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Post by wvhsparent on Mar 4, 2006 8:30:47 GMT -6
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Post by wvhsparent on Mar 4, 2006 8:34:14 GMT -6
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Post by gatordog on Nov 14, 2006 12:54:37 GMT -6
From Beacon News....This story is coming to a climax. Just think, if our referendum had failed by 134 votes (like theirs did), this could have been us over here in 204. Rally vs. D303 border changesNovember 14, 2006 By JANELLE WALKER STAFF writer ST. CHARLES -- Parents and children gathered at St. Charles North High School while chanting refrains of "hell no, we won't go" Monday night to show their anger with the school board's proposals to redraw district attendance boundaries. A group calling itself Citizens Against Re-Boundary Efforts gathered about 200 parents and children before the St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 board meeting to rally support for their cause. » Click to enlarge image Fifth-grader Eddie Fiala, 10, (center) of Bell-Graham Elementary School, rallies Monday night with others including (from left) Audrey Blankenship, 10, Nichole Luczynski and Mitchell Johnson, 11, (right) and their parents to protest boundary changes in St. Charles School District 303. MICHAEL SMART Staff Photographer The parent group asked the district to set aside the attendance boundary proposals they have been reviewing for the past few weeks and instead go forward with a construction bond referendum in April, during municipal elections. So far, the proposals discussed by the board have "pitted neighborhoods against one another," said resident Glori DeJure. Instead, she told a crowd holding signs and placards, the district should work with residents to find other solutions that don't move children. Many of those who spoke before the meeting attacked the district's proposals to move students at the high and middle school levels to balance socioeconomic diversity in the district -- by moving children almost entirely from one or two planning areas on St. Charles' near-southwest side. While some board members seemed to agree with some of those sentiments later in the evening, the overall board decided to move forward with the new boundary proposals. District 303's board voted last spring, after a second consecutive failed construction bond referendum, to redraw attendance boundaries to address overcrowding at some schools and below-capacity attendance at others, rather than try for another construction referendum. At Monday's meeting, the board heard the final proposals for middle and elementary school attendance plans, and sent two middle and two elementary plans on to the public for comment. Three public information sessions to gather community input on the proposed attendance boundary changes are scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. today, Wednesday and Thursday. Tonight's meeting will be held in the St. Charles East High School main gymnasium; Wednesday's meeting will be held in the St. Charles North High School auditorium; and Thursday's meeting will be held in the Norris Cultural Arts Center, St. Charles East High School campus. Details of the attendance boundary plans may be found at the District 303 Web site, www.d303.org. The board plans to approve any boundary changes at its Dec. 11 meeting. Parents have made their feelings about the proposals known throughout the last few weeks -- speaking up during the business portion of board meetings as well as speaking during the public comment portion. At least two board members said that they are tending to agree with the parents. "To move children (then) to move them back in three years makes absolutely no sense," said board member Lori Linkimer, who said she would not vote for any of the middle school attendance plans currently being examined. "We have got to build a middle school. I will not move any of these forward, and I will vote for none of these plans for middle school," Linkimer said. Jim Gaffney agreed. "There are other issues in the district to be addressed," Gaffney said, and added that the district could get by as it is now for two years. "Let's sit back and let the next board decide if we have to have a referendum," Gaffney said. Both Gaffney and Linkimer did vote to move elementary school models forward for the public comment. While Linkimer said she did still not like the plans, there is a need to move students at the elementary level, she said. |
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Post by Avenging Eagle on Nov 14, 2006 15:23:56 GMT -6
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Post by wvhsparent on Nov 14, 2006 15:53:07 GMT -6
Wow those boudaries are as bad as ours are...I feel their pain........
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Post by EagleDad on Nov 14, 2006 17:09:07 GMT -6
I fear we have a little of this in out future - when it pertains to Middle School assignments. Hopefully we can focus on getting MVHS underway first, then keep that disruption down.
Hang in there d303, we're pulling for ya.
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Post by proschool on Nov 14, 2006 17:57:56 GMT -6
Christine Vickers and George Vickers are the only ones who know how to squeeze too many kids in too few spaces by moving boundaries around. It would have been scary to use the CFO space shifting solutions even if they could work. If CFO prevailed boundaries would have cut right in the middle of many neighborhoods and the boundary lines could have even been different for different elementary grade levels. Its looks like the hard work was worth it. |
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Post by gatordog on Nov 17, 2006 16:38:14 GMT -6
Boundary plans face parent ire in D303
November 15, 2006
By JANELLE WALKER STAFF WRITER
ST. CHARLES -- Parents vented their frustration at the school board Tuesday, arguing that proposed attendance boundary changes will split up neighborhoods, friends and families.
A public forum held at St. Charles East High School was the first of three this week to give St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 parents an opportunity to air their views on the school district's proposals.
Another meeting is scheduled for 7 tonight at St. Charles North High School; the third will be held again at East High on Thursday evening.
School board members plan to discuss parents' input at their Nov. 27 meeting and vote on a final plan at their Dec. 11 meeting.
