Board of Ed Redistricts to Solve Macdonough's Overcrowding

The Board of Education voted this evening, 5-1, to redistrict 10 streets from Macdonough Elementary School to Snow and Farm Hill Elementary Schools.  The move would reduce the number of classrooms at Macdonough from 14 to 12 this fall.  Superintendent Charles explained the move as the only option to relieve the overcrowded conditions at Macdonough, where specials teachers do not have a dedicated space to teach in.  As an example, Art and Music share the same room, and both teachers have to undo and re-stage the room each time they teach.  Macdonough Principal Jon Romeo called it a "work climate space issue" his teachers have to face that no other school in the district does.

BOE member Ryan Kennedy raised many concerns about the move, including the rather painful observation that these 10 streets had been moved to Macdonough just 3 years ago to help solve the racial imbalance issues the school faces.  At that time, many parents begged to be left at the schools they loved, and BOE member Sheila Daniels reminded the board of that fact.  When asked specifically, both Dr. Charles and Principal Romeo admitted that this redistricting would only solve overcrowding for now, and it would work against solving the racial imbalance issues.  Specifically, Macdonough is only allowed to be 25% above the district's minority population average, and it was at 24.9% in October when school populations are measured by the state.  Principal Romeo commented, "We think this move will change racial imbalance by about 1.5%, which is not significant....We're hoping the state will be lenient about being 2 or 3 students over since we're not asking to be like 10-15% out of balance."

The move will affect about 30 students, mostly those starting kindergarten, first and second grade in the fall.  Only a handful of third and fourth graders are affected, and only because they are the older siblings of the younger children being moved.  Macdonough currently has 3 kindergarten and 3 first grade classes, and the move would reduce those two grades to 2 classes each.  The families have not yet been notified as the Superintendent needed the Board's approval before she could move forward.

The Board was missing three members this evening, including Ed McKeon, who is the Chair of the Feasibility community.  Cheryl McClellan commented that the committee had discussed all of Ryan Kennedy's objections, but had decided that this move was the only option to solve the most pressing concern of overcrowding.  In the final vote, Ryan voted against redistricting.

In other BOE news, seven Keigwin Middle School students helped Principal Silvia Mayo Molina present their school to the board.  Their combined presence and polished public speaking skills made a huge impression on the board and the audience.  The students spoke about their individual Student Success Plans (SSP), their involvement in extra-curricular activities, and their pursuit of personal goals. All were dressed to impress - great job!

From back left to right: Ramo Bajraktarevic, Sara Canfield, Khaliesha Ellison, and Makayah Joseph
From front left to right: Rose Romano, Anthony Vidot, and Bianca Labella

Finally, as the Superintendent prepares to present her budget to the City Council next Tuesday night (April 16), she was able to report that the district has erased the $1.2 million deficit it faced at the beginning of the school year.  This is very good news, especially given the fact that the budget Dr. Charles is asking for represents a 7.1% increase over last year's budget.  While this seems like a huge jump, the BOE budget has been flat for 5 years, which actually means the budget was cut each year when contractual price increases such as salary raises or contracted services price increases are taken into consideration.

Charles also reported that she is counting on receiving $1.6 million from the Governor's new budget, but that the district will not receive funds that were sequestered from the Federal Government.  She admitted to some preliminary discussions about what would be cut if her budget is not fully funded, but she did not hint at what the cuts would be.

Large Crowd Disappointed at Board of Ed Meeting

It was standing room only at Tuesday night's regular Board of Education meeting. Much of the standing was done by the five media camera crews and a handful of print journalists who also attended the meeting. The mood in the room was rather tense, and the crowd was prone to several instances of loudly spoken comments in response to something said by one of the board members.

