Post by mj173 on Feb 19, 2008 11:43:57 GMT -6
I got this email from a friend and wondered what people thought of this. I guess the point is to not have the 3rd High School at all by moveing 6th grade tothe Elem. Schools. Thoughts??
There is a solution to the Metea Valley High School site and boundary situation that has not been explored. This solution would cut HS bussing costs by 25%. It would reduce traffic to HS by 25%. It could be executed with the disruption of only about 225 students (0.8% of the student body). The disruption would occur next year and the benefit of lower high school enrollment would be felt next year, immediately alleviating the overcrowding at Neuqua Valley High School and getting it back below capacity. No middle school splits would be required. No additional bussing across grade-level train tracks would be required. Lastly, this solution costs a whole lot less than anything the district has proposed.
According to the school capacity summary published by the district, the 21 elementary schools have a capacity of 17,125 students. When the district asked the public for funding of a third HS in the 2006 referendum, it used estimated peak enrollment of 15,175 across those elementary schools. If the projection had been accurate, the district would be operating at 90% of elementary school capacity at its peak. The reality of the 2007 enrollment numbers is that total district elementary enrollment is 13,210, almost 2000 below the district's 2006 projections. Today total district elementary school enrollment is at 77% of capacity. Moreover, elementary school enrollment has been declining in the last two years and is likely to continue to do so. The 2007-2008 kindergarten cohort is 1842, down from the previous year's 1988. The 2007-2008 1st grade cohort is 2210, down fom the previous year's 2358. If present trends continue, elementary capacity utilization will fall to just 70% within 5 years. Note that spare space must be heated and maintained, so empty classrooms are not free, even if they were 'paid for' by developers or previous school bonds. The district has already stopped operating one elementary school, Wheatland, for the 2007-2008 school year.
If IPSD-204 were to keep 6th grade in the elementary schools, 16 of the 21 elementary schools would remain below capacity. The table below shows the schools that would be over capacity, the amount, and an easy solution for each. The solution in every case would involves a minor one-time split along obvious geographic or subdivision lines.
It should be noted that none of the elementary school shifts would impact middle school or high school transition, since kids are moved to a neighboring elementary that feeds the same middle school (and high school) in every case. The shift has no impact on middle school enrollment, other than pushing the peak year back by one year.
The district reports capacity at 7000 for middle schools. For 2007-2008, district middle school enrollment is 7022. However, 2007-2008 is likely to be the peak year for middle school enrollment for the district unless the Peterson and Builta neighborhoods experience a sudden building explosion. Of the districts six middle schools, only two are above capacity. The other four are below capacity presently. Three of those four will never reach capacity according to a summation of the elementary classes that will feed in to them. The fourth, Still, will be at 1206 in the 2010-2011 school year and at 1211 in the 2011-2012 school year. Thereafter it drops below capacity.
The present middle school over-capacity problem is centered in two schools: Gregory and Scullen. Gregory will drop below capacity next year due to declining class sizes and will not return to capacity unless there is an explosion of building in the Builta neighborhood. Scullen is the epicenter of the middle school overcapacity problem. It currently has 1449 enrolled. The district reports capacity of 1200. The district has been able to operate Scullen above its stated capacity with the help of temporary out-buildings. However, that is not necessary. Tangent to Scullen is the Wheatland Elementary school building, which was vacated last year because of excess capacity at Wheatland and Peterson. The Wheatland building could easily be renovated as a 500-seat extension to Scullen or as a separate Project Arrow Middle School servicing interested Crone, Gregory and Scullen students. This would alleviate all present and future middle school pressures.
At Neuqua, the present freshman campus can be converted to a sophomore campus. The main building would then be left for juniors and seniors and for academically advanced sophomores who would be taking AP classes (or at least 2 honors classes) in their sophomore year. Using class size data for the neighborhoods that presently feed Neuqua, it is evident that 2011 is the year of peak enrollment at the school. Using 2011 data, total Neuqua enrollment under this plan would be 3749, with a sophomore class of 1283 and a junior/senior total of 2466. That puts Neuqua at 89% of capacity in the peak year.
