|
Post by title1parent on Oct 21, 2008 4:56:05 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=244202&src=76Siblings could be separated when Metea Valley opens By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald 10/21/2008 School spirit may divide some Indian Prairie Unit District 204 households by the beginning of next school year. Board members said Monday they already have received requests from parents who wish to have their children stay, with older siblings, at Neuqua or Waubonsie Valley high schools when the 3,000-seat Metea Valley High School opens to freshman and sophomores in August 2009. Board member Curt Bradshaw said he recently heard a case in which a family will have one freshman and two twin juniors in the district. The students, he said, would ultimately end up on two different schools' swim teams instead of being teammates. "When presented in this isolated conversation, I found the request that came to me to be compelling," Bradshaw said. Despite how compelling the argument, Deputy Superintendent Kathy Birkett said officials have followed the district's policy that requires documented hardships to be presented before transfers are allowed. "I don't know that we want to be in the business of picking and choosing who gets to stay with their older sibling and who does not," she said. "We opened the third high school for space considerations and to provide strong academic programs, and when we start leaving students back at whatever building, you're still looking at an overcrowded building, so how would we pick and choose?" Bradshaw said he felt the limited exceptions are too rigid. "We are fearful of a slippery slope so we don't want to allow for a single exception for fear of slipping on that slippery slope," he said. "I don't want to be in a situation where we are so rigid that we can't meet the needs of our families." School board President Mark Metzger warned it could also be a litigious slope based on the lawsuits filed by families earlier this year in an attempt to get the boundaries changed. He feared others may follow the same route if they get angry enough about their children being separated. "I think we would be kidding ourselves not to recognize that our community has demonstrated, very recently, that it is quick to run to court if they think they can get a favorable ruling there," he said. "I think it's the appropriate thing to do to protect our resources from a public that has already demonstrated its willingness to go that route." As of Monday, the board had received only two specific requests, but Birkett said the issue has been raised in smaller meetings with Waubonsie and Metea staff. "There's no way know (how many families would be in the situation of having students at two schools) without asking," Metzger said. "And in my opinion the consequence of asking is greater than not."
|
|
|
Post by WeNeed3 on Oct 21, 2008 6:21:13 GMT -5
I do see both sides of the equation. What happened when NV opened? They did not make exceptions for that either, did they? Given how sensitive some are to this, I can see a whole new cut festering if some families get an exception to stay while others don't. Opening a new school is not easy, that's for sure.
|
|
|
Post by warriorpride on Oct 21, 2008 6:45:02 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=244202&src=76Siblings could be separated when Metea Valley opens By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald 10/21/2008 School spirit may divide some Indian Prairie Unit District 204 households by the beginning of next school year. Board members said Monday they already have received requests from parents who wish to have their children stay, with older siblings, at Neuqua or Waubonsie Valley high schools when the 3,000-seat Metea Valley High School opens to freshman and sophomores in August 2009. Board member Curt Bradshaw said he recently heard a case in which a family will have one freshman and two twin juniors in the district. The students, he said, would ultimately end up on two different schools' swim teams instead of being teammates. "When presented in this isolated conversation, I found the request that came to me to be compelling," Bradshaw said. Despite how compelling the argument, Deputy Superintendent Kathy Birkett said officials have followed the district's policy that requires documented hardships to be presented before transfers are allowed. "I don't know that we want to be in the business of picking and choosing who gets to stay with their older sibling and who does not," she said. "We opened the third high school for space considerations and to provide strong academic programs, and when we start leaving students back at whatever building, you're still looking at an overcrowded building, so how would we pick and choose?" Bradshaw said he felt the limited exceptions are too rigid. "We are fearful of a slippery slope so we don't want to allow for a single exception for fear of slipping on that slippery slope," he said. "I don't want to be in a situation where we are so rigid that we can't meet the needs of our families." School board President Mark Metzger warned it could also be a litigious slope based on the lawsuits filed by families earlier this year in an attempt to get the boundaries changed. He feared others may follow the same route if they get angry enough about their children being separated. "I think we would be kidding ourselves not to recognize that our community has demonstrated, very recently, that it is quick to run to court if they think they can get a favorable ruling there," he said. "I think it's the appropriate thing to do to protect our resources from a public that has already demonstrated its willingness to go that route." As of Monday, the board had received only two specific requests, but Birkett said the issue has been raised in smaller meetings with Waubonsie and Metea staff. "There's no way know (how many families would be in the situation of having students at two schools) without asking," Metzger said. "And in my opinion the consequence of asking is greater than not." I don't follow. Does he only fear a lawsuit if they asked who would be in the split-family situation? I also find it hard to believe that the Admin couldn't figure out exactly how many families will be in this situation. I DO understand the lawsuit part. And I DO understand the slippery slope part. And I don't think that any family should get preferential treatment because of sports or because they might possibly some day have a chance of theoretically being on the same sports team (it's not always easy if you're 2 or 3 years apart. *** My 2 kids will be split for the next 2 years between MV and WV - would I try to leave my son at WV if offered? I'd ask him, but I think opening a new school offers some things that make the challenges worth it. I personally know of 5 families that will be split at WV-MV, and that's just off the top of my head. So, the number may be bigger than the SB/Admin wants to deal with.
|
|
|
Post by JWH on Oct 21, 2008 7:17:05 GMT -5
Talk about opening a can of worms.