The Superintendent's inability to answer any of the specific questions posed to him regarding the use of "time out" rooms at Farm Hill Elementary School seriously disappointed and/or angered the parents in the audience. The agenda was re-arranged to allow the Superintendent to present his report on Farm Hill immediately following the adoption of the agenda (view the report here, look for the Talking Points, Farm Hill School link). Most of the Superintendent's report contained information that had been shared with parents at the Farm Hill PTA meeting on January 12th (coverage of that meeting can be found here). Upon the conclusion of the update, BOE Chairman Gene Nocera commented that due to on-going investigations, the board's discussion of what was happening at Farm Hill would be limited to the Superintendent's Report. Nocera did promise, however, that a full public discussion would follow the conclusion of all investigations. [Author's note: this statement was not well received by the audience.]

Congressional District To Change Very Little

The Connecticut Mirror reports that the Court appointed "Special Master" has largely accepted the Democratically proposed map of the U.S. Congressional Districts. The will lead to very minor change in Middletown's representation.

The court process was initiated because Democrats and Republicans could not agree on new boundaries. The disagreements were primarily about the shape of the 5th District, covering the northwest portion of the state. Changes in that district could have led to significant changes in Middletown.

State House of Representative Minority Leader Henry Cafero was reported to accept the new districts, "I respect it. It's over. We move on from here."

In the drawing, the green lines indicate the existing district boundary, the red lines indicate the Democrats’ proposed district boundary, and the black lines indicate the Special Master’s proposed boundary.

Board of Ed Hears Redistricting Update and Facilities Report

The most "exciting" elements of Tuesday night's Regular Board of Education meeting have been covered in previous posts, so this update will just cover the more mundane topics that still deserve some attention.

During the discussion before the Board's vote to use April vacation to make up snow days, BOE Member Sally Boske asked if there was any flexibility in the scheduling of CMTs. Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges replied that other than fixed date tests, all other tests have to be completed by March 31 (this includes make-ups). Normally, the elementary schedule begins the first week in March with the fixed date writing assessment on March 8. However, because of all the snow day schedule disruption, the CMT dates have been moved to later in the month. A letter to parents with these new details is coming home soon.

The administration is putting together a committee to look at the school calendars for 2011-12 and 2012-13. This group will consider the issues caused by this year's weather as it works on what the next two years will look like. Ultimately, the BOE has to approve the calendar, but there will be a deliberate discussion about ways to handle snow/make-up days, and if the current method is the best choice.

At the last BOE meeting, members asked for an update on redistricting, and Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges gave a verbal update (a written one coming soon, didn't have it done in time due to time spent on analyzing substitute requirements if Feb. vacation was cancelled). The quick update is that some schools did a student and/or parent survey, and "everyone seems to be happy" with where they ended up. At Farm Hill, for example, of those surveyed:

• 96% felt welcome
• 96% felt the staff was supportive
• 94% said their children liked to come to school
• 96% said the school was meeting their expectations
• (the total number of surveys was not known)

There were no cases reported of anyone asking to go back to the school they came from. At Moody school, it was reported that parents are happy to have a computer room back, and they're happy about not having to attend two different assemblies (because of previous overcrowding limitations). Attendance at all school activities district wide is up, and Senges also commented that there is "high quality instruction and the climate is positive."

Macdonough Principal Jon Romeo was asked about how redistricting has affected his school and if the racial balance numbers are within compliance. Romeo replied that Macdonough had two separate challenges: first, that 50% of the student population was new to the school this year, and second, that he was merging five different populations of students into one new group (students were redistricted to Macdonough from five other elementary schools). Despite these significant challenges, though, Romeo said the school year was going well, and that Macdonough is well within the racial balance limits. Furthermore, the vast majority of students who had to leave Macdonough went to Spencer, and according to the reports he's received, these families "felt loved" by their new principal and school community.

The administration will continue the District Improvement Plan for a 4th year just because all pieces of the plan have not yet been implemented. Middletown had to develop this plan as a result of its identification as a district "needing improvement" according to CMT scores (but note that 2009-10 scores placed Middletown in the "adequate yearly progress category). Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges was asked specifically about how "differentiation" is taking root in the district. Senges replied, "Everyone is in a different place regarding differentiation....By the end of this year, everyone will be technically proficient, but I don't think that will actually be the case....I would be overjoyed if that was the case, but I don't think so. We don't have enough professional development time or materials to get this done any faster." [Author's note: differentiation is teaching students at their level of understanding, not just a generic plan for the whole class. So, using the same subject, more advanced students are given different materials/assignments than students who are struggling with the material. All the student, though, are still in the same class together. Given the fact that the District is systemically eliminating leveling (that's classes grouped by ability) ) because teachers are supposed to be able to differentiate their instruction, hearing that "everyone is in a different place" isn't exactly confidence inspiring in the decision to eliminate leveling."]

