Magnet Academy fate still undecided

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www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1699344,2_1_AU04_MAGNET_S1-090804.article

Magnet Academy fate still undecided

August 4, 2009

By ERIKA WURST [e-mail]
AURORA -- With Power Point presentation in hand, Magnet Academy administrators, parents and advocates were ready for a fight Monday evening as the East Aurora School Board debated whether to keep the program alive.

That decision will have to wait.

After weeks of discussion about the academy's success since its inception, several board members discussed the option of shutting down the program, with its 150 registered students, just weeks before classes are scheduled to start.

After two hours of heated debate, the jury remained hung, and the board voted unanimously to continue discussion on the topic.

Concerned parents and students packed the hot board room at the School Service Center on Fifth Street, where chairs normally sit vacant. On this Monday, however, people flooded out into the halls -- questioning how the district could make such a decision, calling the proposal to close the academy a "slap in the face".

East Aurora third-grade teacher Scott Strand called the idea of closure "an uninspired half-effort" by the district.

"If we close the academy now, we will look erratic and not functioning," he said. A year is not enough time to conclude the success of the program, he said.

"If you have problems with staff and responsiveness, take it to people who are causing the problems and not the kids," one father said.

Nearly every speaker agreed. They talked about the way their children "blossomed" with the new curriculum.

"Talk to these students, and these families," district social worker Lori Rueffer told the board.

"Please stand," she asked, and they did -- the whole room.

"Witness their involvement. It is within our power to help these students of magnet academy caliber to achieve their true potential."

Parents talked of their children crying. Mothers left the room in tears.

"I believe in this district," Strand said, and in the program.

"Give changes a chance," he pleaded. "If we pull the plug now, we won't find out if it work here."

Magnet Academy advocates outlined the need for gifted programs in the district, and pointed to the elimination of "gifted funds" as having greatly impacted the academic success of talented students in East Aurora. The academy, they said, gives parents of children looking for a more rigorous workload a choice when choice is not an option.

Trends show that parents usually leave the district after the fifth and eighth grades. The academy keeps families who would otherwise leave in the district. Advocates said it is too early to compare grades of students who entered the academy to their previous marks, because the academy coursework is more rigorous.

Data show that there is already a significant difference in scores of magnet academy students when compared to other students based on Think Link assessments. Magnet Academy students scored higher in nearly every category.

ISAT scores proved the same. Magnet academy students' scores blew away those of all other district students -- with 100 percent of academy fifth- and eighth-grade students meeting or exceeding state requirements. Barely 70 percent of non-academy students could say the same.

"Nine months is not enough time to provide data to determine if program is or is not working," board member Juanita Wells said to audience applause.

"We as a board need to put aside personal agendas to work with administrators on behalf of our district, in order to make sound judgment and ask for support. We must be provided with information about success of program the program, and nine months is not enough time. It's going to take three to five years to gather sufficient data."

Rayanne Carlson gave an opposing opinion, and stated that students should be offered the same opportunity in all of the schools. She said the board must balance matters of the heart against budget matters, and the district simply cannot afford to keep the academy open.

"I believe in this program fiercely," Stella Gonzalez said. "I think we should coin a phrase. 'One year is not enough.' Research shows one year is not enough to see pros or cons of any program. ... I understand it is a lot of money, but I believe in enhancing, moving forward. This is my profession, kids are my love. We have just let things fall, and we have to give them a push. I hope we can keep you with the magnet schools."

"We have to be the people who make tough decisions and deal with consequences of those decisions," board president Dee Weaver said.

"The mission of the School Board is to educate students and provide them with the best education that you can get. If you get rid of this program, you're not doing that," Bob Coppenhoefer said.

"Parents should be informed of your intent to close the program and the reason for it. I heard all about intent, but haven't heard your reasons. Nobody seems to know why this is being done."

comment at beaconnewsonline.com

[WeNeed3]

I agree one year is not enough. I hope they keep this another year. What a mess to have to move those 150 kids.

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www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1701195,2_1_AU05_MAGNET_S1-090805.article

Kids not sure where to enroll

• Magnet Academy: With school set to begin, parents angered that program's fate remains undecided

August 5, 2009

By ERIKA WURST [e-mail]
When he was 3 years old, Austyn Dixon held a small toy truck in his hands and looked at his mother with curious eyes she'll never forget.

"This truck has the most amazing mechanical abilities," Trish Dixon recalled her son saying. That's when she knew her boy was special. Throughout his early schooling, Austyn excelled despite ridicule from his classmates, Dizon said.

When she moved last year from Las Vegas to Aurora, Dixon discovered the new Magnet Academy, which she thought would help her child thrive outside a traditional classroom setting without having to be placed in a private school.

"He needs a program like the Magnet Academy," Trish Dixon said Tuesday.

But, as parents begin the annual rite of buying back-to-school gear, Magnet Academy parents have been left to wonder where exactly they'll send their children later this month.

The School Board, citing insufficient proof the program had a successful first year, has decided to put the program up for vote, though it delayed any decision this week after parents spoke out at a board meeting.