At Waubonsie, the freshman campus can continue to operate for all sophomores. Or, for symmetry with Neuqua, academically advanced sophomores can move to the main campus. Using 2011-2012 school year data, the total student enrollment at Waubonsie would be 3120, with 1084 sophomores. If all sophomores stay at WVHS Gold, the main campus would house just 2303 juniors and seniors (77% of capacity). Since reported capacity for WV Gold is 1200, there is no overcapacity problem for as far as the eye can see. Class size of schools feeding Waubonsie peaks with the 2nd grade class (WV class of 2018) at 1141.
This proposal saves the district the $140mn needed to build Metea Valley High School. It would probably cost the district $10-25mn to rebuild or renovate Wheatland in to a middle school and to add 4 classrooms to Longwood Elementary, so call the savings $125mn. What could the district do with the rest of the money? How about a four-landing bridge connecting the corners of the Ogden/Eola intersection? How about retrofitting all elementary schools with A/C? How about using the money to reduce class sizes? How about keeping the special education programs that have been so successful intact? How about reducing property tax rates a little?
Not only does this proposal save the district capital expenditure money, it also saves on maintenance and bussing costs. Replacing a 9th-grade year at a distant high school with a 6th-grade year at a nearby elementary school, which is within walking distance in most cases, should take 25% off of high school bussing costs. The third high school does not need to be maintained and some of the excess capacity at elementary schools is not maintained needlessly. This reduction in costs makes it much less likely that the district would ever have to ask for another referendum or tax hike to fund operations in the event of a generalized decline in property values or other unforeseeable budget dilemma.
Rolling the grades of advancement back by one year does not mean that the district has to shift from a "middle school model" of instruction to a "Jr high model." Students and faculty at the middle school level can be organized in to teams as they are now. Students in 6th grade can receive subject-specific instruction in math, science, reading and music at the elementary school sites from the same 6th grade team instructors that the district now employs. Those team instructors can easily commute to the various elementary school sites that feed each middle school.
There is a solution to the Metea Valley High School site and boundary situation that has not been explored. This solution would cut HS bussing costs by 25%. It would reduce traffic to HS by 25%. It could be executed with the disruption of only about 225 students (0.8% of the student body). The disruption would occur next year and the benefit of lower high school enrollment would be felt next year, immediately alleviating the overcrowding at Neuqua Valley High School and getting it back below capacity. No middle school splits would be required. No additional bussing across grade-level train tracks would be required. Lastly, this solution costs a whole lot less than anything the district has proposed.
According to the school capacity summary published by the district, the 21 elementary schools have a capacity of 17,125 students. When the district asked the public for funding of a third HS in the 2006 referendum, it used estimated peak enrollment of 15,175 across those elementary schools. If the projection had been accurate, the district would be operating at 90% of elementary school capacity at its peak. The reality of the 2007 enrollment numbers is that total district elementary enrollment is 13,210, almost 2000 below the district's 2006 projections. Today total district elementary school enrollment is at 77% of capacity. Moreover, elementary school enrollment has been declining in the last two years and is likely to continue to do so. The 2007-2008 kindergarten cohort is 1842, down from the previous year's 1988. The 2007-2008 1st grade cohort is 2210, down fom the previous year's 2358. If present trends continue, elementary capacity utilization will fall to just 70% within 5 years. Note that spare space must be heated and maintained, so empty classrooms are not free, even if they were 'paid for' by developers or previous school bonds. The district has already stopped operating one elementary school, Wheatland, for the 2007-2008 school year.
If IPSD-204 were to keep 6th grade in the elementary schools, 16 of the 21 elementary schools would remain below capacity. The table below shows the schools that would be over capacity, the amount, and an easy solution for each. The solution in every case would involves a minor one-time split along obvious geographic or subdivision lines.