The rest of the meeting was mostly devoted to Facilities Director Ken Jackson's status updates on snow clearing and structural integrity: "Our buildings are in fine condition....At no time was there any danger of structural failure or collapse in any structure in our schools." Here's a quick timeline of what's been happening:

• Prior to last week, snow clearing was done by in-house staff.
• On February 3rd, Michael J. Turner Enterprises, LLC was retained to clear snow from roofs. The company freed all of its crews to attend to snow removal and 40-60 men each days worked to clear snow.
• On Friday night (2/4), 2 structural engineers were retained to evaluate all buildings. The official report is available here.
• The intention of snow removal is to keep the amount of roof snow below the maximum load amount, not "to remove every snowflake." Every school roof is designed with a 20-30% safety cushion above what code requires, so as long as drains are clear and major drifts are removed, all snow doesn't have to be removed.
• Friday (2/4) was the worst day of stress on roofs, and the cracks noted in the drywall at Moody, Bielefield and Macdonough were a sign of the roofs flexing as they were designed to. The decision to evacuate Moody and Bielefield was made by each principal as a precaution for student safety. Jackson stated, "I ultimately think we could have been in school all day with no problems, but I won't criticize the decision each administrator made given their circumstances."
• On Monday, 2/7, at about 1:30pm, Laurence School was evacuated due to the smell of gas. The supply of gas to the school was turned off, and it was determined by the fire department that students could return to school and finish the day normally. The snow cover on the gas pipes on the roof had to be cleared to reveal a crack in one of the pipes, and once that was repaired, a system check was done and everything was restored to normal.
• Farm Hill School had minor flooding on Tuesday, 2/8. Superintendent Michael Frechette commented, "Our buildings are going to leak. They're old. If your house is leaking, we have a million square ft. of roof and it's probably going to leak."

Ken Jackson was asked about the National Guard and if Middletown would be getting any additional help: "That request has been made, but the National Guard isn't free. Towns have to reimburse the state for National Guard assistance." Jackson also thanked Middletown's Public Works Department for all the help it has provided in snow removal, noting that "the equipment we use for snow removal, well, it's tired folks....and we don't have the heavy machinery that Public Works does, so their big snow plows have really helped us out." Jackson plans to use this upcoming week of vacation to work on additional snow removal in parking lots (especially Farm Hill), and he thanked his workers for the amazing effort they've put in so far.

Business Manager Nancy Haynes told the BOE that without all the bills in yet, her estimated costs for snow removal, over-time for maintenance crews, and the structural engineers is roughly $250,000. She hopes that there may be some grant money eventually available since all school districts are facing similar unexpected costs, but she's not counting on it.

There was a discussion of the Honeywell Alert System and when and how that system gets activated. Jackson said he doesn't deal with putting the alert out, but that he's often the one providing the information that goes into the alert:

"We've had more crises in a month than in the entire year, and the first concern is for the students' safety. We are not thinking about talking to parents. We have to mobilize resources and assets and come up with a plan of action to deal with the situation. We think about parents last, and so a Honeywell Alert can't be in the first 1/2 hour of a crisis. I can't afford to give out the wrong information and then have to explain to parents how I got it wrong."

Superintendent Michael Frechette then commented, "We'd love to have a full time press position, but that ain't going to happen." BOE Member Corrine Gill expressed her concern over the communication process between the BOE and the Administration the public, and noted that perhaps the BOE should evaluate if there is a more efficient way to communicate what's happening: "There are so many kids with cell phones who are texting their parents in the middle of a crisis. We can't let 5th graders decide what's happening because this passes mis-information along. But, perhaps we can use the PTOs or something more effective."

