bad start for those who are more affluent and educated to help out.

[Katiana]

In Colorado, every neighborhood has an attendance area elementary, middle and high school. Usually this is the school closest to one's home. There are a few exceptions, which are generally based on geographic boundaries. In other words, the closest high school to my home is in another city in the district, so our high school is farther away in our city. These exceptions are fairly unusual and mainly involve going to the next closest school. We also have charter schools and "focus" schools with no attendance area; the student body is entirely open enrollment. I don't know if you have charter schools in NY (I would guess yes).

There is no guarantee the system would work the same if the LI districts were consolidated, but this is the general idea.