Those opposing the academy, including board president Dee Weaver and board member Rayanne Carlson, said the district needs to think in terms of all of its students, and not just those of a select population. The additional $169,000 requested by the academy to enlarge the program, they said, isn't something the district can afford to fork over as the economy crumbles.

They want to rescind the program. The vote will likely be taken at the Aug. 17 board meeting -- after the district's registration has concluded. Weaver said a special emergency board meeting could be held sooner.

Parents have maintained the decision to close the academy should have been made months ago -- before sending out acceptance letters to eager students and introducing them to their new schools, peers and teachers. And, Dixon said, before private school slots filled up.

"I haven't made the decision yet about what we're going to do," Dixon said. She said she hopes the board will make the right decision, but has been calling private schools just in case.

"I need to do what's in the best interest of my child," she said. "I can't put him back (in his home school) where it will be a nightmare for him. ... The school can't keep us in limbo like this. Your alternative is that these kids will leave the district."

Dozens of parents spoke on Monday during a three-hour board meeting.

"I just found out (Monday) that they were voting to close the Academy," said Maribel Herrera, whose daughter was expected to enter the program. "Everyone was just shocked at the way it was put out there."

With no letters sent home, parents are left to scramble for different options.

"We don't even know where we'll register," Herrera said. "My daughter is so upset about it that she's to the point where she doesn't even want to go to school. ... The kids feel isolated when they're the only one's doing their homework."

Members of her own family have left the district to receive a better education for their children, but Herrera was confident in the future success of the Magnet Academy.

"If the Academy is an option, we'll definitely stay," she said. "But now I'm definitely checking private schools. I hope it's not too late."

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www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1710152,2_1_AU11_MAGNET_S1-090811.article

East Aurora Magnet Academy wins reprieve

August 11, 2009

By ERIKA WURST [e-mail]
With smiles on their faces and skips in their steps, East Aurora Magnet Academy teachers, parents and students exited the School Service Center with a little less weight on their shoulders Monday evening after School Board members agreed to continue the program.

For weeks, the decision as to whether the 146-student academy should continue through the 2009-2010 school year was debated by board members who maintained that administrators had failed to provide them with adequate documentation of the program's success.

Because of this, the board placed a decision to rescind the program -- just weeks before it was slated to start -- on the agenda.

Outraged parents of students already accepted to the academy turned out in droves to object to the decision. Many came with meticulously prepared notes to read aloud, expressing their concerns over the program's potential demise.

This Monday's special board meeting was no different, but its eventual outcome was.

Dan Hites, a local developer and landowner whose daughter Vanessa enrolled in the Magnet Academy, showed up to plead his case. After the economy took a financial toll on the Hites family, they decided to take Vanessa out of the Fox Valley Montessori School and have her apply for East Magnet Academy.

"She really blossomed (at Montessori)," he said, and he felt confident she'd do the same on the East Side. The academy also offered the developer a selling point when trying to bring families to East Aurora.

"The magnet school serves as a means to ... attract families that would never consider living in the School District," he said.

Hites also pointed out the financial burden the academy's closure would have on the district, with dozens of students leaving the district to attend private or out-of-district schools.

Teachers who have already been contracted to teach academy students sat nervously next to parents in the audience. One teacher, Heather Reyes, even got up to speak.

"I fully agree every child deserves to benefit equally from district resources" she said during her allotted two-minute speaking time. "But we have many programs that benefit just a select few: band, art, technology clubs, bilingual education, accelerated middle school and honors classes. ... We need additional challenges for these (Magnet Academy caliber) students beyond what's being offered."

Like the Magnet Academy, a varsity football team, she said, benefits a select few students. A football team also brings about community pride and participation, which makes it desirable to many. The Academy, Reyes pointed out, does the same thing. It gives East Aurora an edge above it surrounding communities, and the lessons taught by academy teachers are shared throughout the district.

"The educational benefits stretch far beyond this core group of students," she said.

Board member Juanita Wells echoed the audience statements.

"I don't mind beating a dead horse, and I'll beat it again," she said. "We focus a lot of attention on children having issues. What about the ones trying to succeed?"

She said the academy is something she fully supports.

Board members opposing the academy have said that gifted programs, which helped as many as 550 students district-wide, would be better suited programs, keeping children in their schools of origin and creating opportunities to accommodate the district's many advanced learners.

"The battle cry last week was 'My child deserves to be challenged,'" board member Rayanne Carlson said. "What about those (students) left behind? ... We need to provide for all students' needs."

Carlson agreed to continue the program for the upcoming school year, allowing the accepted 146 students continue, but said she could not support the program afterwards.

President Dee Weaver said that program administrators will be responsible for reporting to the board monthly with accurate and detailed information, which she said she has yet to receive.

"Going forward, so the board isn't forced to push for information," budget updates, as well as grade and attendance records, must be presented in a timely fashion as condition of the program's continuance, Weaver said.

Academy supporters Wells and Stella Gonzales were all smiles as the board agreed to continue the program. The final vote will be taken during the board's meeting next Monday.

"The public has spoken," Wells said proudly.

"You want to be transparent and respond to the community? Well, the community is here. ... We need to take care of our students and not our personal agendas. Your dislike for a program is not a reason to destroy it."