Other BOE members asked about what kids did once they were evacuated to another school and why some schools with cracks were evacuated when others were not. BOE Chairman Ted Raczka commented, "It's been an unprecedented winter with unprecedented situations. We need to spend some time over the summer thinking about how to do this better in the future. I'd like to know what the kids did after they got to their evacuation point and if we need to think about that some more." Frechette replied that the four principals involved in Moody and Bielefield's evacuation have been asked to put together a report for the next meeting: "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at all that went on." BOE Member Sheila Daniels asked why Macdonough wasn't evacuated if it also had cracks, and Ken Jackson replied that it was really the call of the principal based on the information he or she had at the time: "In retrospect, it probably wasn't necessary to evacuate, but those were individual calls and I won't criticize them."

The BOE has a workshop scheduled for February 22, 2011 to discuss its District Improvement plan and the Redistricting Committee.

Board of Ed Votes to Redistrict

The Board of Education voted tonight to accept three of four recommendations from the Ad Hoc Feasibility Committee:

1. The proposed attendance boundaries were accepted (see map here).
2. 4th graders have the option to stay at their current school if parents provide their own transportation and notify the administration of their decision to stay by May 15, 2010.
3. The BOE directed the Superintendent to establish uniform school welcoming and supporting policies that all schools will use to integrate new families into the school community.
4. The proposal to establish a new committee to study other JCJ recommendations was tabled until the next BOE meeting. Multiple board members wanted a chance to decide what they want this new committee to do.

During the public session, many parents bemoaned their lack of choice about where to send their child to school. Several argued that all children should have the choice to be grandfathered (not just 4th graders). Many also complained that their children would not handle change well, and that it didn't make any sense to move when their children were well adjusted and happy. Still others argued that they had bought specific homes in specific parts of town for specific schools, and it was unfair for the school board to suddenly change attendance lines.

On the other side of the spectrum, Ed McKeon (speaking as a parent of 7 year old twins) commented that Middletown's goal should be to have the best school system in the state. "We're not there yet, but this plan is a step in the right direction...we have to do it because it's the best for all our kids." A Macdonough parent and PTA member urged other parents to "make this a teachable moment...your child will do what you do...change is as hard as you make it." She challenged parents to visit Macdonough and to "check us out" because the PTA is doing everything it can to make new families feel welcome. Izzie Greenberg, Director of the North End Action Team (NEAT) and one of the Ad Hoc Committee members, rejected the notion that redistricting is "all Macdonough's fault." She specifically stated that racial imbalance was only one part of the puzzle that had to be solved: Moody's overcrowding and inequities in school resources and building usages were other major problems that had to be addressed. A Moody parent told me afterwards that "Moody has been so overcrowded for so long that everyone else in town got the benefit." This parent also added that while it's great that everyone likes their school, you can't have empty seats on one side of town when there aren't enough seats on the other side of town.

During the Board's discussions before the vote, several members did point out that a 2% change in Macdonough's minority population really isn't a margin of safety that anyone feels good about. Macdonough's Oct. 2009 enrollment population was 213, and its proposed population is 228. Two percent of 228 students is only 4.5 students, and it could take just two or three families to swing the minority population outside the alloted 25% of the district average. More than one parent commented that this isn't a significant enough change to justify the level of disruption for hundreds of families across the district. At the same time, though, several BOE members commented that parents had overwhelmingly told JCJ Architect that they wanted neighborhood schools, and that Middletown hasn't had neighborhood schools in years. As an example, 79 kids are bused out of the North End to Moody School, and most of those parents don't have transportation to attend school events or parent/teacher meetings. Additionally, the law requires that we achieve racial balance: as BOE member Bill Grady pointed out, "we don't get points for trying."

After the meeting, Mayor Giuliano commented, "How many Boards of Education and superintendents have faced this same issue? It's not new, and at some point, you have to just pick a plan and move forward." (Interestingly, the mayor mentors a 5th grader at Macdonough every Friday.) Giuliano also hinted that the BOE won't get the budget it submitted: "I think we trimmed about $140,000 from what they asked us for."

