Boundaries - One More Time - Nap. Sun 4/12

[Arch]

bob said:

Walkers have preference to busers.

Preference in what way or ways?

[macy]

archwinsome said:

macy said:

I'm not running for the board and I'm not criticizing the criteria being used. I agree with the candidate's statement in clearly laying it out and sticking with it.

I would venture a guess that it should be stuck to until it creates a problem in that candidate's neighborhood. I would further venture a guess that some 'tweaking' would be in order.

Are you saying that is what occured last time, or that is what will happen in the future?

[bob]

The only problem with that is what if a school is a majority of busers over walkers.

[bob]

Arch, I see where you are going with this. It would take forever to pound out the minutia of who goes where because the SD isn't a perfect square with no hazards to deal with.

[Arch]

macy said:

archwinsome said:

I would venture a guess that it should be stuck to until it creates a problem in that candidate's neighborhood. I would further venture a guess that some 'tweaking' would be in order.

Are you saying that is what occured last time, or that is what will happen in the future?

I don't know if it occurred last time or not. I do know that someone from Brookdale last year did capitulate on their own neighborhood and allowed the process to come to a conclusion.

What I am saying is that you can not take the human emotion out of the process because the entire process is ABOUT EVERYONE's KIDS and you can not keep the emotion out of that. This is not a district of zombies and robots. It's a district of parents and kids and parents who love and care about their kids. The emotion will always be there. Perhaps the person who stated it is emotionally detached from their children (or doesn't have any), I don't know. They seem to imply that there was no objectivity at all to the process and I believe there was along with some subjectivity and emotion. The end result was something the district as a whole could live with. ie: It worked and every kid was found a high school to go to. No one was left without one.

[macy]

archwinsome said:

macy said:

Are you saying that is what occured last time, or that is what will happen in the future?

I don't know if it occurred last time or not. I do know that someone from Brookdale last year did capitulate on their own neighborhood and allowed the process to come to a conclusion.

What I am saying is that you can not take the human emotion out of the process because the entire process is ABOUT EVERYONE's KIDS and you can not keep the emotion out of that. This is not a district of zombies and robots. It's a district of parents and kids and parents who love and care about their kids. The emotion will always be there. Perhaps the person who stated it is emotionally detached from their children, I don't know. They seem to imply that there was no objectivity at all to the process and I believe there was along with some subjectivity and emotion. The end result was something the district as a whole could live with. ie: It worked and every kid was found a high school to go to. No one was left without one.

The person who said it was a part of the process last time and IMO, is thinking forward on how to improve the process next time.

[Arch]

macy said:

archwinsome said:

I don't know if it occurred last time or not. I do know that someone from Brookdale last year did capitulate on their own neighborhood and allowed the process to come to a conclusion.

What I am saying is that you can not take the human emotion out of the process because the entire process is ABOUT EVERYONE's KIDS and you can not keep the emotion out of that. This is not a district of zombies and robots. It's a district of parents and kids and parents who love and care about their kids. The emotion will always be there. Perhaps the person who stated it is emotionally detached from their children, I don't know. They seem to imply that there was no objectivity at all to the process and I believe there was along with some subjectivity and emotion. The end result was something the district as a whole could live with. ie: It worked and every kid was found a high school to go to. No one was left without one.

The person who said it was a part of the process last time and IMO, is thinking forward on how to improve the process next time.

Here's another difference: To me, personally, just get my kids into any school, provide the transportation if that's required and I'm happy and so are they. The boundaries and how they are arrived really don't matter to me but I know they do for others.

We go further to Hill than to Scullen? Fine.. We go to WVHS? Fine. Now they're slated to go to MVHS? Fine.. Want to switch them to go to NVHS or back to WVHS? Fine.. it doesn't matter. It does waste time and energy going through the 'process' each time though and that time and energy could be spent on what happens INSIDE the walls of the schools versus which ones to send them to... again, my view of it.

[we4]

The School Board member that made the statement Macy is referring to is Curt Bradshaw.

Here is the link to the article posted by Eagledad www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=293770
and part of the article.

The Daily Herald asked the candidates to address several key issues facing the district in 150 words or less. Here is the second in a series of reports on their edited responses:

Q. Are you satisfied with the board’s approach to high school boundary decisions?

Curt Bradshaw: I’m satisfied with the outcome of the boundaries to accommodate Metea Valley and my role in the process.

The new boundaries provide greater parity in terms of demographic composition and academic achievement across the three high schools. And I’m proud many district residents have commented on my integrity in this process.

