There is a meeting at Burroughs tonight at 6:30. We will be getting new information on how the proposed school changes might affect Burroughs and the surrounding communities. It is at 6:30. Please try to attend.
We have learned that the district is considering three specific scenarios for dealing with the F2 Open area. As I understand, these scenarios are:
1) send F2 to Lyndale
2) send 1/2 of F2 to Lyndale and 1/2 to Burroughs
3) send F2 to Burroughs and send a portion current Burroughs' families to Kenny.
Scenario 3 obviously would involve moving current Burroughs' families to a new school. I heard that they would do so by moving the southern boundary (which is now, I believe, 54th) north to either the Creek or 50th. Families north of the new border would remain at Burroughs. Families south of the new border would go to Kenny.
Please plan on attending the meeting to hear about these scenarios and give input.
-Lisa Converse
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. What did folks think of the meeting last night?
By the way, I'd like to know why Lake Harriet won't be touched? Did anyone else find that interesting?
ReplyDeleteWe do find that interesting. We would like to know what the thoughts and reasoning behind leaving Lake Harriet alone are. We were unable to attend last night due to work commitments. We are very interested to know what went on last night in more detail.
ReplyDeleteThe meeting didn't do much for me to clarify my confusion on what exactly the goals of the district are -- generally or particularly how they relate to Burroughs. How are they actually going to save $28 million? Is the goal moving to a more community school based model for all -- or just giving the F2 Open area a community school (which I agree absolutely needs to be done)? Why is there such adament district opposition to bringing back the successful NLL program, when spaces may be available after all the boundary reshuffling and transportation costs don't seem to really be the issue?
ReplyDeleteI guess the thing that troubled me the most from a tangletown perspective was that I had sort of thought that converting Ramsey into a community school was off the table -- but it seemed that Tom Madden said that was still an option. Did I hear that right?
The other thought I had was really that it seems to be the DISTRICT staff -- not the school board -- who really make the decisions. Though I'm sure many are educated in and experienced with educational policy, they are not accountable elected representatives. I'm concerned that the District Staff aren't taking the concerns of or suggestions by the parents seriously - but are instead attributing them to over-anxious parents who would vocally fret about ANY type of change. Does anyone else feel this way?
Sorry to seem so negative -- but this has been a really frustrating experience for me as someone who's being introduced to the MPS district in this way, with an incoming kindergartner next year.
Kate-
ReplyDeleteYes, I heard the same thing about Ramsey. After the meeting, I asked Tom Madden about Ramsey. He said that they may, or may not, move Ramsey. And if they do move Ramsey, there are 4 options for Ramsey. 1) it is vacant, 2) it is made a high-school campus (along w/ Washburn), 3) they move the Barton Open program there, or 4) it's a community school.
I agree, the whole thing has been very frustrating.
--Lisa
Kate,
ReplyDeleteThe district will make a recommendation for a proposal to the Board on 4/28. After that, the Board will deliberate and vote on May 26. The Board does have the final say in all of this. They can vote yes or no to the proposal or (as usually happens) they can make some tweaks and vote that in.
The District presented a draft version of a potential proposal a few weeks ago at a Board retreat. Several of my neighbors were there to observe. Their report was that the Board was unhappy with the district ideas and told them so. The Board felt the plan had too many band-aids and no real substantiative change that would meet stated goals and be sustainable. The Board made it clear that they do not want to do this again in two years. Neither do I!!
Sara