So, last night, the AISD board of trustees had a work session, and among the topics was the process of how to redraw the boundaries.
Superintendent Carstarphen and Director of Facilities Paul Turner presented the following priorities for the upcoming elementary school boundary process.
Primary Priorities from AISD:
• Achieve capacity targets that ensure efficient operation of facilities
• Affect the fewest students possible
• Prevent multiple reassignment of students among schools by developing stable, long-term assignment plans
Secondary Priorities from AISD
• Minimize distance and travel time for students getting to and from school
• Align feeder patterns (AKA Tracking: attend the same schools as a large group from one geographic area.)
See the entire presentation here.
What came out of the meeting
Some members of the board of trustees had concerns about the list of priorities being different that what may be good for children and what parents would want to see. Dr. Carstarphen said she would consult with education staff with the district to get their input. She plans to resubmit the list of district priorities to the board of trustees on THURSDAY. The board will vote on these Tuesday, September 29, the same day AISD staff plans to hold their first community meeting at Clayton Elementary.
Here’s the question. Do you think the district should consider tracking and school proximity when setting priorities for boundaries? If so, please email aisd@millspta.org – and your email will be sent to the superintendent, members of the board of trustees and key staff that set the priorities. Want a form email to send? Click here.
Don’t forget – we’ll be gathering more input on priorities from Mills Parents next Monday, September 21. To fill out a parent survey, you have to be at the meeting!
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Can you update the link for "See the entire presentation here" Thanks
ReplyDeleteSorry about that - Try this link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boardbook.org/apps/bbv2/public/detail_wrapper.cfm?MeetingKey=MjAwMzczNzA%3D
Then scroll down to Section VIII. The powerpoint under that is what I was trying to direct you to.
Just something to think about prior to the meeting...
ReplyDeleteIf we are in favor of vertical tracking, wouldn't that mean that those children from Mills who track to Small would then be moved to Patton next year? I personally want my daughter to remain at Mills through 5th grade. It's a catch-22 for those parents who wish for their kids remain at Mills that are living in the Small MS area.
In a word, yes those Mills students on the northern or eastern border of our attendence zone who attend Patton would be subject to the tracking argument. Conversely, those students on the southern or western border would be equally at risk of being moved to Kiker because that school tracks to Gorzycki.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is nearly all of our population lives on a border, because the attendance zone is so small, yet so dense.
Which is why we want to have the survey tell us the general values and priorities of the parents.
If you want your child to finish at Mills, we will have an option for that reflected in the survey.
I hope to see you Monday night at 6:30 in the cafeteria for the information meeting.
bscrimgeour - thanks for the comment on vertical tracking. I had not thought of it in this way. Michelle, am I reading this correctly
ReplyDeletehttp://www.austinisd.org/inside/2004bond/boundaries/docs/New_SW_Elem_Process.pdf
that some of the kids at Mills may end of going to Boone Elementary?
My understand is that option is currently on the table. It's one of the schools in our area (directly to our east) that is very under-enrolled. I just looked up their numbers, and they currently have 577 students, but the school is built for 726.
ReplyDeleteTracking becomes a major problem with Boone, because they track to Covington and Crockett, which is completely different that the verticle tracking that our students currently have.
You could potentially have an island of 100 kids going to Boone, then Small, then Bowie. It would be a "double" split for them. Split from peers in elementary, then split from peers at Small (b/c 1/2 go to Austin High.)
Final thought - no maps have been put forward from the district yet. We probably won't see anything until October. But the priorities that they set now, will directly effect the kind of map they produce.
Thanks for the info Michelle. I am in one of those areas that would most likely be considered to move to Boone. If this was to happen, it would be a huge disruption and disappointment to the 100 or so kids that live in the area. You mention that it would be a "double split", but one could make an argument that it would actually be a "triple split". Moving from Mills to Boone, then Boone to Small, and finally Small to Bowie.
ReplyDeleteAnother issue that I am not sure the FUBTF is considering is the non interaction between the current community that attends Boone and the community that attends Mills, Kiker, and Clayton. On paper it appears that Boone is only a couple miles away and should be an easy relocation for this area, but in reality we are two completely separate communities. In speaking with other parents, I know of no one that has friends or family that live in the current Boone district. If the Boone move was to actually happen, they would not only be relocating kids to a new school, but they would also be introducing the kids into a community that we currently have very little to no involvement in. In my opinion, when you compare relocating to Boone to relocating to Kiker, Clayton or the new SW Elementary school it’s not even close in how disruptive it will be to those families that have to move to Boone.
I know that redistricting has to happen and some tough choices are going to have to be made, but I would like to see the Boone option taken of the table. Is there anything I can do to help make this happen?
The fact that the district is putting alignment of feeder schools and proximity to schools back into their list of priorities, (see yesterday's post) helps that group of kids who might be looked at to move to Boone. No one at Mills is advocating that a group of our students move to Boone - that is coming from District planners.
ReplyDeleteAs a community, Mills needs to decide what it values most - is it tracking? is it grandfathering? is it the quality of the schools that would take our students?
Those priorities will guide how your geographic representatives make decisions on plans the district and others bring forward.
We're trying to speak with one voice to the district, even though many of us have different concerns about how the boundary plan might effect our individual families.
We will have more ideas for action in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned.