Huntsville City Schools redrawing zone lines (Valley, Butler: magnet schools, university, education)

[hany123]

there aren't many soldiers left here. When bases start allowing contractors to live there you know they are hurting for renters.

[hey teach]

Originally Posted by hany123

there aren't many soldiers left here. When bases start allowing contractors to live there you know they are hurting for renters.

According to the HCS superintendent, there must be many, many soldiers in Huntsville, since he blames all the teacher vacancies on Huntsville is a military town and its transfer time.

Over 700 teachers have left the system in less than 3 years. That would be a lot of soldiers. lol

[Reactionary]

hey teach = "Over 700 teachers have left the system in less than 3 years."

Could you share your thoughts as to why so many teachers left the system? Does that number include the teachers laid off when the system was near insolvency?

[macwell]

Desegregation judge's research hints at topics for Huntsville's mediation with DOJ (in 3 charts) | AL.com

She noted that the board's plan would have raised the percentages of black students at seven majority white schools, with the biggest jumps at Blossomwood and Jones Valley But she criticized the city plan for doing little to change racial composition at majority black schools, instead "consolidating black students in schools with poor standardized test results and graduation rates and educational programs that are bare-boned..."

The racial data came from Huntsville officials. And she limited her inquiry to Huntsville, Grissom and Jemison feeder patterns.

<>

Finally, in the last few pages, she came to her point.

She did something school officials seldom do. She compared results over time in the mostly white schools and the mostly black schools of Huntsville. She compared test scores for third-graders in 2004 to test scores for high school students in 2011.

She later added: "The uncomfortable truth is that in a high school in which only 33% of the students read at or above grade level, many students probably are not prepared for the rigor of college level AP courses...Reading skills are developed in elementary school, not in high school."

Her data points to her assessment: The system failed to provide the remedial help to close the gaps.

[NoleFanHSV]

Originally Posted by macwell

Desegregation judge's research hints at topics for Huntsville's mediation with DOJ (in 3 charts) | AL.com

She noted that the board's plan would have raised the percentages of black students at seven majority white schools, with the biggest jumps at Blossomwood and Jones Valley But she criticized the city plan for doing little to change racial composition at majority black schools, instead "consolidating black students in schools with poor standardized test results and graduation rates and educational programs that are bare-boned..."

The racial data came from Huntsville officials. And she limited her inquiry to Huntsville, Grissom and Jemison feeder patterns.

<>

Finally, in the last few pages, she came to her point.

She did something school officials seldom do. She compared results over time in the mostly white schools and the mostly black schools of Huntsville. She compared test scores for third-graders in 2004 to test scores for high school students in 2011.

She later added: "The uncomfortable truth is that in a high school in which only 33% of the students read at or above grade level, many students probably are not prepared for the rigor of college level AP courses...Reading skills are developed in elementary school, not in high school."

Her data points to her assessment: The system failed to provide the remedial help to close the gaps.

And how is it the systems fault? Maybe the parents of those failing schools should do more.

[GentleVoice]

Um... NoleFanHSV? that is NOT an option on the table, please do try to keep up

[Topperoon]

Huntsville High School feeder pattern
•Hampton Cove and Goldsmith-Schiffman elementary schools would feed to Hampton Cove Middle School
•Blossomwood, Jones Valley, Monte Sano and Sonnie Hereford elementary schools would feed to Huntsville Middle School
•Hampton Cove and Huntsville middle schools would feed to Huntsville High School

Grissom High School feeder pattern
•Whitesburg , Chaffee and McDonnell elementary schools would feed to Whitesburg Middle School
•Farley and Challenger elementary schools would feed to Challenger Middle
•Mountain Gap and Weatherly elementary schools would feed to Mountain Gap Middle
•Whitesburg, Challenger and Mountain Gap middle schools would feed to Grissom High School
New joint Huntsville City Schools, DOJ plan revealed, desegregation judge sets March hearing | AL.com



More black students in Hampton Cove
The district will recruit more black students to attend Hampton Cove and Goldsmith-Schiffman elementary schools on the other side of Monte Sano. The goal is no less than 15 percent.

The zoning plan agreed upon here largely mirrors what Huntsville wanted, with the most major change being the addition of more black students into the Huntsville High zone. But no school was kicked out to make space, as the feds had originally suggested. Instead, majority black Hereford Elementary (a new school consolidating University Place and Terry Heights) was added to Huntsville High

McDonnell Elementary
Huntsville, not the feds, had wanted to shut down McDonnell and split up the students. But McDonnell in southwest Huntsville is an unusual school, long home to the city's heaviest concentration of Hispanic families. The families there spoke of their unique community. The federal government didn't ever raise the issue in court, as the Justice Department was focused on historic issues related to equitable treatment of black students, not Hispanic students. Still, somewhere in private negotiations, the plan changed. Huntsville backed off. McDonnell stays open.

Butler closes

The plan to desegregate Huntsville schools: Who won, who lost, and what's in the fine print | AL.com

[TN2HSV]

So glad I'm in Madison City when I hear about this drama.

[Topperoon]

Big loser Huntsville Middle and High slammed, Blossomwood and Jones Valley schools get a split of the projects and neighborhoods from Butler Terrace, Governors drive, Bob Wallace and Drake area blocks. Feed into Huntsville Middle and Huntsville High. Hampton Cove Goldsmith has to increase its black attendance. Hampton Cove all feed into Huntsville Middle and Huntsville High. Slam.

New Hereford School combines University Place and Terry Heights added to Huntsville Middle and High. Hereford area block includes University Drive from Wynn down to Parkway, upward parts of Sparkman and Jordan Lane, over including parts Oakwood back over Pulaski Pike toward the parkway. All areas reporting daily high crime is heading to Huntsville Middle and High with Hampton Cove, Jones Valley and Blossomwood feeders. Lots of the project areas roll into Hereford school. I call these areas Big losers. Slammed.

McDonnelll stays open, feed into Whitesburg then Grissom. McDonnell area includes the entire area block Drake south, Patton, Triana Blvd, and Johnson Road, will feed into Whitesburg and Grissom. Another area block of Drake gets to go to Chaffee elementary which pulls in parts of Johnson Road and other Triana Blvd. areas will feed into Whitesburg and Grissom. Whitesburg and Grissom lose slammed.

[LCTMadison]

And here we go.....

I did always think the arguments the Monte Sano parents used was funny regarding having to "drive down Governors" to get to the elementary school considering those parents have to drive down Governors to get to HSV Middle and HSV High. Now the Blossomwood parents fear the drive "up Governors"....and they will be going the opposite direction of all the heavy traffic.

However this ends, its probably not going to be pretty.

Huntsville parents from Blossomwood writing desegregation judge to complain | AL.com