In the end, redistricting is happening and it is happening now. I will say that Middletown is a large city that acts like a small town - we're so spread out from each other than it's hard to remember that there are eight elementary schools and two middle schools and a high school. You can think small town in your individual school, but you can't govern that way when you have eleven buildings to manage. Furthermore, several populations have shouldered an unequal distribution of resources and space. While it may be inconvenient for some happy children to move, it's just wrong for many others to suffer overcrowded or under-resourced situations for even one minute longer.

And to all those parents who wanted a choice, I say this: you can vote with your checkbook and during elections. While it was nice to see you at tonight's meeting, where have you been all this long while? Sure, you might attend PTA meetings but have you been to a Common Council meeting? Do you even know how much our district will be hurting for funds in the next two years? Have you pushed for a more rigorous curriculum or a longer school day or a foreign language program? Our district didn't just fall off a ladder yesterday and land on the "needs improvement" square...the decline has been many years in the making. What are you going to do to change this? Will you pay for everyone in town to have the same community you wanted to stay with?

Don't misunderstand me. I was excited to see tons of new faces at a BOE meeting! I just hope you keep coming back...it will take all of us working together to get where we want to go.

Board of Ed To Vote on Redistricting Plan Tuesday

Just in case you've had too much happiness with Easter eggs and fantastic spring weather, don't forget that the Board of Education meets tomorrow night at 7pm to vote on redistricting.

The meeting will be held in the auditorium at Middletown High School. There is a public session scheduled, so concerned individuals have three minutes each to address the BOE on matters pertaining to education.

The only action item on the agenda is the Ad Hoc Feasibility Committee Recommendations.

Cloudy with a chance of Redistricting

Macdonough has been getting a lot of ink lately -- I thought you might like to see some photos to go along with all the chatter.

Last Thursday, we had "Movie Night" at the school - it was suggested by a dad who came to a PTA meeting a few weeks ago, and everyone jumped in to help make it a party.

About 100 families gathered in the school cafeteria and gym. Some wore their pajamas and set up camp to watch "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" while snacking on popcorn (thanks Destinta!).



You can see Reggie Holley and Marilyn Dunkley dishing out the popcorn to a line of patient kids.



For those who preferred some grown-up company, there were lots of parents in the cafeteria enjoying a spread put together by Taneone and Rebecca. There were meatballs, of course, and lots of fresh fruit and veggies.



Of course, I couldn't resist the opportunity to do some organizing too, trying to make sure that all the families know about the redistricting vote on April 6th. We're losing 80 children at Macdonough. Most of the kids who would be leaving us live less than half a mile from Spencer -- and well over a mile from Macdonough. That doesn't make this any easier. I talked to one mom who is slated to move and she said, "No, my child won't be moving. I just had his conference and his teacher says he's more than a year ahead of his grade's reading level. I won't risk losing that and I don't think we'll find it anywhere else. We just won't be leaving. That just won't be happening."

Crazy world, huh? Some people are desperate not to come to Macdonough, and some are desperate not to leave.

So that was Movie Night. I didn't get to see much of the movie, but my kid had a great time, sitting next to his friend-since-kindergarten who'll probably be moving to Spencer next year.

I imagine that there will be a lot of people at the Board of Ed meeting on April 6th (7 pm in the Middletown High auditorium). Some will be for the redistricting - and some against. In the meantime, I'm concentrating on celebrating the community we have together now, even as we get ready for change.

Parents Bring Questions to MSA

The "new" Middletown Schools Association had its first real meeting last night in the auditorium at Snow School. There were more than 50 parents in attendance, with a scattering of teachers and other school district staff, drawn by the opportunity to talk about the proposed redistricting of the elementary schools.

The first order of business was to elect officers for the recently revived organization. The MSA is a council of all the PTO/PTA's in the city, and the monthly meetings are a place to share programing and fundraising ideas, and to discuss any larger issues that affect all of the schools. After a two year hiatus, the MSA now has a full slate of officers: Stephanie Alderman, president, Melinda Brainerd, vice president, Kevin Wiliarty, secretary, Deb Stanley, treasurer.

After the election, the new MSA president turned the floor over to the redistricting issue, beginning with remarks by Superintendent Michael Frechette and Board of Education member Sally Boske.

Dr. Frechette outlined the two reasons for the redistricting plan: because of the overcrowding at Moody (contrasted with empty classrooms at Farm Hill and Bielefield) and because of the racial balance laws that require all of our schools to be within 25% of the average number of minority children in the system. Macdonough has exceeded that percentage. The Superintendent stated that he had been able to persuade the State to delay penalties for violating the racial balance laws (which were supposed to be resolved by this school year) because the Board had commissioned a study of all the school buildings and the population patterns by JCJ Architects. That study was completed in November 2009, with the primary option being the redistricting of all the schools, including the move of 19 clusters of streets to a different school. The Board of Ed formed the ad hoc committee to review those recommendations and recommend new attendance boundaries for each school, which were released on March 9th. The school board will be considering the plan at its April 6th meeting, and is likely to take a vote that night so that adequate time is left for planning for next year.

Sally Boske discussed the process that the ad hoc committee used in forming the plan, working to find a balance between the requirements to have better demographic equity and the capacity of each building, while trying to keep neighborhoods together. One of the problems, she noted, was that everyone has a different definition of "neighborhood", and because many of the schools are close together, it might not always mean going to the closest school, but should mean that all the families on your street would go to the same school. She said "we're only human" and that the plan is not perfect for everyone, but she also pointed to the "domino" effect that limits changes that could be made. According to Boske, if you move a street from one school to another, that changes the demographics and capacity at both schools, which will then likely need to displace more children in a ripple effect across all the schools. She also pointed out that they are still in the process of editing the street lists for the new boundaries, and that house numbers should soon be available on those lists (schools website).

Many parents in the room were unconvinced by the presentation. Snow School parent Adam Katz questioned why the proposal did not include the option for all children to stay at their current school, as long as their parents would be willing to provide transportation. He argued that a "grandfather clause" would ease the dissatisfaction of those who don't want to change schools, while allowing the new attendance boundaries to come into effect over the next five years. Both Frechette and Boske rejected that concept on the grounds that the State Board of Ed will not allow us to continue to have a school that is out of racial balance, and that Middletown is required to change that sooner rather than later. They also pointed out that the overcrowding and undercrowding of the schools would likely be exacerbated under such a system, depending on which families exercised an option to not change schools.

Frechette was pressed on the point of what exactly it would mean to face sanctions from the State if we don't comply with the racial balance laws. The answer - which was clearly unsatisfactory to some - was that the State would "take over" the school if we fail to comply, and potentially withhold its funding from the city's school district.

Another Snow parent, Jim Brainerd, attempted to bring the discussion back to the issue of education and asked what the effect would be on learning. The Superintendent pointed out that simply by saving long bus rides for many children in town, there would be an immediate improvement, and that family involvement would be increased.

Other ideas were floated, such as creating a classical music magnet school, and turning Keigwin into another elementary school. Interestingly, both of these ideas were considered during the past year or two of planning discussions on these issues, but were not pursued for various reasons including the lack of funding. One parent suggested simply closing Macdonough and busing those children around town -- but it was noted that there is not enough room for all those students at the other schools, aside from the issue of justice.

Others in the room spoke to reassure parents who primarily are concerned that their children are being moved from Snow to Macdonough. A Macdonough teacher spoke about the similarity of her experiences working in both Moody and Macdonough, which follow the same curriculum, on the same schedule. Macdonough's PTA Vice President Marilyn Dunkley encouraged parents to remember that they have power to get involved in their kids education, and their kids will always benefit from that involvement. Izzi Greenberg, who was on the ad hoc committee and is the Executive Director of the North End Action Team, spoke about the hope that this plan represents for the hundreds of families who have been bused across town for many years, and who will now go to schools that are much closer to their homes.

