Goals for 3rd High School

[doctorwho]

Okay, after going through tons of numbers, and splits and spreadsheets etc., I sat back and thought, what would be goals be if I had to restate them today ( yes, post referendum vote ) - for our 3rd High School.
Opening a new HS when a large portion of the SD is upset over things related to it is no way to spend $124M in my opinon, so I sat back to look at this as a mission statement if I was the project manager for making this all occur.

Here is what I came up with ( after mulling over would a 2250 -2500 HS be much easier to fill regardless of location)-- I am sure some of this will not be overwhelmingly agreed with - but that's OK....let's see if we can't maybe get to some common ground on the goal at least:
Here would be my list:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Goals

1/ Ease overcrowding of all schools in 204
> add 3rd HS to ease WV and NV
> add 7th MS to spread the population ( rework boundaries as needed )
> rework ES school boundaries as needed

2/ Build a school with similar amenities to WV and NV
> believe this should include varsity sports and all music art programs upon opening

3/ Populate the school using geography as the main arbiter for boundaries
> Have no ES area travel to the furthest of the 3 HS
(for neighborhood unity as well as safety of young drivers)
> Look at transportation savings where they can be applied

4/ Open 3rd HS and 7th MS ASAP to address overcrowding issue as well as save construction costs from inflationary effects


Nowhere in here would it state the size the HS had to be...easing overcrowding substantially vs totally eliminating is a fine line anyway ( it appears we will never hit the highest level of the population projections), and I believe trumped by the other goals.

And I believe all of this should be applied regardless of site selected.

[rew]

Ok, this is going to be a little nasty...

When the boundary issues came up, even though Whiite Eagle had walkers to Brach Brodie and walkers to Neuqua, three of the four boundary options sent them to Waubonsie. At a boundary meeting I had a neighbor say to Bruce Rodman, "I can see NVHS out my backyard and I will pass BB on the way to WV" and his response "deal with it". There were at least ten threads on this board about "What White Eagle is saying" "What's wrong with the Frybabies" etc.

Many in the north voted NO in 05 because they wanted a northern site. I know a few of these people and they said "nothing in it for me".

I will not stomach paying over $20Gs in property taxes, splitting my kids to different HSs, so they can attend an overcrowded WV. WV will lose it's Frosh centr and be overcrowded already and I am not happy about that. To put in GD terms I did not vote for that.

Send all of Steck , send all of Mcty, send all of GT, send all of Gombert..empty WVHS if you have to...fill the AME site with 3000 kids or change the location.

The recent slow down is not permanent, there are over 9000 kids in the system now to fill the HSs and you still have empty lots in TG, Stillwater, Asbury 2, Timber Creek. We still have Bronks, Ashwood and the rest of teh Macom property, Wagner Farms and then Brach Brodie to be developed.

What the north is finding out is what the south has felt over the last fifteen years...new schools are not fun. They are painful and require change and sacrifice. If the north wants the new high school at AME, then "deal with it"

[rew]

And as a side note...if you cannot fill the northern site now, what happens in 10-15 years, when enrollment drops, even slightly.

That school is a white elephant before it's even built, and the SD/SB does have other options.

Buy BB and stop the madness.

What does $20M in refs cost the avg homeowner $50/yr?

[warriorpride]

It seems like the HSs are going to be crowded for the next few years, regardless of what happens with MV. And when MV opens, whichever freshman campus is closed, that HS will then feel a crunch for an additional year or two.

Do peoples #'s and boundaries for a northern site take into account that the BB land that 204 wants is zoned residential? So, a non-BB northern site would likely add more students into the system over time. as housing is built on BB. Just making sure that the 2500-seat northen MV really makes sense, from a capacity standpoint.

[EagleDad]

Yep a little nasty, but it just goes to show things are going to be a lot nasty for a long time if the board makes this decision behind closed doors and announces it after it is done, without full disclosure of the actual costs and potential remaining damages and legal fees at BB. That will ignite an explosion in the district.

rew, in there you do have a point. There is nothing magical about a northern site that turns MVHS into a 2200 or 2500 student school. It is a 3000 student school and I will want to see it filled to that level. It will need to be even more so due to the additionaly growth still to come in the south.

This probably will mean moving current WVHS walkers to it. Additionally I think there is a very strong case to be made to keep Watts at WVHS, both in the interest of "balancing" and because they have gotten the short end of the stick a little too often.

[rew]

Dr Who, don't get me wrong..I do think it is unfair to send an area to the farthest HS from them, but then this needs to be accounted for when selecting the site, not a goal of the HS.

There have been boundaries drawn on this board and the site that sent more people to their closest HS and no one to their furthest HS was Macom (and BB). So why aren't people clamoring for the SB to buy Macom?

[doctorwho]

rew said:

Dr Who, don't get me wrong..I do think it is unfair to send an area to the farthest HS from them, but then this needs to be accounted for when selecting the site, not a goal of the HS.

There have been boundaries drawn on this board and the site that sent more people to their closest HS and no one to their furthest HS was Macom. So why aren't people clamoring for the SB to buy that site?

I am resigning myself to the fact that with the funds we have frozen at $124M - and some not willing to increase that - that whatever site is chosen has to fit these goals. In a perfect world this is done up front, but we don't live in a perfect world - so this was put together to make the best of a potentially bad situation ( wherever the site ends up ) - and make it a positive thing, as opposed to negative.