We have many neighbors that will have students at both WV and MV in the next few years. I haven't heard of anyone petitioning to receive a boundary exception.
|
|
|
Post by momto4 on Oct 21, 2008 8:13:40 GMT -5
What a silly title for the article. Of course siblings will be separated when the new school opens!
The siblings in my house don't mind this upcoming situation at all. It may be a little more complicated for the parents but for us it's not a big deal.
|
|
|
Post by majorianthrax on Oct 21, 2008 8:29:53 GMT -5
What happened when NV opened?
I think that is a valid point. I remember there were families whose kids went to NV and WV when NV opened. There was grumbling to be sure but no one spoke of any lawsuit. It is just the people who are leaving NV for WV that are angry. Well let them throw a lawsuit. It will get thrown back in their faces like the groundless lawsuit brought by the 9.
|
|
|
Post by wvhsparent on Oct 21, 2008 8:40:58 GMT -5
When NVHS opened there were splits too, where 1 child went to WV and one to NV. There were no exceptions granted IIRC. So IMHO this is no different than the last time....
|
|
|
Post by eb204 on Oct 21, 2008 9:03:58 GMT -5
When NVHS opened there were splits too, where 1 child went to WV and one to NV. There were no exceptions granted IIRC. So IMHO this is no different than the last time.... I agree. Since we've opened a new HS previously, then those rules should be followed for opening MVHS. Why give exceptions now when no exceptions were given then? It was stated at the outset that there would be no "grandfathering", even when the HS was to be built as BB, so why would anything change now? Again, I feel some are grasping at any chance to keep their children where they are. I understand the desire to do so, but it was clearly stated it would not be done. It will become a very slippery slope if they start to pick and choose. If you think there's talk of unfairness now, if this becomes an option, it will be non-stop.
|
|
|
Post by wvhsparent on Oct 21, 2008 12:42:17 GMT -5
I also feel the arguement that "my kid won't have varsity sports" is also very weak. Again that's what happened when NV opened, no one there seemed worse because of it.
|
|
|
Post by gatormom on Oct 21, 2008 12:45:53 GMT -5
My only concern has nothing to do with the family splits. When you open a new school, siblings are split. That happens. It would have happened at BB and will happen on Eola.
My concern is the class of 2012 who are Neuqua this year. When new high schools are opened, the sophmore class that moves is the first graduating class, a part of the new traditions and the excitement of opening a new school. I don't recall reading anywhere about school openings where students from one existing high school are moved to another existing high school in their sophmore year. That seems wrong to me.
I really think if there is room at Neuqua, they should leave that group of students there. It is not the same as opening a new school. I don't believe that group of kids is being treated fairly by our district.
|
|
|
Post by southsidesignmaker on Oct 21, 2008 12:56:27 GMT -5
Gatormom, I don't know if there is room, but an interesting idea.
|
|
|
Post by wvhsparent on Oct 21, 2008 13:38:49 GMT -5
GM - do you mean the students who are sophs now at NV? or those who are Frosh now?
It's my understanding that only those who are Frosh (at the Gold campus - separate bldg.) are the ones moving - becoming Sophs at their new school. Due to the Freshman Cntr config I feel they are less connected to the main. Also this area used to be very fluid, getting lots of transfers in from other schools, etc. The nice thing here is the kids will be part of a larger group, making the move together as a shared experience, instead of just one kid here or there. I think it will be less of a concern that us adults make it out to be......
|
|
|
Post by WeNeed3 on Oct 21, 2008 13:56:53 GMT -5
I personally think they should look at the numbers. If WV is packed with the elimination of the gold campus, then maybe making NV more crowded with those 250 kids would even the pain. But what becomes of WV's class of 2012? Pretty small I would think. Also, would people from MV then be mad because their kids had to move and the NV class of 2012 didn't? Slippery slope indeed.
|
|
|
Post by gatordog on Oct 21, 2008 15:18:06 GMT -5
... I really think if there is room at Neuqua, they should leave that group of students there. It is not the same as opening a new school. I don't believe that group of kids is being treated fairly by our district. gatormom, I do see your point. I think its more than "is there room". I think it would be a school adminstrative nightmare. If "nightmare" is too strong a word, surely it would be a complexity that is above and beyond what is in the plans now. One concern is: WV graduating classes would oscillate from approx 1000 for class of '11, all the way down to 500 for '12, than back up to 700 for '13. Can courses and staffing assignments be efficiently done at WV in those circumstances? Would curriculum and organization suffer at WV? I dont know (I am not a school administrator) but I would like to hear a professional comment on how viable this would be. A second conern: (maybe a lessor point) MV is to be mostly filled with existing staff from WV and NV in proporation to the students leaving. With gatormom's suggestion, NV blue would not be any smaller at all for the first year of MV and therefore, not eligible to move any staff. Is that a good idea? No its not ideal to have siblings split, a small number of team-sport athletes not have a varsity team first year, and students moving from a HS that they already have started at, etc. But with all those topics.... fixing one problem can make other problems worse. I would not rule out gatormom's suggestions. On the surface, i would say its great if such a plan could be worked out. But consider me a skeptic.
|
|
|
Post by WeNeed3 on Oct 21, 2008 18:07:25 GMT -5
|
|