Clearly, this first MSA meeting served an important purpose in providing a forum for public dialogue about an important educational issue in town -- if you've ever attended a Board of Ed meeting, then you know there isn't an opportunity for question and answer with the public. Hopefully, the new MSA officers will continue to find ways to improve the communication between the school district and its constituents.

The Board of Ed will meet on April 6th on the topic of the redistricting plan, at a location to be determined. In addition to the plan itself, the Board will consider options such as the opportunity for current fourth-graders to finish at their current school. Apparently, this presents some logistical problems for the school district in planning teachers and class sizes for next year, so the deadline of "June 30th" which was proposed by the ad hoc committee will likely be moved up, if in fact the option is endorsed by the Board.

Full Disclosure: I'm the Macdonough PTA president and was a member of the ad hoc committee. If you are interested in my personal opinion about the redistricting, you can read it here.

Redistricting: Updated Map and Street List

A revised version of the map and street list for the proposed elementary school redistricting plan is up on the school district website.

The previous version had some duplication of street names and did not list streets that currently have no children.

A direct link to the map is here: map link

A direct link to the street list is here: street list.

Note that the street list is the second page of a document called "Demographic Breakdown By School." The first page is a spreadsheet of the new percentages of minority and free/reduced lunch kids at the schools. Use the tabs at the top of this spreadsheet to move between the two pages. Hope that's not too confusing!

Thanks to Izzi Greenberg for this tip!

Board of Ed Hears Proposal Tonight

On Tuesday evening, the Board of Ed will hear a proposal for redistricting the attendance boundaries of Middletown's eight elementary schools, as recommended by the ad hoc committee which the Board established last December. The meeting is at 7 pm at City Hall, and a public hearing will precede the presentation.

Because this is such a big issue, the ad hoc committee has recommended that the Board schedule a special meeting before March 22nd, to hold an additional public session and vote on the proposal.

The proposal contains a town-wide redistricting, with a new elementary school for 438 of the town's roughly 2,600 Kindergarten through 5th grade students. The purpose of the plan was to create contiguous attendance boundaries for each school, while improving the racial balance of the school system and better distributing the students throughout the schools.

The proposal also advises that the administration provide support and guidance to the schools in welcoming new families, and it allows for current fourth graders to opt to stay at their current school for 5th grade, as long as they provide their own transportation and provide adequate notice to the system. In addition to the new attendance boundaries, the ad hoc also recommends that a new committee continue to review the JCJ study, with the goal of helping the Board understand and address any disparities between the schools in terms of facilities, programs, materials and other resources.

Although the list of streets affected is not yet available electronically, here's the map of the new attendance boundaries:


View Attendance Boundaries in a larger map


In case you are interested in my opinion on the subject, as a member of the ad hoc committee, you can read it here.

A Return to Neighborhood Schools

If you've neglected your reading of the EYE this weekend, then you've got some work ahead of you. This is third post in 24 hours on the subject of the new attendance boundaries for each of Middletown's eight elementary schools. If you want to make any sense of this, read Ed's first, and then Izzi's, and then come back here!

Now that we're all on the same page, I wanted to offer some "commentary" as a community representative on the Board of Ed's ad hoc committee on this topic.


COMMENTARY

Redistricting has always been a dirty word in Middletown.

Politicians avoid it as long as they can. Homeowners worry about property values. Parents don't want their kids to change schools.

So I know it won't be a popular comment when I say this: This redistricting is a very good thing for Middletown -- and it is long overdue. There will undoubtedly be many cases when it would have been better for a particular child to leave well enough alone -- but for the community as a whole, this is the right direction.

"Redistricting" is just eduspeak for the need to shift the streets that attend any particular school. Population patterns are always changing in town. One neighborhood might be stable, where people don't move away after their kids grow up, so eventually there are fewer students in the school. Another neighborhood might see an influx of new condominiums or subdivisions. The Sheff v. O'Neil court case meant that schools have to track the racial balance of the students, and make adjustments if they stray more than 25% up or down from the town average.