It should be noted that none of the elementary school shifts would impact middle school or high school transition, since kids are moved to a neighboring elementary that feeds the same middle school (and high school) in every case. The shift has no impact on middle school enrollment, other than pushing the peak year back by one year.
The district reports capacity at 7000 for middle schools. For 2007-2008, district middle school enrollment is 7022. However, 2007-2008 is likely to be the peak year for middle school enrollment for the district unless the Peterson and Builta neighborhoods experience a sudden building explosion. Of the districts six middle schools, only two are above capacity. The other four are below capacity presently. Three of those four will never reach capacity according to a summation of the elementary classes that will feed in to them. The fourth, Still, will be at 1206 in the 2010-2011 school year and at 1211 in the 2011-2012 school year. Thereafter it drops below capacity.
The present middle school over-capacity problem is centered in two schools: Gregory and Scullen. Gregory will drop below capacity next year due to declining class sizes and will not return to capacity unless there is an explosion of building in the Builta neighborhood. Scullen is the epicenter of the middle school overcapacity problem. It currently has 1449 enrolled. The district reports capacity of 1200. The district has been able to operate Scullen above its stated capacity with the help of temporary out-buildings. However, that is not necessary. Tangent to Scullen is the Wheatland Elementary school building, which was vacated last year because of excess capacity at Wheatland and Peterson. The Wheatland building could easily be renovated as a 500-seat extension to Scullen or as a separate Project Arrow Middle School servicing interested Crone, Gregory and Scullen students. This would alleviate all present and future middle school pressures.
At Neuqua, the present freshman campus can be converted to a sophomore campus. The main building would then be left for juniors and seniors and for academically advanced sophomores who would be taking AP classes (or at least 2 honors classes) in their sophomore year. Using class size data for the neighborhoods that presently feed Neuqua, it is evident that 2011 is the year of peak enrollment at the school. Using 2011 data, total Neuqua enrollment under this plan would be 3749, with a sophomore class of 1283 and a junior/senior total of 2466. That puts Neuqua at 89% of capacity in the peak year.
At Waubonsie, the freshman campus can continue to operate for all sophomores. Or, for symmetry with Neuqua, academically advanced sophomores can move to the main campus. Using 2011-2012 school year data, the total student enrollment at Waubonsie would be 3120, with 1084 sophomores. If all sophomores stay at WVHS Gold, the main campus would house just 2303 juniors and seniors (77% of capacity). Since reported capacity for WV Gold is 1200, there is no overcapacity problem for as far as the eye can see. Class size of schools feeding Waubonsie peaks with the 2nd grade class (WV class of 2018) at 1141.
This proposal saves the district the $140mn needed to build Metea Valley High School. It would probably cost the district $10-25mn to rebuild or renovate Wheatland in to a middle school and to add 4 classrooms to Longwood Elementary, so call the savings $125mn. What could the district do with the rest of the money? How about a four-landing bridge connecting the corners of the Ogden/Eola intersection? How about retrofitting all elementary schools with A/C? How about using the money to reduce class sizes? How about keeping the special education programs that have been so successful intact? How about reducing property tax rates a little?
Not only does this proposal save the district capital expenditure money, it also saves on maintenance and bussing costs. Replacing a 9th-grade year at a distant high school with a 6th-grade year at a nearby elementary school, which is within walking distance in most cases, should take 25% off of high school bussing costs. The third high school does not need to be maintained and some of the excess capacity at elementary schools is not maintained needlessly. This reduction in costs makes it much less likely that the district would ever have to ask for another referendum or tax hike to fund operations in the event of a generalized decline in property values or other unforeseeable budget dilemma.
Rolling the grades of advancement back by one year does not mean that the district has to shift from a "middle school model" of instruction to a "Jr high model." Students and faculty at the middle school level can be organized in to teams as they are now. Students in 6th grade can receive subject-specific instruction in math, science, reading and music at the elementary school sites from the same 6th grade team instructors that the district now employs. Those team instructors can easily commute to the various elementary school sites that feed each middle school.
