What are the issues facing Valpo Community Schools today, in your opinion? Some issues have taken the forefront in the media, but lets hear from you!
What are the issues and why?
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"Conversations" Schedule
The following Neighborhood Conversation dates are scheduled with the Board of Education to provide the community the opportunity to ask questions, relay concerns, present ideas, and provide feedback related to the Community Task Force’s recommendation to shut down seven neighborhood schools. All meetings are at 7:00PM.
Parkview Elementary - Oct. 1
Thomas Jefferson Elementary - Oct. 7
Flint Lake Elementary - Oct. 15
Hayes Leonard Elementary - Oct. 29
Memorial Elementary - Nov. 6
Central Elementary - Nov. 12
Cooks Corners Elementary - Dec. 4
Northview Elementary - Dec. 10
This is your opportunity to learn more about this proposal and to add your voice to the conversation.
Parkview Elementary - Oct. 1
Thomas Jefferson Elementary - Oct. 7
Flint Lake Elementary - Oct. 15
Hayes Leonard Elementary - Oct. 29
Memorial Elementary - Nov. 6
Central Elementary - Nov. 12
Cooks Corners Elementary - Dec. 4
Northview Elementary - Dec. 10
This is your opportunity to learn more about this proposal and to add your voice to the conversation.
21 comments:
One of the important issues is lack of communication between the school board and the community. The School board claims that isn't true, and they have been better, but the Valparaiso Chamber had a special breakfast meeting a month ago to review the Task Force findings and none of the school board members was in attendance. Only the board attorney showed up to answer questions. The board members should have been there to listen to reaction of our community's leaders.
From my understanding, the school board members did not know of the meeting. That's a shame. The Task Force's report is an important issue for ALL members of our community, not just the parents of school children. There is a lot riding on the outcome of this report, including the survival of our neighborhoods.
As a chamber member, I'll chime in here to reply to Jake's comment.
Dave Hollenbeck (the attorney) was invited to come make a presentation. From the chamber newsletter: "Valpo Chamber Public Policy Forum sessions are designed to inform members of important issues within the community." The purpose is to help keep chamber members informed. You may think it should have been a different type of event (for giving feedback to the board members)... but it just wasn't designed to be.
You may have other examples you'd like to use to illustrate your point. I just wouldn't go with that one, if I were you. :)
Well "anonymous", I appreciate what you are saying regarding the format for the Chamber Forum sessions, but that doesn't excuse the School Board from taking an active interest in what a gathering community leaders have to say about an issue as important as school closings in the neighborhoods.
The information should flow both directions.
From what you said earlier, it sounds like the school board members didn't even know about the chamber lunch. Are you faulting them for not coming to an event they weren't invited to?
i too am a chamber member, and have attended some of the public policy forums. usually, there is a q&a period. although i didnt attend this forum, it seems that at least one member of the school board should have been present. when there is a matter being decided in indianapolis and discussed at the forum, our state representatives make a point to attend the forum to engage with the public on the issue.
if mr. hollenbeck didnt make the school board members aware of the forum, then the school board should rethink their relationship with mr. hollenbeck.
Apart from a benign note "to discuss facilites" does anonymous feel that the schoolboard has been forthcoming with the Task Force data, proposal or findings?
I was in attendance at the Chamber meeting in question. Myself and several other members did question as to why at least one member of the school board wasn’t there to field questions. Mr. Hollenbeck’s answer was, “they have not seen the final report so their answers would have been ‘I don’t know’ to many questions.” I don’t fault the board members if they truly didn’t know about the meeting, but why didn’t they know? That is the issue.
There are many issues that are a concern to me as a parent with two children in the Valpo school system. I agree with Jake,communication and transparency is an issue many have. However there are many others to consider as well. The Task Force Proposal to close 7 neighborhood schools is huge, as well as the data they were given to encourage them to come up with that decision. Process and procedure of the school board is also a concern. Anyone want to take those and run with it?
I read the report and couldn't find any strong reason to close 7 of our schools. I thought that lack of space for Full Day Kindergarten was a big issue, but in Appendix D they reveal that "there is adequate available space in existing buildings to permit FDK."
I recommend that people read the report themselves at http://www.valpo.k12.in.us/ctf/rpc.php and try to find one really solid reason to close all seven schools. And if you do find one, please tell me what it is!
I have a different take than Anonymous with regard to the Chamber Forum and the lack of School Board members in attendance. As one chamber member stated quite eloquently, board members and the administration should have attended not to provide insight or commentary but rather to listen to the concerns of chamber members.
That Dave Hollenbeck provided them "cover" by advising them to stay away says much about the lack of transparency and flow of information between the administration and board members, IMO. At the very least, Dr. Benway - who was in receipt of the final report at the time of the Chamber event - could have attended the Forum and could have provided preliminary insights and opinions.
I see the board's refusal to ask Task Force members to sit on the panel during the upcoming "conversations" as but another attempt to insulate themselves (the board) from the tough questions that will likely be asked by the community.
Regarding "Valpo's" comment on the Task Force report in the previous thread, I too am dumbfounded as to how the Task Force members could come to such a drastic conclusion given the absolute lack of supporting info and data included in the final report.
I truly hope the School Board will make an effort to get Task Force members to these "conversations" and up on the panel. I suspect we could all learn much about their deliberations and their process were they to take questions from the audience.
For the time being, I highly recommend that we all come prepared with a list of questions regarding the details (or lack of) included in the report.
Any Parkview parents reading the blog plan on attending?