I've heard people in the biz say that redistricting should be expected every 10 years or so. But back in the late 1990's when Middletown last needed to face this issue, the Board of Ed and the Superintendent adopted a cowardly policy of "spot redistricting." That meant they didn't have to risk the ire of parents all over town if they just picked up a few streets here and there and moved them to where they needed them. The fact that the children who were moved were typically low-income kids, often with high minority rates, made it easy to avoid political consequences for redistricting.

After a dozen years of continual "spot redistricting," things are a mess: Within three blocks from the corner of Main & Washington, there are kids who attend Moody, Spencer, Farm Hill, and Snow. And of course, some go to Macdonough, which is walking distance to all of them. I think we can all agree that's a ridiculous amount of busing.

The current map of school boundaries looks like a bowl of spaghetti, with little bits of streets going every which way. The irony is that Middletown is still out of compliance with racial balance laws, and all these changes have meant that some schools have more kids than seats, and some have empty classrooms.

Our Board of Ed recently spent something like $130,000 on a study by JCJ Architects to learn about how the sizes and locations of our school buildings matched up with where the kids live. As part of that study, they surveyed what people want from the school system. Believe it or not, "Neighborhood Schools" was the #1 priority.

The new map which will be voted on by the ad hoc (Monday) and then presented to the Board of Ed (Tuesday) was based on JCJ's recommendation to move 19 clusters of streets back to a neighborhood school. The JCJ report was issued last Fall, so it would be hard to argue that Middletown citizens couldn't see this redistricting coming.

The Board gave the ad hoc committee the task of deciding which of JCJ's recommendations were practical, and how to create school boundaries that made sense with regard to race and the capacity of each school. Along the way, the ad hoc committee also looked at the economic balance of each school, and (except for Macdonough) none of the schools are proposed to be more than a few points over the town average for poverty rates. The racial balance of the schools is also distributed so that none of the schools are more than a few points higher than the town average, again except for Macdonough. The proposal should pass muster with the state Dept of Education because the adjustments bring Macdonough just into compliance with the racial balance law. In terms of capacity, with a projected average class size of 20 kids per room, the schools with the lowest poverty ratio have the highest number of filled classrooms, leaving a little extra room in the schools with higher poverty rates to provide space for extra services.

The key to understanding the new redistricting plan is this: every elementary school will now have a single, contiguous attendance zone. In a few cases, that will mean that families don't go to the nearest school, but they do go school with their neighbors. That's a big difference from the way we now do things.

The new map resembles a big patchwork quilt instead of a bowl of spaghetti. It's a return to neighborhood schools and it should have been done a long time ago. Why? For transportation reasons, for a sense of community, for helping parents be involved in their child's education, and for an increased commitment to the quality of education in your neighborhood. It's not that every school will or can be the same. But with the new attendance boundaries, our schools would have a better chance of taking advantage of their natural assets and reaching their potential.

I'm not going to argue that it's perfect - in fact I personally voted against the current proposal at the last committee meeting because I have long been in favor of resolving racial balance by creating a choice or magnet school at Macdonough. But the majority of the committee voted in favor of using attendance boundaries to create racial balance.

So my opening statement was that this redistricting is a "very good thing" for Middletown, and I do believe that. It is not, however "the best thing" for Middletown.

In an ideal world, there would have been enough leadership on the Board of Ed or at Central Office to understand that these recommendations should have been formulated last Fall, so that there would be plenty of time for community input before a vote from the Board. And all that would have been done before the February 1st deadline that the State Dept of Education gave us (and remember - that was after they gave us a generous extension.) Instead, our school district submitted a report that was inadequate, and we'll need the Board to act before the community really understands the proposals. There will inevitably be resistance and a loss of trust that could have been avoided with better planning and communication. Personally, I'm disappointed that the Board of Ed will not get the chance to publicly consider and vote on a choice or magnet school, since the concept has been killed twice "in committee" in the past six months.

But in spite of my reservations about the process, I don't want to lose the chance to fix the long-standing wrongs of "spot redistricting" and what it has done to our community. So I'm hoping that the Board of Ed accepts the ad hoc committee's recommendation. Then we can get back to the business of trying to ensure that every school in town is one that parents would be willing to have their child attend.