[Southsider2k12]

I also would like to welcome all the new members and know there will be more to come shortly. Out of due respect this is not just a Coolspring issue. I attended the meeting at Nieman with concerned parents there as well. I respect all of your comments and can only ASK that they be kept in a courteous manner. Thank You!

Thanks for the post Mark.

For those that do not know, I am the owner/head admin of Citybythelake, Michael Gresham. My main goal is to provide as free of discussion as possible. The one big thing I ask of everyone here is to be respectful of the other people posting here. Short of not breaking any libel/slander laws, I encourage everyone to share their opinions and feelings on this matter, and anything else you all want to talk about. There are plenty of other discussions always going on here, from serious matters, such as this one, to food, to the just plain silly.

If any of you ever have comments, suggestions, ideas, etc, and don't want to post them publicly, just send them to me, or any of the other staff members here.

Thanks again for reading and posting!

[Ang]

What I am starting to see here is the beginning of a HUGE rivalry. From my experience, I can honestly say that the "country" schools have more comeraderie and school spirit. I don't know if that's because they are so far out and they only have each other, or if it's because of the Principals. Honestly, I'm leaning toward the principals. I know all of "country principals" personally and they are wonderful principals--each and every one of them.
However, in regard to Coolspring and its principal, Ms. Manual was the principal at Park before she was sent to Coolspring. Talk about night and day! Park was the most "inner-city" school MC had and had that same school spirit and comeraderie found in the country schools. Ms. Manual was welcomed with open arms at Coolspring and has made dramatic changes/improvements since she's been there. So, I'm not buying the stuck-up, holier-than-thou attitudes Coolspring folks are accused of. If anything, I saw that school grow closer together under her tenure, and I believe it's because of her. (Can you tell I think this woman is special?).
Just my two cents regarding the mud-slinging that's starting.

[lbl]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=22124

Lets relax about the letter in the Anvil Chorus from Miss Gill. Middle school kids are emotional. This one might have been slightly coached. Look at the syntax and the non-words she uses. It is, once again, irresponsible of the N-D to print it.

[Ang]

Lets relax about the letter in the Anvil Chorus from Miss Gill. Middle school kids are emotional. This one might have been slightly coached. Look at the syntax and the non-words she uses. It is, once again, irresponsible of the N-D to print it.

I have no doubt that girl was coached. But I also have no doubt that this is only the beginning and it's just going to get uglier from here on out.

[Brian]

I'd also like to welcome everyone who is new to the board.

I fully understand not wanting to disrupt the lives of your children by not sending them to other schools. What I do not understand is the opposition to having kids from outside going to the better schools. As people who are paying the exact same taxes as the rest of us, why should their kids be doomed to bad schools, the same kids you don't want your kids at, because of their address? I also don't understand the comment about other kids eroding the family values at Coolspring. That sounds to me like saying that the kids in Michigan City proper are somehow worth less than the kids in Coolspring Township.

I can recognize the fact that parents want their kids in better schools but where should the line be drawn? How many times have the districts been reorganized? There are obvious pros and cons to the redistricting that took place a couple of years ago that brought kids to schools outside of their original district.
Now we are going to make it worse and reduce the above average schools to average or below by rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. The educational system in this city is developing the portrayal of a sinking ship.
A portion of their plan C will have future raminfications on property values. Why would a family buy a home on the West side of Wozniak and have their kids go to Pine, when they can buy in Arndt Apple Acres and have their kids attend Coolspring which is a mile away.

[proudeastportmomma]

I am here to reach out to the community of Michigan City. Please help to keep Eastport open. Here is an awesome program that will only help our educational system. Eastport takes our communities children, all of them, no matter the neighborhood, the race, the religion, the financial background, and teaches them. Eastport makes our children want to learn. We talk about the scores from all of the different schools, well Eastport is the first step to changing those scores. Our children, our future, our community deserves to keep this solid foundation in tack. Three and four year olds are most influenced at this age. This is the age where we need all of the little brains to thrive. You see the children of Eastport, go to school and enjoy it, because they enjoy it they want to learn. They are not intimidated by older students who might not share that same attitude. The children will take the education they receive and the thriving attitudes with them to the next level when it is time. The elementary schools will slowly become populated with graduating Eastport students, the junior highs will get a turn in time, our high school will once again unite these children as one community again, and that is what will make a difference. My son deserves this, as do his peers.

i am with heather. this is a letter that i have sent to the members

Concerning Eastport. 4/1/09 I did not realize until last night at the Eastport meeting that yourplan IS to close Eastport. I talked a little bit with another women thatknows some things about what is going on, and feel that I do haveconformation that the plan all along was to close Eastport anddistribute the Eastport children throughout the elementary schools andattend preschool there. I HAVE MANY QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS. If you knew in the beginning when you started Eastport that it was notgoing to be permanent then why did you start it??? Why didn’t you justlet what every other parent has to do from a different town, find apreschool for their child to attend two days a week, or just be indaycare all day. Obviously at one point you cared. You cared about ourlittle people and saw that they deserved a chance at learning. Now youwant to take that away?? You say your not taking it away but moving itto different locations, but that’s not what your doing, your taking itaway. The comfort of the 3 and 4 year old child will be frazzled, to beable to walk down the hall happy everyday, to enjoy their school, theyall feel so special to be a part of Eastport and your just going to ripthat away from them. Eastport is about them, it’s a safe haven for them. Eastport hasEVERYTHING that a single parent needs!!!!!!!! Us parents are so luckyand feel very blessed to have this opportunity, yet you have no problemstomping all over it. The meeting last night was for what??? The man there was not able toanswer ANY questions. The truth of the matter is, is that you all haveALREADY decided what your going to do. I have yet to understand justexactly why your willing to even pretend to listen to what we have tosay. Are you prepared to accommodate in EVERY WAY that Eastport does?????? Idon’t think that you are taking everything into consideration. Eastport is a 3 and 4 year old school only. Is there a separate hall for3 and 4 year olds at these elementary schools, or will they be walkingthe halls with the big kids, 5th graders? Accident waiting to happennumber 1. Eastport has a nurse full time, there everyday for these little people.are the elementary schools going to have a nurse full time? I hear theyonly have one three days a week. Accident waiting to happen number 2. Eastport is able to work with children that are in the potty trainingprocess. We as parents feel comfortable to send our child in a pull upand know that if a situation should arise the Eastport teachers will beable to handle it, and well as the nurse. Are these elementary schoolswilling to do that, or are you going to place restrictions on that now,meaning that until my child is fully potty trained they will not be ableto start preschool???? You will have a lot of angry parents, not that you don’t already, andeven if you still allow kids to go to school in pull ups who going tohandle the accidents, the messes??? I smell accidents waiting to happen number 3. Eastport offers breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack. Our little peoplecome to a lunch room their size with other little people their age. Arethese elementary schools going to accommodate that??? Probably not,instead our little people will have to push their way through a crowdedlunch room, to a table that will be just to much work for them to climbup to even be able to sit at, and try to eat their food, that’s if theyhaven’t had it knocked outta their hand by then, and if they can evenopen it. Yep I believe that’s accident number 4 waiting to happen. The BUS!!!!!!! O THE BUS!!!!!!!! What a MAJOR issue that NONE OF YOUCONSIDERED!!!!!!!!! Along You EXPECT us parents to be okay with our little people riding the buswith 5th graders??? We all know that that is a bratty age, and they canhave no respect for anyone or anything. I DO NOT want my 3 and 4 yearold on a bus with BIG KIDS. My baby doesn’t need to learn nasty words,or about sex, ect. They are innocent little souls and should remaininnocent as long as possible. Obviously you think its okay to corruptour little people before they even have a chance, no wonder the world isthe way it is. You put these little people on a bus with big kids, andone little person gets hurt, YOU WILL BE SUED!!!!!! Its your idea, areyou prepared????? ACCIDENT NUMBER 5 WILL HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!! Other questions that I know ill never get an answer to are as follows Will preschool start the same time as elementary school and end at thesame time it does now, which is noon?? So that’s putting 3 and 4 yearolds in school for what about 4 hours???? Really?? You think theseteacher will be able to handle the child when they become fussy do toover stimulation???? I don’t think they will be. Eastport teachers want to be here, they want to teach the 3 and 4 yearolds. Do you know if these new preschool teachers are prepared???? Idon’t think you realize the changes, the many accidents that willoccur, the stress you will be putting on these little people, all forwhat?? To save a buck???? How unfair!!!! These children as well asparents have created memories here at Eastport. I am so proud to be apart of the community that cares about our little people. I telleveryone I know, you should move to Michigan city, they offer apreschool like no other!!!!!! You have already made your decisions, you can tell everyone that thingsare still up in the air all you want. The truth is, is that you nolonger want to have to pay the Eastport teachers or share money with theEastport school. Gas prices getting to be to much for you all too? Howselfish. Last year when that man, whom should be mature about thesituation went and slashed tires and our little people were not able toenjoy their last day at school, they were so heartbroken, my boy cried,and I know that others did too, I was there. You think that one area of people looks, well just to poor, so becauseof the whole free lunch your going to make that another convenientreason to redistrict. I would be so ashamed to be apart of your committee. We pick our homes where we would like our child to attend school, whileyes its true the redistricting will not affect where my kids will begoing, that doesn’t mean that it wont affect others. If you knew that there was an over crowding problem, why wasn’t it takencare of sooner, last night Mr. Mario said that they may put a cap on it.Why wasn’t there already a cap on it? I know why, because you can notdeny any child education for any reason. Sounds to me that you were notdoing a good job at your job to begin with. Common sense tells you thatcity is going to become over populated before country, why????? Becausethe city has apartments for those that have restrictions on theirexpenses, ect. The country have homeowners, and are generally morespread out. City, builds on top of buildings, some homes have no backyards or off street parking just to accommodate the next door neighbor.Where was your common sense 10 years ago???? Instead of building a newschool for pine and lake view, why wasn’t room made and one built forcool spring, infact im sure there is room there to add on. Yes thosethings cost money, but remember, you just got done building 2 BRAND NEWSCHOOLS, and now you want to pack them full. Do what you need to do with redistricting, but LEAVE EASTPORTALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is absolutely no reason to bulldoze a wonderful asset to our city.Stop thinking about the money that you could be saving, and startthinking about the children and families and SINGLE parents that youwill be affecting. The parents of Eastport will fight toI trust no one with my kids, Eastport has shown me that they care. Ihave no reservations with Eastport any longer. I am so excited to knowthat my two younger children WILL BE ATTENDING EASTPORT!!!!!! If you were not prepared for the outcome, then you should never havestarted this wonderful establishment for our little people. You are going to have so many SMART children entering kindergarten,these WONDERFUL Eastport teachers have already done the kindergartenteachers job. Don’t mess with a perfect thing. There are so few in thisworld. Are you prepared to shell out millions of dollars for us parents to sendour little people to a more secure location to attend preschool??? Iknow for myself that sending a 3 and 4 year old to an elementary schoolis a big mistake. As many have already said, if its not broke, don’t fix it. Do yourself a favor and keep Eastport open!!!!! ~ A Concerned Mother

i was at pines meeting tonight and one woman said that eastport was given money they should not have been given, they it was taken away from the kids that were at risk and given to kids that didnt need it. so... because the board or whoever messed up in the beginning our 3 and 4 year olds deserve to miss out on an awesome oppurtunity for them? after hearing this woman talk i felt like my childern since they are not at risk do not deserve to start learning as early as others. children at 3 years even need somethng to do, staying home with mom all day gets boring. my son will be attending eastport this fall and he really needs it, he needs to be able to get out and socialize with other children his age.

my oldest will be attending pine in the fall. he has grown SO much just from being at eastport. however way eastport got where they are, who cares. its a great place for 3 and 4 year olds.
and to the other comment that was made tonight. when i was looking for a preschool for my son to attend i called pine. they did not offer that program at the school and told me to call eastport. head start was full. unless i want to pay money to take him somewhere else like daycare that offers preschool eastport was my only choice. i was unsure and went and took a tour. they took my son, they took him while he was in the potty training process. i am so happy that i made the choice to let him go there. its worth the money that was spent on that place, regardless how they got it, and where the money came from, its well worth it and it would be a shame to shut eastports doors.

[Dave]

Can I come up with a Plan D?

Now I'm not very well versed on school issues, seeing as we don't have children, but I'm known for thinking outside the box, so here goes....

From the MCAS website, I see there is the early learning center, nine elementary schools which appear to service grades K through 5, three middle schools serving grades 6 through 8, MCHS, and the career center.

My proposal:

Early learning center stays as it is, presumable serving the the entire MCAS district.

Career Center, ditto.

MCAS, ditto.

Six of the elementary schools are converted to single grade schools, each serving one grade, i.e., all the kindergartners go to one school, all the first graders go to another. etc.

The three middle schools can be adapted the same way, one for 6th graders, one for 7th, the other for 8th.

Which leaves us with 3 of the grade schools. One could be used for children with disciplinary problems from all grade levels (wasn't there an alternative school before?), one could be for special needs students (though I don't know if this is how schools operate these days, possibly special needs students could be mainstreamed part of the day and use this facility part of the day), and the last could be closed (pick the school which is in the worst shape, close it or rehab it and work it back into the rotation and then close the next worse and rehab it) or used as a "magnet" school.

