Post by gatordog on Dec 21, 2006 11:54:52 GMT -6
From Beacon News "Valley Voice" opinion column by Donna Richardson. The Hinckley-Big Rock school issue is an interesting one. We should consider ourselves fortunate to have a district very much committed a neighborhood elementary school setup.
Most importantly to me, this is a great illustration of a dedicated web-savvy citizen taking time to inform and to offer a forum for community input on important school issues. I wonder if there are other neighboring school districts doing similar things?
Let me take my chance to salute those who initiated and maintain this message board. Thanks for all you do!
A man, his blog and the battle to save a school
December 16, 2006
When I first began writing a Valley Voice column back in February, I was not the only "new" writer from Big Rock; Keith Lawler also was writing a column. But Keith chose to sacrifice writing his column because he felt the need to take on something much more local.
When the Hinckley-Big Rock School District, as represented by its School Board, decided to go against the wishes of a very vocal majority of its school families and voted to change from having a K-8 school in each of the two communities to having an elementary grade center in one (Hinckley) and a junior high grade center in the other (Big Rock), Keith got busy. Specifically, he created cchbr429.blogspot.com, which is a blog site for concerned School District citizens who would like to share information, opinions and stay informed about our School Board's decisions.
One of the reasons we needed this forum was because our district's Web site was woefully lacking in even an updated calendar, let alone any reports of current events. Citizens who wanted to see facts and figures were being told the superintendent would be happy to meet with them privately. Questions regarding impending costs brought about by the change were left unanswered because they hadn't been calculated. And yet the district assured us that we would see a savings of $350,000.
Several people wondered how the board could possibly know what the savings would be if they didn't know what the costs in making the changes would be. Also, many were concerned that we were still waiting for money from the state for recent building and remodeling, and now we were looking at further remodeling of various rooms to accommodate new uses by different ages/sizes of kids. Also, bus routes would be extensively different and possibly require more vehicles.
Citizens descended upon a School Board meeting last spring when board members were scheduled to vote on this change for the 2006-07 school year. Despite the overwhelming opposition, at least until more factual (rather than estimated) information was forthcoming, the board decided to go forward anyway -- but to wait until the 2007-08 school year. And finally, when the School Board changed school starting times without so much as a howdy-do to families until after the fact, Lawler created the blog site.
Many people who can't attend School Board meetings for one reason or another use it to get a recap of what they've missed. People on both sides of the issue have left comments. In all, it has been a very time-consuming project for Lawler -- and sometimes very thankless if you go by a couple of smart-aleck remarks made by those who think they're making a worthwhile contribution by taking personal cheap shots at him from behind a mask of anonymity rather than stating facts that support their point of view. But many others, including myself, are very appreciative of his efforts.
Recently, the citizens of Big Rock all received a bulk mailing entitled: Save Big Rock Elementary. This was the result of several citizens working together, but Keith did the writing. In the flier, he does an excellent job of summarizing the issues as well as encouraging his neighbors to get out to a Village Board meeting this Monday and a School Board meeting on Wednesday to make sure that those whom we have elected answer our concerns.
Bottom line: the maximum savings of going to grade centers is actually only $175,000 -- and this is without figuring in any of the many transition costs that will be incurred. Also, real estate assessments show the School District will be getting a $500,000 "raise" next year, which would more than pay off the original inflated figure the citizens were given as a needed solution to our "dire financial situation" (which, as facts and figures finally came to show, is not so dire as originally painted when the push to graded centers needed a "reason" to back it up).
For that, the citizens of Big Rock, who already pay 47 percent of the district's taxes -- despite having far fewer residents and businesses than Hinckley -- will get longer bus rides for their youngest students (some over an hour), not to mention the privilege of trying to, perhaps, someday sell their home to prospective buyers who want small-town life, but not one that doesn't even have its own elementary school, thank you!
And while there are supposedly arguments, educationally speaking, for both configurations being beneficial to learning, no one has taken up Keith's offer to show how it will benefit our kids -- despite the fact that he has pointed us toward several sources showing how it will not. Keith was even chided because he didn't get some information out on his blog from the district that they hadn't even bothered to put on their own Web site (he was trying to, but it wouldn't come through right away).
So, citizens of Big Rock, get to the meetings, get on the blog and make your voices heard. And, while you're at it, give Keith Lawler a nice thank you. He's done a wonderful volunteer job that has taken him away from many other things he'd like to do with his time. And he has done it because he truly is a concerned citizen. We need more neighbors like him.
