School Board followup

Report from Wendy Jones:

Last night (Thursday, May 28), Superintendent Vedra presented the school board the draft capacity study he has cooked up to evaluate and then close small schools. Several people were able to speak to the board before the study was presented, and the board members actually heard us. We told them the study was flawed, the time frame was too short, and that these are not the times to make big decisions to close schools.

Lisa Iverson put on her professional hat, and told them that making big changes after a series of losses, and all of these cuts have been losses, is damaging to children. She urged them to slow down.

Teresa Hamilton went through the draft plan and highlighted the flaws point by point, showing that it is basically a complete sham.

I told them that closing schools would chase students away to the private schools leading to a costly decrease in enrollment, and reminded them that taxpayers specifically asked to have their neighborhood schools retrofit and then wanted their children placed back inside them. By closing the schools they promised to preserve, the board puts themselves in a terrible position. Taxpayers will remember that their money was mismanaged, and the next time the schools try to pass a levy they will not succeed.

School board member Ken Gass had little to say. Board member Kelly Bashaw thought the study was a good idea. Board President Steve Schoenfeld noticed the due date of the study was December 17, which was a good catch. He remarked that he was glad he was not going to be one of the two newly elected school board members, because they would be presented with the study and asked to vote on it at the same meeting they would be sworn in at.

Board member Melody Rhode, however, really saw that this study was very poorly planned. She asked who the experts would be, to guide the volunteers through the process. Vedra answered in circles. She asked where the source information would come from. Vedra said the information will be collected by the committee with the help of the school district. She clearly saw that Vedra intends to provide his own data to a group of unskilled volunteers and then ask them to make decisions that will change the direction of our schools for the next 15 years. She was not happy.

Board member Ann Whitmyer took the historian position once again, saying that these studies are nothing to worry about and that they are performed every few years. She called on the senior staff to help her remember some study that was done at some time and had nothing to do with anything.
At this point she asked the district's assistant superintendent, Ron Cowan if he could remember the studies of yore. This was an unwittingly brilliant move. Now that Ron Cowan had been recognized, he stood up and gave us some good information, some information which could make the capacity study redundant and send Vedra back to the drawing board. Ron Cowan related that his office is required to perform a Capital Facilities Plan every 5 years or so. The current plan expires this month, and his office will present the board with the new 5 year capital facilities plan in July. He basically told the whole room that his nearly complete study had already done what Vedra was looking for, and that it was done by professionals with real data. He made Vedra's plan look like a silly waste of time.

It was a great meeting. We made a difference this time. It feels good. So...

The next thing is the Citizen's Forum meeting June 2.

Try to bring a friend from the north side of town who cares about neighborhood schools.