They actually did something like this in my home town -- all single grade schools.

One of the upsides is that it reduces bullying of younger kids by older kids. Another upside is that school-wide programs would be easier to coordinate if all the students at the school are the same grade. Downside is that it means a lot of time on buses, and lots of gas burned. And it is equally inconvenient for everyone, which could either be upside or downside, depending on one's individual position -- but it does put everyone in the same boat. And issues about free lunches, etc., would be made irrelevant.

I'm not advocating this plan so much as throwing it out as an alternative. I'm relatively new to MC, only being here about five years now, so perhaps something like this has been considered and rejected already.

Feel free to poke holes in this idea, or just ignore me and stay on topic.

This post has been edited by Dave: Apr 1 2009, 08:54 PM

[Heather Collins]

Dave your idea sounds, in many words and thoughts, like it could be done. What would be wrong with that? Your "Plan D" should be added to the mix with more involved thought. Reading what you wrote, well I've never heard of something like that, but that actually (in my opinion) makes more sense than waht a board of many could come up with. I just want this city of mine, of ours to once again shine with pride. I graduated from Elston High School back in 1994. The whole city was involved. Yes we had two different high schools back then, but we were involved with eachother. I feel like there is a spark missing. Is there anyone who remembers these days?

[Heather Collins]

I would like everyone to konw that I did email each and every board member. I was answered by two of them, the vice president first. Then, almost a day later, I was answered by the president.

Re: Eastport‏
From: Donald Dulaney (ddulaney@mcas.k12.in.us)
Sent: Wed 4/01/09 12:40 PM
To: spoiled_u_bet@hotmail.com

Good Afternoon, Thank you for your well reasoned comments. I attended the Eastportsession yesterday, along with Mr. Burgwald. I also attended theCoolspring, Knapp and Edgewood sessions, hearing comments andsuggestions from many aggrieved community members. At this time, the Board of Trustees has not endorsed any of theAdministration's plans and may look for different alternatives. Pleaseattend the Board Meeting Tuesday to voice your concerns and suggestions. Thanks again,Don DuLaney


Re: Eastport‏
From: James Kintzele (jkintzele@mcas.k12.in.us)
Sent: Wed 4/01/09 6:44 PM
To: spoiled_u_bet@hotmail.com

Dear Ms. Collins, Thank yo for sharing your concerns with me. I assure you that I havenot made up my mind on any of the plans and will only do so aftercareful consideration of all concerns and the effects of each proposal. Sincerely,Jim Kintzele

Does it sound like my concerns were blown off! I mean if I wait until the board meeting on tuesday the 14th won't it be to late for my concerns to matter? The reason I am asking this, is because at the Eastport Forum Mario made it known that a decision would be reached at a meeting on the 13th and then presented to us on the 14th. Doesn't that mean that the decision would have already been made?????HELP ME OUT HERE!!!

[Michelle]

I'm wholly unqualified to comment on this issue, since I didn't go to school here in MC. But that's not going to stop me. I can see how there might be good reasons to redistrict the schools. But at the same time, I can remember wayyyy back to being an elementary school student, and I can guess how upsetting it would be to be forced to transfer schools, especially away from established friendships and routines. Isn't there any way this could be phased in with the new students, to minimize the impact on the students already enrolled in their schools? Ang, I also like your suggestion about open enrollment...and I have also noticed that suggestions here seem to end up in the Anvil Chorus.

edit: Dave, I somehow skipped over your message earlier, but that sounds like an interesting suggestion as well.

[Brian]

I went to Long Beach, so I was pretty surprised when they decided to close it as a public school.

Do not underestimate the amount of stupidity within MCAS; if it makes little or no sense, it will be approved.

[Southsider2k12]

I can recognize the fact that parents want their kids in better schools but where should the line be drawn? How many times have the districts been reorganized? There are obvious pros and cons to the redistricting that took place a couple of years ago that brought kids to schools outside of their original district.
Now we are going to make it worse and reduce the above average schools to average or below by rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. The educational system in this city is developing the portrayal of a sinking ship.
A portion of their plan C will have future raminfications on property values. Why would a family buy a home on the West side of Wozniak and have their kids go to Pine, when they can buy in Arndt Apple Acres and have their kids attend Coolspring which is a mile away.

I still don't understand how people paying the same taxes as anyone else are supposed to have their kids doomed to an inferior education. How do kids break the cycle of poverty if from day one everything they get is inferior to what someone with money gets?