Well, the first neighborhood conversation (at Parkview) has come and gone. How did you feel about it? Did you go? Did you ask the questions you wanted to ask?
I was there, and I found it pretty interesting. Three quick thoughts...
1. I'm glad I didn't serve on the task force, given all the flak they're getting, but it was great to hear from the Parkview parent who served on it.
2. It was good to hear from all the school board members... and to hear that they truly haven't made any decision on this yet. I know that's not the impression many have had up to this point (though I'm not sure what that impression has been based upon).
3. There were lots of interesting ideas floated to help alleviate crowding in the 7 small elementary schools: building an early learning center/kindergarten campus, moving 5th graders out with an intermediate school model, or just building another small school. Unfortunately, none of those things would fix the very real problems with the Parkview building. It's going to need an extensive remodel... or replacement. And it's not the only one. There doesn't seem to be any way around that.
I went to the meeting at Parkview, and it was great to see school board members in informal give and take with citizens. It was a step forward.
Re. "Just another's" third point above, seems like the way to fix the problems with the Parkview building is to go right ahead and fix them. Some of this stuff (new roof) is your basic facilities maintenance, Other stuff (wireless capability) is a curriculum delivery challenge unique to this moment, but we will have a whole different curriculum delivery challenge in 30 years. Do we just keep building new schools every 30 years? How about a little American ingenuity to solve this one?
@chickens, I was thinking primarily of things like:
- small classroom sizes. As one teacher mentioned, those rooms were built for 18-20 students, not 25-27... and that's without computers, etc. in the rooms. Unless they dramatically shrink class sizes (15 students?), they need bigger rooms. The statement made that "our kids who need the most help are being shoved into the hallway" is true. The rooms are just too small. And too few, when full-day kindergarten comes.
- combined cafeteria / gym and combined music & art room.
- bad office placement. Not as bad as Central's 3rd floor office, but still...
Sure, some of them are more maintenance-oriented, like increasing ventilation to parts of the building. (Did they say something about the roof? It's not mentioned in the task force's report.) But others are just not solvable short of major remodeling or rebuilding.
Re: "American ingenuity"... The staff at Parkview are already using more creativity than should be asked of them, trying to shoehorn all the educational activities into that building. In my opinion.
Just another citizen...I dont think chickens is saying that NOTHING needs done at Parkview...or the other schools. All the schools are struggling with class size, which is a ver real issue that affects how the children of Valparaiso learn.
In my opinion, yes!! Lets shrink class sizes and hire more teachers. The educators, classroom assistants, building principals, lunchroom helpers, FROG teachers, LD teachers...THESE folks are the reason Valpo schools has been doing as well as it does.
The teachers can provide a better education in a small class size, by providing more individualized attention when needed.
Lets fix the problems in the existing schools in a creative and fiscally responsible way. Cause not many people I know want to pay all that money that it will take to build the mega schools. And I am sure that estimate is WAY off and UNDERESTIMATED!!
More teachers....smaller class sizes...better maintenance of facilities...up to date technology....THATS WHERE ITS AT!
Hey there, 'just another citizen": I am with you that smaller class size is critically important, and that any proposals to change the schools need to put that front and center. But can't we reduce class size WITHOUT sacrificing school size and the current neighborhood locations? How about a kindergarten campus, plus renovation and maintenance on the other schools? What would that cost? (I am sure it would cost a lot, but let's at least find out). I don't see evidence that the task force was given a real opportunity to think about the wide array of options. Not the task force's fault. They worked with what they had, and valiantly.
A roof WAS among the items listed in the renovations for Parkview, and cost for that was included in the estimate of cots for renovation. That info isn't in the report, but it was in the punch list presented at the Parkview meeting.
You guys misunderstood me. I wasn't referring to class size (number of students). I was referring to classroom size (number of square feet). The classrooms at Parkview are smaller than the classrooms at most of our other small neighborhood schools, and they're much smaller than the classrooms schools build today (like the ones at Flint Lake).
It's probably not financially possible to reduce class sizes (number of students) to the point that the classrooms at Parkview would be adequate.
Interesting debate! A question to "Just another citizen." How big are the Parkview classrooms in sq footage? And what in the research is considered appropriate space for a class of 15-20 students?
And a question to us all: Is Flint Lake the right measure by which we should judge Parkview classrooms? Or is Flint Lake just the only other measure we have right here in Valpo?
I don't know the sq. ft. of the classrooms. I picked up that detail from conversations with administrators at some point. Probably when the Task Force was doing its community forums. Parkview and one of the others have smaller classrooms due to when they were built. One of the teachers made reference to this at the Parkview neighborhood conversation (though she didn't compare it to the other schools).
So Flint Lake isn't the only other measure we have here in Valpo. But it's certainly the most recent school to be built in response to the needs seen by the community 17-20 years ago.
Has everyone here been to Flint Lake? If not, I hope you'll join me at the neighborhood conversation there this coming Wed. night.
I plan to go to Flint Lake, and miss the presidential debate, sigh. But I do think it is important to see all the schools.
Class size {Sq Ft} problem is solved by reducing class size {Pupils} We do need a new school on the south side of 30 or therabouts for all the new development reducing pupil size and solving sq ft problem. The ADA and technology issues are easily solvable in todays world. Computers are tiny and everything is WIRELESS. Central's office being on the third floor was a bad decision from the start and should be relocated to the lower level. Green space can be added, even to Central by tearing out some asphalt. Lets get serious, there has not been one significant reason presented for such a drastic proposal and until one can be found the discussion of tearing down 7 neighborhood schools and building 4 meagaplexes is ridiculous.
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