The reason I don't think you see people clamoring for MACOM is although I agree the boundaries work much better there where there is more population of kids - it is far from the perfect site also for other reasons...as has been well documented by some people here...
Not saying I wouldn't choose it over AME for instance, but also acknowledging that it too has problems, just trying to be fair.

And please notice ... the last line of my goals states they apply to whatever site is chosen.......isn't that how it should be ?

[doctorwho]

<This probably will mean moving current WVHS walkers to it. Additionally I think there is a very strong case to be made to keep Watts at WVHS, both in the interest of "balancing" and because they have gotten the short end of the stick a little too often.
<


Yes, my whole almost 20 years here we have been somewhat looked past IMHO - why ? let me ask this question to all here -- do you view Watts as a northern or a southern school - have to choose one since those are the only 2 designations ever used.

When I moved here - we WERE the southern school.... and the outsiders in many things as this area built out.....now, who knows. I keep reading " north of 75th street " in many people's quotes -- as some designation point. I think that has a lot to do with it in that when people look out for their area -- we are not thought of as either.

[EagleDad]

I view May Watts as great neighbors and a great place to live - I always have. They are also the cornerstone of that area of the SD (with cowlishaw and all the fast-put-em-ups that went up over there, I know, I lived in one for 8 years). I never really in my own mind ascribed a Northern or Southern label to them.

How about "Eastern"?

I'll be looking out for Watts though, I don't think an area that cranked out support for Metea like that can be pushed aside so easily. Maybe that's why WE and Watts tend to align so well - we both are the outliers.

The island of misfit toys - no one wants to play with a charlie in a box.

[gatormom]

rew said:

What the north is finding out is what the south has felt over the last fifteen years...new schools are not fun. They are painful and require change and sacrifice. If the north wants the new high school at AME, then "deal with it"

So you would throw anyone and everyone down to AME because your child should not have to experience an overcrowded school. By the way, absolutely no balancing in this scenario. Not to worry, WV will be the new NV.

This will put each and every one of the low-scoring ESs at Metea if it is down at AME, Gom, GTN, McC, and Longwood. Hey, not your problem then, right? Wonder what the achievement gap is then. Before you say anything about specialized attention and we can develop a whole new way of working with these children, let me tell you the children who are behind drain resources at a school for the rest of the students, especially those in the middle of road. We see it at Still all the time. I do not begrudge the extra help these students are getting, I just don't want to carry that on to high school.

[rew]

I want to apologize to all for getting nasty...I am banning myself from the board for the rest of the day.

[doctorwho]

eagledad said:

I view May Watts as great neighbors and a great place to live - I always have. They are also the cornerstone of that area of the SD (with cowlishaw and all the fast-put-em-ups that went up over there, I know, I lived in one for 8 years). I never really in my own mind ascribed a Northern or Southern label to them.

How about "Eastern"?

I'll be looking out for Watts though, I don't think an area that cranked out support for Metea like that can be pushed aside so easily. Maybe that's why WE and Watts tend to align so well - we both are the outliers.

The island of misfit toys - no one wants to play with a charlie in a box.

we are ( tell me how you like this one) The 75th Street Corridor !

( although I like the island of misfit toys also )

[warriorpride]

gatormom said:

rew said:

What the north is finding out is what the south has felt over the last fifteen years...new schools are not fun. They are painful and require change and sacrifice. If the north wants the new high school at AME, then "deal with it"

So you would throw anyone and everyone down to AME because your child should not have to experience an overcrowded school. By the way, absolutely no balancing in this scenario. Not to worry, WV will be the new NV.

This will put each and every one of the low-scoring ESs at Metea if it is down at AME, Gom, GTN, McC, and Longwood. Hey, not your problem then, right? Wonder what the achievement gap is then. Before you say anything about specialized attention and we can develop a whole new way of working with these children, let me tell you the children who are behind drain resources at a school for the rest of the students, especially those in the middle of road. We see it at Still all the time. I do not begrudge the extra help these students are getting, I just don't want to carry that on to high school.

I, too, find it unacceptable to have the vast majorty of the poorest performing ESs feeding into the same HS. Yes, that's the way it is now, but, the SB tried to address this with MV @ BB and the boundaries they selected. I'm not asking asking for total achivement balance, but when they had 6 (7?) boundaries considered, or maybe the final 4, the achievement gap was in black & white - this cannot be discounted as an important criteria now, just as it was important when the referendum was being "sold". I would have had to think long and hard to vote yes if the achievement gap was very large in the boundaries that were selected.

[title1parent]

Well it seems that this will all come down to who has the loudest voices and who has the most votes. My area has neither to compete. So when you guys figure out where you want to go to HS, then great. We will just fill in whereever bodies are needed. This sounds strangely familiar to a boundary meeting I attended, where I was asked to sit down and shut up and accept this option cause it works for us but not for you. I hope I am wrong but it sure feels that way.

[gatormom]

rew said:

I want to apologize to all for getting nasty...I am banning myself from the board for the rest of the day.

We all need to take a break now and then. Whatever your opinion is matters and there is no need to ban yourself.