[Southsider2k12]

Can I come up with a Plan D?

Now I'm not very well versed on school issues, seeing as we don't have children, but I'm known for thinking outside the box, so here goes....

From the MCAS website, I see there is the early learning center, nine elementary schools which appear to service grades K through 5, three middle schools serving grades 6 through 8, MCHS, and the career center.

My proposal:

Early learning center stays as it is, presumable serving the the entire MCAS district.

Career Center, ditto.

MCAS, ditto.

Six of the elementary schools are converted to single grade schools, each serving one grade, i.e., all the kindergartners go to one school, all the first graders go to another. etc.

The three middle schools can be adapted the same way, one for 6th graders, one for 7th, the other for 8th.

Which leaves us with 3 of the grade schools. One could be used for children with disciplinary problems from all grade levels (wasn't there an alternative school before?), one could be for special needs students (though I don't know if this is how schools operate these days, possibly special needs students could be mainstreamed part of the day and use this facility part of the day), and the last could be closed (pick the school which is in the worst shape, close it or rehab it and work it back into the rotation and then close the next worse and rehab it) or used as a "magnet" school.

They actually did something like this in my home town -- all single grade schools.

One of the upsides is that it reduces bullying of younger kids by older kids. Another upside is that school-wide programs would be easier to coordinate if all the students at the school are the same grade. Downside is that it means a lot of time on buses, and lots of gas burned. And it is equally inconvenient for everyone, which could either be upside or downside, depending on one's individual position -- but it does put everyone in the same boat. And issues about free lunches, etc., would be made irrelevant.

I'm not advocating this plan so much as throwing it out as an alternative. I'm relatively new to MC, only being here about five years now, so perhaps something like this has been considered and rejected already.

Feel free to poke holes in this idea, or just ignore me and stay on topic.

Plan E

Redistrict, but don't move any existing children around. Kids that are in a specific school would stay there until they graduate from the highest level taught in that building. Once they moved buildings, then the kids would go to the school in their new alignments. It solves the kids moving around problem, and it goes towards fixing the disparities in our system.

[proudeastportmomma]

I would like everyone to konw that I did email each and every board member. I was answered by two of them, the vice president first. Then, almost a day later, I was answered by the president.

Re: Eastport‏
From: Donald Dulaney (ddulaney@mcas.k12.in.us)
Sent: Wed 4/01/09 12:40 PM
To: spoiled_u_bet@hotmail.com

Good Afternoon, Thank you for your well reasoned comments. I attended the Eastportsession yesterday, along with Mr. Burgwald. I also attended theCoolspring, Knapp and Edgewood sessions, hearing comments andsuggestions from many aggrieved community members. At this time, the Board of Trustees has not endorsed any of theAdministration's plans and may look for different alternatives. Pleaseattend the Board Meeting Tuesday to voice your concerns and suggestions. Thanks again,Don DuLaney
Re: Eastport‏
From: James Kintzele (jkintzele@mcas.k12.in.us)
Sent: Wed 4/01/09 6:44 PM
To: spoiled_u_bet@hotmail.com

Dear Ms. Collins, Thank yo for sharing your concerns with me. I assure you that I havenot made up my mind on any of the plans and will only do so aftercareful consideration of all concerns and the effects of each proposal. Sincerely,Jim Kintzele

Does it sound like my concerns were blown off! I mean if I wait until the board meeting on tuesday the 14th won't it be to late for my concerns to matter? The reason I am asking this, is because at the Eastport Forum Mario made it known that a decision would be reached at a meeting on the 13th and then presented to us on the 14th. Doesn't that mean that the decision would have already been made?????HELP ME OUT HERE!!!

i feel that they have already made there decisions. by what ive heard at the meeting i attended, they want plan c. no matter what plan a, b, or c, eastport will become a thing of the past. its a shame. i also know that few board members were aware of these plans and did not know till the public did, which was what a week or so ago. i dont think they are giving anything much time at all. they want the change to occur the year, and kids shipped whereever this fall.
some more news for all of you. lasts nights meeting it was made clear that they will be moving 1100-1200 kids. this is going to cause the need for more busses, which they admitted. kevin said that they already bought 3. what i dont understand is if they are will to purchase more busses and LENGTHEN the bus ride, which was also mentioned last night, your child could be on a bus anywhere from 45 mins to an hour!!!!! maybe even more honestly. like i was saying, this makes no sense. if they leave the eastport students alone, then that will take a big chunk of the 1100-1200 kids out of the move. there are over 400 kids at eastport!! theres no reason to close that school. another thing that i learned last night was that with plan c, which is what they are leaning towards, ALOT of families that live RIGHT NEXT TO THE NEW PINE WILL BE SHIPPED TO KNAPP!!!!!!! that does not in away way make any sense at all.

