Stop, Drop and Roll

25 September 2007 | AUSD | John Knox White

Finally. The item we’ve all been waiting for at the school board!

5.) Superintendent’s State of the District - Focus Educational Excellence, Boundaries & Facilities

Which is just a sexy way of saying “a long public process to discuss how to deal with fluctuating student populations in Alameda’s schools, and other things.”

Actually, it’s been talked about for months, the need of the school district to look at student enrollment and discuss issues such as expanding school facilities at sites like Edison Elementary or rearranging the boundaries. At tonight’s school board meeting, the board will be asked to approve a proposal for how the district will approach this large, and extremely contentious issue.

The issues to solve are:

As Superintendent of AUSD and a community leader of the City of Alameda, my focus of the 2007-2008 school year is to work closely with our community and staff to develop plans to address the following issues:

·        Changing demographics impacting elementary enrollment and facilities

·        Grade 6-12 imbalance in enrollment across the district which inhibits our ability to provide consistent courses of study, programs, and services

·        The need for fiscal stability, solvency, and educational equity based on multi-year and long-term planning

Actually, add ending the war in Iraq, universal healthcare and discussing Measure A, and this list will become the concise Oxford English Dictionary of Contentious Local Issues in Alameda and beyond. Bravo for taking it on, oh yeah, and good luck!

A calendar of the process is here (the link to Mike McMahon’s website has full descriptions of things like the “Pathway to Excellence Task Force” which I’m hoping is a bit like the Buddha’s “eight-fold noble path,” except with educational enlightenment instead of the eternal kind.
 

Date	Action
Sept 25, 2007	BOE presentation: Superintendent’s State of the District Focus on Educational Excellence, Boundaries and Facilities
Oct 5, 2007	Identify members of Pathway to Excellence Task Force
Oct, 2007 to June, 2008	Pathway to Excellence Task Force researches and develops options for consideration
Sept 26, 2007 to Oct 5, 2007	Invite and identify community members to participate in Sounding Board
Oct, 2007 to June, 2008	Sounding Board meets on a regular basis
Oct, 2007 to June, 2008	Regular meeting schedules of existing district leadership structure
Oct, 2007	Neighborhood schools community meetings focus: Enrollment
Oct, 2007 to June, 2008	Agenda item on the second meeting of each month to provide updates on Taskforce and other activities
Nov, 2007 to Dec, 2007	Community meetings to present preliminary options
Jan, 2008 to Feb, 2008	BOE presentations of Superintendent’s recommendations
Mar, 2008 to Aug, 2008	Work on implementation of adopted recommendations

Of course, with a recommendation not available until February, final implementation not happening until August and looming (LOOMING) deficits for the next year almost sure to sidetrack this discussion occasionally, one has to wonder how the district is going to deal with Kindergarten overenrollment next spring.  One has to think that families can start thinking of lining up on the cement outside Edison in about January.

Perhaps the district could look at a short-term remedy for those years where enrollment doesn’t fit the facility design……

As always, great thanks should be given Mike McMahon for his great site and for making the board of education packets available to the public so easily! (perhaps the district can start work on a “staircase to timely web-information” once this is approved).