Schools
BOE Still Mulling Reconfiguration
Members will vote at the next meeting on taking any reconfiguration in 2010-11 'off the table'
The Board of Education continued discussions on how they should approach any decision to reconfigure the elementary and middle schools, if at all, at the board meeting on Monday night, and members decided to vote at the next meeting on whether to eliminate the option for any action starting in the upcoming school year.
"If we do take that off the table, it simplifies the time line," board member Paul Sutherland said of pushing any changes to the system beyond the 2010-11 school year.
The only reconfiguration option that could be accomplished on such a tight schedule—with the decision finalized before the next budget season begins—would be to merge Barlow Mountain and Scotland Elementary, board members said.
"I don't see how it can be made equal to the other schools," member Katherine McGerald said of the potential consolidation.
The school board has been discussing various possibilities for revamping the elementary and middle schools in the face of declining enrollment projections. A committee presented a reconfiguration study to the board in early October that outlined various options but declined to make a recommendation for action. Since the report's release, many parents attending board meetings have advocated for members to move cautiously before deciding to change the system structure.
Some meeting attendees also questioned the accuracy of the declining enrollment projections. The board sought to settle questions on the numbers by inviting one of the report consultants to explain the numbers, which show a 390-student decline at the elementary level between now and 2014. The predictions' great weakness is that they base the future on what happened in the past, he said, but board members noted that previous projections by the consulting firm, H.C. Planning, have been accurate, especially within five-year periods.
A class size report by schools director of personnel Karen Dewing that followed the presentation showed that the elementary schools decreased by 91 students in the past three years.
