We consider location when we buy a house. Or choose a neighborhood. It's important to us.
So important, that Mills parents ranked it #2 of the issues they wanted the boundary reps to consider when redrawing boundary lines. Location matters.
However, it looks like location will not be part of the boundary task force priorities.
Here's why:
Everyone at Mills lives within approximately 2 miles of the school. We can't use location alone to decide new boundary lines - everyone's close. There are children who can walk or bike to Mills today, who will be on a bus next year, going to another school. There's nothing we can do to change that. The school is too crowded.
Beyond Mills, other schools involved in the boundary process have similar problems with location. Neighborhoods that are closer to one school may be sent to another school, further away, to solve overcrowding. Or if you pick one group of kids to attend a local school, it's likely that you will push out another group who could also walk or bike to their school.
In this case, location can not be consistently applied, because of the placement of our schools and the density of our population. This becomes clear when you begin to look at the map, and use the known priorities given to the task force.
Current Task Force Priorities:
- Achieve capacity targets that ensure efficient operation of facilities
- Affect the fewest students possible
- Attend to the alignment of feeder patterns, as reasonable, and balanced against the other criteria (tracking)
- Prevent multiple reassignment of students among schools, by developing stable, long-term assignment plans.
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If everyone is considered equal distance from their school, why are some neighborhoods provided with bus service and some are not? The answer is that some are too close to justify service and some are too far not to provide service. The work to identify close vs far proximity to school has already been done. All we are asking is to consider that factor. It makes more sense to change an already existing bus route than to take someone who is currently walking/biking and make them drive/bus.
ReplyDeleteRich,
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from. I live in one of those neighborhoods that has a bus. And I understand that - in a pure transportation sense - the bus that brings my kids home in the afternoon could easily come from neighboring school, as it could come from Mills.
However, If you move just those kids who take the bus, you don't have a solution to our overcrowding problem - other children may/will be moved from Mills. Yes, even those who could walk or ride their bike.
I want to get this out there, because parents need to grasp the fact that the overcrowding at Mills is at a point where something has to give. Please read Mrs. Butler's post on this.
We ARE considering the location factor. We will try our best to adhere to the priorities that parents gave us: Quality of Education, Location and Grandfathering. But there are other schools involved in this process, with other priorities, along with priorities from the Board of Trustees that the Task Force must consider.
We are working hard to find compromises and common ground with them, while keeping Mills' priorities in mind.
You are welcome to come to the Boundary Task Force Meetings to see the evolving maps.
Thanks for your input and keep the questions coming!
Thanks for the response. I'm still a little confused. In the original post you say:
ReplyDelete"However, it looks like location will not be part of the boundary task force priorities. "
Here you say:
"We ARE considering the location factor."
I'm not sure the real relevance it is being given. As almost half of those on the survey cited location as the "most important priority", I think that it is important to stress how important it is to Mills families.
I understand that no one factor leads to an easy solution.
Please understand that there are two sets of priorities here.
ReplyDelete1)The TASK FORCE has a set of priorities that are approved by the Board of Trustees. These DO NOT include location.
Lisa and I are bound by those priorities during the task force process. All our recommendations on boundary changes must adhere to those priorities.
2) There are obviously a set of priorities from Mills parents, which DOES include location. The task force is not obligated in any way to listen to any one school's priorities over another, but Lisa and I are trying to find common ground with the task force goals where possible.
For instance, one way we are trying to find common ground is to look at neighborhoods served by a bus, and consider moving those. But again, that is not a complete solution to the overcrowding. And any solution that involves those areas is contingent on the task force approval - and affects other schools that also have a vote.
"We" - Lisa and I - are using the priorities set by the parents to guide us - but we are also bound by the task force priorities. And those two sets of goals are not always congruent.
Location is not the saving argument against moving one section of Mills over another. In fact, according to the priorities set for the task force, it carries no weight at all.
Thanks, that helps, and I know I'm taking up a lot of your time that you are volunteering.
ReplyDeleteAre these the task forcer priorities? If not, can you provide them?
"The task force will develop a boundary recommendation to the Superintendent and Board of Trustees that best meets
the following criteria that are listed in no particular priority order.
• Achieve capacity targets that ensure efficient operation of facilities
• Affect the fewest students possible
• Incrementally improve alignment of feeder patterns
• Prevent multiple reassignment of students among schools by developing stable, longterm
assignment plans
• Minimize distance and travel time for students getting to and from school"
If found them here:
http://www.boardbook.org/apps/bbv2/temp/A10908B2-CFE1-F2E9-1796079D055C42A8.pdf
Rich,
ReplyDeleteThe points you posted here are old priorities - they have been changing, in part because of staff recommendations and the complications of this process.
I spoke with our Board of Trustee Representative, Robert Schneider, today (Thursday) and he said the Board approved the following priorities Monday night:
"The task force will develop a boundary recommendation to the Superintendent and Board of Trustees that best meets the following criteria that are listed in no particular priority order.
• Achieve capacity targets that ensure efficient operation of facilities
• Affect the fewest students possible
• Attend to the alignment of feeder
patterns, as reasonable, and balanced against the other criteria
• Prevent multiple reassignment of students among schools by developing stable, long-term
assignment plans"
They are listed here in draft form: http://www.boardbook.org/apps/bbv2/temp/A1EBEF64-AA36-3E0F-0AF8FC900A76554F.pdf
Please note that the "alignment of feeder patterns as balanced against other criteria," is a new phrase. And Mr. Scheider made note to me that the priorities are not weighted - one is not more important than another.
These priorities are final, because they have now been approved by the Board of Trustees. Location is not among them.