District 303's board voted last spring, after a second consecutive failed construction bond referendum, to redraw attendance boundaries to address overcrowding at some schools and below-capacity attendance at others, rather than try for another construction referendum.
District 303 has about 675 empty seats in the elementary schools -- mostly on the east side of the Fox River, and about 400 available seats at East High School, said board President Bobbie Raehl.
Many of the more than 300 parents at East High School's session who spoke suggested that the board table the attendance boundary plans being considered and instead seek a referendum in April.
The board would need to send on a question to the county clerks by late January for a question to appear on the April ballot.
Crafting a new construction bond referendum question would take up to a year, Raehl said -- and at least another two years after that to get buildings constructed.
One parent laid blame on the school board for not getting the last referendum approved in March.
"The failed referendum came from the board, and Barbara Erwin, for infighting during the election," said Kevin True. "There was not one thing in the papers from Erwin to calm it down."
Erwin is the district's superintendent.
If parents are upset by attendance boundary changes this year, True said, the district will lose its support for a future referendum.
Other parents are upset with district plans to move children in the Richmond Elementary School area who now go on to East High School to North High School, to balance the number of low-income children.
Parent Patty Medder said she is one of those whose children would be moved.
"You have made my children … and myself feel I am not good enough to be in St. Charles," Medder said.
Richmond Elementary School just began printing its parent-teacher organization's newsletter in Spanish, she said.
"Have you done that?" she asked the board.
"You have not reached your community," she said, pointing out there were no Spanish-speaking residents in the audience.
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Post by gatordog on Nov 28, 2006 10:36:59 GMT -6
D303 backs from socioeconomic factor in boundary discussion
November 28, 2006
By JANELLE WALKER STAFF WRITER
ST. CHARLES -- When the school board decided to include socioeconomic diversity in setting district middle and high school attendance boundaries, it was seen as a positive for the community, President Bobbie Raehl said.
Monday night, the St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 board meeting appeared headed toward removing that factor from consideration.
District 303 held its final board meeting Monday before finalizing 2007-08 school attendance boundaries -- expected at the Dec. 11 meeting.
Several board members asked for changes to the attendance boundary proposals being considered -- and some suggested not going forward with the changes at all.
Raehl also promised the district, using a residents committee, would look closely at a 10-year plan for district buildings, and would look at alternatives to how the district uses its buildings to deliver kindergarten-through-grade 12 instruction.
District 303's board voted last spring, after a second consecutive failed construction bond referendum, to redraw attendance boundaries to address overcrowding at some schools and below-capacity attendance at others, rather than to try for another construction referendum.
One concern brought up by parents over the past several months involved plans to move students at East High School to North High School to balance the socioeconomic mix at North High School, as well as spreading those students throughout the three middle schools.
Among the socioeconomic factors were children who receive free or reduced-price lunches.
However, Raehl said, some in the community believed the district wanted to move those children to balance district test scores.
"That is not what (socioeconomic status) is about in the buildings," Raehl said. The socioeconomic parameter, she said, was about creating diversity of thinking.
The district cannot move forward with those plans, she said, until residents are "educated about its worth. Diversity of thought was intended to be a positive."
Several board members also asked demographer Steve Larson to see what would happen with high school enrolment numbers if pupils now in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades were grandfathered into North High School, along with siblings now attending that school.
Previously, the board had agreed only to allow present eighth-graders slated to go to East High next year to stay with siblings at North.
Those students grandfathered into North High School would also continue being bused to school, Raehl said, stepping back from a previous comment. The district was told by the state board of education that it would be reimbursed for continuing to bus those children to North.
Some parents also rallied for another construction bond referendum in April. However, Raehl said, the district needs to take time to consider exactly what to build, and how to use the district's facilities.
Some suggestions Monday included making North High School into a middle school, and building a new high school instead. Other suggestions including making the existing middle schools into seventh- and eighth-grade buildings, and keeping sixth-graders at the elementary schools.
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Post by bob on Nov 28, 2006 12:27:19 GMT -6
What, no freshman centers ?
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Post by wvhsparent on Nov 28, 2006 13:15:13 GMT -6
Did'nt fence say she was considering moving up to St Charles?  If she did, I bet she is going nuts right now! |
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Post by EagleDad on Nov 28, 2006 21:25:29 GMT -6
Don't know about fence, but I do recall someone talking about moving to a double-wide out in the boonies  |
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Post by gatordog on Dec 12, 2006 11:17:51 GMT -6
D303 narrowly OKs border shifts
December 12, 2006
By JANELLE WALKER staff writer
ST. CHARLES -- Parents responded with a chorus of boos, catcalls and threats of legal retaliation Monday night after the St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 board voted to approve new high school attendance boundaries.
The board had just voted 4-3 to approve the new attendance boundary, with members Lori Linkimer, Jim Gaffney and Kathy Hewell voting against the plan.
Most of the crowd had cleared out, however, before the board outlined exactly which planning areas would be affected by the high school attendance boundary changes. In general, the changes begin moving about 400 students in the western portion of the district from North High School to East High School.
The board then voted 5-2 to allow siblings in sixth, seventh and eighth grades to remain at North High School -- rather than move to East High School as the attendance boundary changes call for -- if there is a sibling in grades nine, 10 or 11 at North High now. Board President Bobbie Raehl and member Chris Hansen were the dissenting votes on the grandfathering question.
District 303's board voted last spring, after a second consecutive failed construction bond referendum, to redraw attendance boundaries to address overcrowding at some schools and below-capacity attendance at others, rather than to try for another construction referendum.
At the high school level, St. Charles North High is about 400 students over capacity, and St. Charles East is about 100 students under.
The District 303 has been meeting on a nearly weekly basis since nearly October, looking at the attendance boundary scenarios for elementary through high schools -- and listening to parent dissent about those proposals.
Monday's votes, however, are not the end of the ongoing discussion of attendance boundary changes in the district. Elementary attendance boundary proposals are not expected to be finalized until early 2007, and a vote is expected in January.
Several parents spoke to the board again Monday night, asking it to shelve the process, or consider going forward with a construction bond referendum during April's municipal elections.
The high school model approved Monday night was forwarded to the board members to review on Thursday, with updates delivered on Friday and Saturday, said board member Jim Gaffney.
"Tonight, there has been another modification," Gaffney said. "The cart is so far out in front of the horse, we are lucky if we will ever catch up."
However, other board members said it was important to move on with the process.
"We have been listening" to the public, board member Karla Ray said. "But I don't want to take more time."
It has been a contentious few weeks for the board, with several instances of members beginning to argue with each other as residents sitting in the gallery shout out their comments as well.
One parent called the process "a cross between CSPAN and Jerry Springer."
When Hewell announced a few minutes earlier that she would vote against the latest high school plan -- called Model 2D/Alternate 1 -- the same audience gave her a rounding cheer.
Hewell had indicated earlier in the night that she was in favor of the Model 2D, but indicated she changed her mind when the board voted -- again on a 4-3 split -- to not consider sending students from now-undeveloped planning areas to schools that have space for additional students.
Parents had voiced their support for considering those undeveloped planning areas -- also called TBAs for "To Be Announced" -- to schools with available seats, rather than moving children who are now in the district.
Board member Chris Hansen said he could not consider sending students from the far west side of the district to West Chicago's Norton Creek Elementary, as the board did when it sent students from the Thornwood area of South Elgin there three years ago.
"We have been criticized for not doing something for longer than two years, that we can't do something permanent," Hansen said. "We are trying to do that as much as we can."
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Post by gatordog on Jan 17, 2007 12:11:48 GMT -6
I think this story is wrapping up. Just wanted to document the closure.. This was a useful story for us in 204 to follow. I am glad at elementary school level our students arent facing the prospects of "cap and send".
District 303 approves 'tweaked' boundary plan
January 17, 2007
By JANELLE WALKER staff writer
ST. CHARLES -- Children in some St. Charles elementary schools will be moved, following a late-night vote Monday (Jan. 8) that completes more than three months of discussion by the Community Unit School District 303 board.
The board voted 5-2 to accept plan "4AED -- Tweaked." It was the sixth update of an elementary attendance boundary plan first presented to the board in October.
District 303's board voted last spring, after a second consecutive failed construction bond referendum, to redraw attendance boundaries to address overcrowding at some schools and below-capacity attendance at others -- particularly in the elementary level -- rather than try for another construction referendum.
Following additional "tweaks" by the board, the subdivisions or individual streets moved to new schools for 2007-08 include:
(details deleted for brevity)
Last-minute changes Jan. 8 included allowing some subdivisions to remain at the school children currently attend, including The Timbers, The Reserve of St. Charles, Deer Run Creek and Thornwood-Lansbrook.
The Honey Hills subdivision was also allowed to remain at Fox Ridge, following a 7-0 board vote -- the only unanimous vote that changed boundaries.
Board member Kathy Hewell said allowing established subdivisions such as The Timbers to stay in their current schools was pivotal in her decision to vote for the boundary changes.
"The board was willing to consider leaving older neighborhoods ... in their current schools. Their willingness to compromise is why I voted 'yes,' " she said.
Earlier in the Jan. 8 meeting, Hewell asked that the boundary changes be delayed by one more meeting, to allow parents a chance to look at the plans and possibly weigh in.
While none of the plans likely will make any of the families that were moved happy, she said, it is a plan she can live with.
"Nothing is a plan they expected. It is a plan we all will live with," Hewell said.
Still, the board indicated, some schools likely will end up with more children than a classroom may hold. District 303 has capped elementary classrooms at 29 pupils each. If any one grade level at a school goes over that cap, the district will continue to "cap and send" pupils to another school with room for an additional student.
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Post by jenrik2714 on Jan 17, 2007 12:28:03 GMT -6
They make low income kids feel bad everywhere. They probally come from the Chicago Public School system where they were lacking resouces and funds to get an education and when their families have enough money to move to the suburbs, they get this "I don't want them going to school with my kids b/c their poor" attitude. I mean you come to the suburbs for a better school system and they still ostracize you for not being rich as them. Good God, when is this going to end!
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