Donna Richardson is a wife, mother, ESL instructor, and volunteer for her church and community. She can be reached at DSRchrdsn@aol.com
Most importantly to me, this is a great illustration of a dedicated web-savvy citizen taking time to inform and to offer a forum for community input on important school issues. I wonder if there are other neighboring school districts doing similar things?
Let me take my chance to salute those who initiated and maintain this message board. Thanks for all you do!
A man, his blog and the battle to save a school
December 16, 2006
When I first began writing a Valley Voice column back in February, I was not the only "new" writer from Big Rock; Keith Lawler also was writing a column. But Keith chose to sacrifice writing his column because he felt the need to take on something much more local.
When the Hinckley-Big Rock School District, as represented by its School Board, decided to go against the wishes of a very vocal majority of its school families and voted to change from having a K-8 school in each of the two communities to having an elementary grade center in one (Hinckley) and a junior high grade center in the other (Big Rock), Keith got busy. Specifically, he created cchbr429.blogspot.com, which is a blog site for concerned School District citizens who would like to share information, opinions and stay informed about our School Board's decisions.
One of the reasons we needed this forum was because our district's Web site was woefully lacking in even an updated calendar, let alone any reports of current events. Citizens who wanted to see facts and figures were being told the superintendent would be happy to meet with them privately. Questions regarding impending costs brought about by the change were left unanswered because they hadn't been calculated. And yet the district assured us that we would see a savings of $350,000.
Several people wondered how the board could possibly know what the savings would be if they didn't know what the costs in making the changes would be. Also, many were concerned that we were still waiting for money from the state for recent building and remodeling, and now we were looking at further remodeling of various rooms to accommodate new uses by different ages/sizes of kids. Also, bus routes would be extensively different and possibly require more vehicles.
Citizens descended upon a School Board meeting last spring when board members were scheduled to vote on this change for the 2006-07 school year. Despite the overwhelming opposition, at least until more factual (rather than estimated) information was forthcoming, the board decided to go forward anyway -- but to wait until the 2007-08 school year. And finally, when the School Board changed school starting times without so much as a howdy-do to families until after the fact, Lawler created the blog site.
Many people who can't attend School Board meetings for one reason or another use it to get a recap of what they've missed. People on both sides of the issue have left comments. In all, it has been a very time-consuming project for Lawler -- and sometimes very thankless if you go by a couple of smart-aleck remarks made by those who think they're making a worthwhile contribution by taking personal cheap shots at him from behind a mask of anonymity rather than stating facts that support their point of view. But many others, including myself, are very appreciative of his efforts.
Recently, the citizens of Big Rock all received a bulk mailing entitled: Save Big Rock Elementary. This was the result of several citizens working together, but Keith did the writing. In the flier, he does an excellent job of summarizing the issues as well as encouraging his neighbors to get out to a Village Board meeting this Monday and a School Board meeting on Wednesday to make sure that those whom we have elected answer our concerns.
Bottom line: the maximum savings of going to grade centers is actually only $175,000 -- and this is without figuring in any of the many transition costs that will be incurred. Also, real estate assessments show the School District will be getting a $500,000 "raise" next year, which would more than pay off the original inflated figure the citizens were given as a needed solution to our "dire financial situation" (which, as facts and figures finally came to show, is not so dire as originally painted when the push to graded centers needed a "reason" to back it up).
For that, the citizens of Big Rock, who already pay 47 percent of the district's taxes -- despite having far fewer residents and businesses than Hinckley -- will get longer bus rides for their youngest students (some over an hour), not to mention the privilege of trying to, perhaps, someday sell their home to prospective buyers who want small-town life, but not one that doesn't even have its own elementary school, thank you!
And while there are supposedly arguments, educationally speaking, for both configurations being beneficial to learning, no one has taken up Keith's offer to show how it will benefit our kids -- despite the fact that he has pointed us toward several sources showing how it will not. Keith was even chided because he didn't get some information out on his blog from the district that they hadn't even bothered to put on their own Web site (he was trying to, but it wouldn't come through right away).
So, citizens of Big Rock, get to the meetings, get on the blog and make your voices heard. And, while you're at it, give Keith Lawler a nice thank you. He's done a wonderful volunteer job that has taken him away from many other things he'd like to do with his time. And he has done it because he truly is a concerned citizen. We need more neighbors like him.
Donna Richardson is a wife, mother, ESL instructor, and volunteer for her church and community. She can be reached at DSRchrdsn@aol.com