While I’m satisfied with the outcome and wouldn’t vote to change it, I’m dissatisfied with the larger process used to arrive at it. As we consider middle school boundary decisions, the district must clearly define and prioritize the criteria that will be used to draw the boundaries. Defining and prioritizing the criteria up-front will replace much of the subjectivity and emotion with objectivity.

[Arch]

Was he the one from Brookdale that everyone said was emotional about it or was that Rodnam? I can't recall exactly.

[macy]

we4 said:

The School Board member that made the statement Macy is referring to is Curt Bradshaw.

Here is the link to the article posted by Eagledad www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=293770
and part of the article.

The Daily Herald asked the candidates to address several key issues facing the district in 150 words or less. Here is the second in a series of reports on their edited responses:

Q. Are you satisfied with the board’s approach to high school boundary decisions?

Curt Bradshaw: I’m satisfied with the outcome of the boundaries to accommodate Metea Valley and my role in the process.

The new boundaries provide greater parity in terms of demographic composition and academic achievement across the three high schools. And I’m proud many district residents have commented on my integrity in this process.

While I’m satisfied with the outcome and wouldn’t vote to change it, I’m dissatisfied with the larger process used to arrive at it. As we consider middle school boundary decisions, the district must clearly define and prioritize the criteria that will be used to draw the boundaries. Defining and prioritizing the criteria up-front will replace much of the subjectivity and emotion with objectivity.

And I personally, applaud him for making that statement. I find his candidness ,having gone through the experience quite refreshing and very meaningful. While many see no fault with the process the board went through, I do.

I give him all the credit in the world for acknowledging the process needs improvement and defining ways in which to go about it the next time.

[macy]

archwinsome said:

Was he the one from Brookdale that everyone said was emotional about it or was that Rodnam? I can't recall exactly.

Curt was emotional but was between a rock and a hard place at the last meeting.

Rodman was emotional as well for other reasons I'm not so sure of.

[Arch]

macy said:

I give him all the credit in the world for acknowledging the process needs improvement and defining ways in which to go about it the next time.

With everything, the devil will be in the details of those 'defined ways'.

So, what was the point of this "guess who said it" exercise?

[doctorwho]

macy said:

we4 said:

The School Board member that made the statement Macy is referring to is Curt Bradshaw.

Here is the link to the article posted by Eagledad www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=293770
and part of the article.

The Daily Herald asked the candidates to address several key issues facing the district in 150 words or less. Here is the second in a series of reports on their edited responses:

Q. Are you satisfied with the board’s approach to high school boundary decisions?

Curt Bradshaw: I’m satisfied with the outcome of the boundaries to accommodate Metea Valley and my role in the process.

The new boundaries provide greater parity in terms of demographic composition and academic achievement across the three high schools. And I’m proud many district residents have commented on my integrity in this process.

While I’m satisfied with the outcome and wouldn’t vote to change it, I’m dissatisfied with the larger process used to arrive at it. As we consider middle school boundary decisions, the district must clearly define and prioritize the criteria that will be used to draw the boundaries. Defining and prioritizing the criteria up-front will replace much of the subjectivity and emotion with objectivity.

And I personally, applaud him for making that statement. I find his candidness ,having gone through the experience quite refreshing and very meaningful. While many see no fault with the process the board went through, I do.

I give him all the credit in the world for acknowledging the process needs improvement and defining ways in which to go about it the next time.

I hope I am not counted among those that see no problem, as I never said that. What I have continually said is that a lot of the elements people are clamoring for went into the last effort. Was it perfect, heck no. Was it being adjusted on the fly - somewhat yes. But it should not be prtrayed as not containing any of what people are asking for now.

I have yet to see a solid statement showing how the process would change to be less divisive other than somehow getting to a set or parameters up front that everyones agrees to.
Good luck with that.....that will happen when the Cubs win the world series - that is what I am saying.

[204parent]

macy said:

archwinsome said:

Was he the one from Brookdale that everyone said was emotional about it or was that Rodnam? I can't recall exactly.

Curt was emotional but was between a rock and a hard place at the last meeting.

Rodman was emotional as well for other reasons I'm not so sure of.

Rodman was sick at the last meeting. He deserves a lot of credit for showing up and sticking it out.

[momof3]

archwinsome said:

Here's another difference: To me, personally, just get my kids into any school, provide the transportation if that's required and I'm happy and so are they. The boundaries and how they are arrived really don't matter to me but I know they do for others.

Arch - i have to agree with you there. That's why I think cost should be the #1 priority. I didn't go to any of the boundary meetings last year because I didn't care where my kids ended up. IMO, if you plunked my kids into any ES, MS, or HS in this district they would recieve an excellent education, given our parental involvement, standard curriculum across the board, equal extracurricular opportunities and excellent teachers.