Open forum 3/12
Check out Monday's NHR for info on a possible school redistricting... although no one uses the "R" word....
With regard to my outreach to Presidential candidates, thus far I've gotten responses from three of the twenty or so candidates. Tommy Thompson, Newt and my man... Ron Paul! No dems have responded... dunno why. Seems kinda dumb, but hey... one of them will be the next President. Well... assuming that I don't jump in the ring. But like Chuck Hagel said earlier today, I'll be "making an announcement about my political future at some point later this year." Until then, you'll just need to hold your breath on my plans. lol.
Cheshire hockey came up short in the semifinals (WRA, by John Torsiello).
Anything else happening?
Tim White
Town Council, 4th District
4 comments:
Tommy is the man.
Regarding the redistricting: The current proposal to "spot" redistrict, that is to tell a family in a neighborhood that has no older siblings in school or who is new to town that they must attend a school different from their neighbor's has serious consequences. Suppose you live in a Highland district, one of those neighborhoods on the fringe (as the NHR puts it), and you want to sell your house. So new people thinking of buying your house find out that their kids will have to attend a different school than their neighbors; that there is a good possiblity that their kids school friends might live on the other side of town; that their neighbors kids will start at 9AM but your child at 8AM; that you will not be able to rely on your neighbors for rides for your kids to and from afterschool events, or Scouts which is often held right after school, or even CCD classes, again which are held right after school. Suddenly, your house is not looking too good. Good luck trying to sell it.
If you must redistrict, then as the Nike commerical says, Just do it. Or if you must, at least consider an alternative such as making Chapman and Highland one district and Norton and Doolittle another and have let's say Gr 1-2 go to the smaller school, and Gr 3-4-5-6 go to the bigger school or however the numbers would work out. Again, this would not be my preference (see Nike comment above)but it would be better than the spot redistricting and would at least protect one's ability to sell their home. I won't even go into the busing nightmares. It was 1994-95 when we last redistricted. To redistrict only every 12-13 years is pretty good. The district in the past has also allowed 6th graders to stay in their old school which is also good. I would extend that to 5th graders as well. When Highland was opened in 1974, it was billed as a school big enough for 1000 students (cite reference: 1974 Chamber of Commerce Fact Book). Now at 950, it is deemed overcrowded. Must be the new math.
Jane - Is it possible that the demands of special education have created a situation where Highland's capacity is now less than it was in 1974?
I'm sure it has. But in 1974, they also housed kindergarten classes which they no longer do. And I have also see rooms at Chapman that were formally classrooms be converted over to "flex" rooms, reading rooms, a smartboard room, two rooms at Dodd converted to an exercise room, etc. I wonder what will happen if Chapman experiences an influx of students, say from the new homes on Birch Drive. Will those rooms be converted back to regular classrooms or will it be said Chapman is overcrowded? There are almost always alternatives to consider. And BTW, Highland is projected to go down by 25 students next year so even without redistricting, they will be down to 909. (Cite reference: BOE Budget) So even with Spec Ed, there should be enough space (certainly more than this year) without subjecting families to redistricting.
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