heres an idea.... right now you have 426 students at knapp. 385 at coolspring, 353 at edgewood.

why not take half of the knapp students, on the side that closest to the pine school boarder and make them pine. then open up knapp school for coolspring students that are closest to knapp, and the few handful that are closest to pine, make them pine. im not familiar with edgewood, but i do understand there is an overcrowding issue there. with plan c if you look at lake view they are cutting off the district.... WHY? thats a brand new school, why wouldnt you open it up a little bit more, take a few of each that are closest to lake view.
bottom line is, if they leave eastport alone, and the redistrict the elem schools they will have PLENTY of room for more student to come in to each school, which will happen. people move, have babies, ect. the way the plan c is now, they go through with this plan be ready cuz in 5 year we will be redistricted again! they have 2 brand new schools that take 600 students and they are wanting to get as close to that number as possible, and pine isnt even up and running yet. my quetions is if they had all preschools in the elem schools before, what happened??? why were they taken out?? and if your gonna move eastport students to elem schools, then ill be seeing special needs in every school correct??? why should they be limited to one school, and have lower test scores. if the board is so concerned with how it looks with free lunches across the board, why is special needs different? but on the other hand, if the school they are in is equipped to handle and the teachers are doing awesome jobs, and the students are flourishing then there is no reason to move them. but dont forget, that works the same way with eastport.


DONT STOP WITH THE BOARD TAKE THIS TO EVERYONE YOU CAN THINK OF!!!!!!!!!!

[proudeastportmomma]

i feel that they have already made there decisions. by what ive heard at the meeting i attended, they want plan c. no matter what plan a, b, or c, eastport will become a thing of the past. its a shame. i also know that few board members were aware of these plans and did not know till the public did, which was what a week or so ago. i dont think they are giving anything much time at all. they want the change to occur the year, and kids shipped whereever this fall.
some more news for all of you. lasts nights meeting it was made clear that they will be moving 1100-1200 kids. this is going to cause the need for more busses, which they admitted. kevin said that they already bought 3. what i dont understand is if they are will to purchase more busses and LENGTHEN the bus ride, which was also mentioned last night, your child could be on a bus anywhere from 45 mins to an hour!!!!! maybe even more honestly. like i was saying, this makes no sense. if they leave the eastport students alone, then that will take a big chunk of the 1100-1200 kids out of the move. there are over 400 kids at eastport!! theres no reason to close that school. another thing that i learned last night was that with plan c, which is what they are leaning towards, ALOT of families that live RIGHT NEXT TO THE NEW PINE WILL BE SHIPPED TO KNAPP!!!!!!! that does not in away way make any sense at all.

heres an idea.... right now you have 426 students at knapp. 385 at coolspring, 353 at edgewood.

why not take half of the knapp students, on the side that closest to the pine school boarder and make them pine. then open up knapp school for coolspring students that are closest to knapp, and the few handful that are closest to pine, make them pine. im not familiar with edgewood, but i do understand there is an overcrowding issue there. with plan c if you look at lake view they are cutting off the district.... WHY? thats a brand new school, why wouldnt you open it up a little bit more, take a few of each that are closest to lake view.
bottom line is, if they leave eastport alone, and the redistrict the elem schools they will have PLENTY of room for more student to come in to each school, which will happen. people move, have babies, ect. the way the plan c is now, they go through with this plan be ready cuz in 5 year we will be redistricted again! they have 2 brand new schools that take 600 students and they are wanting to get as close to that number as possible, and pine isnt even up and running yet. my quetions is if they had all preschools in the elem schools before, what happened??? why were they taken out?? and if your gonna move eastport students to elem schools, then ill be seeing special needs in every school correct??? why should they be limited to one school, and have lower test scores. if the board is so concerned with how it looks with free lunches across the board, why is special needs different? but on the other hand, if the school they are in is equipped to handle and the teachers are doing awesome jobs, and the students are flourishing then there is no reason to move them. but dont forget, that works the same way with eastport.
DONT STOP WITH THE BOARD TAKE THIS TO EVERYONE YOU CAN THINK OF!!!!!!!!!!

id like to add something.


i just chatted with my buss driver. the ride rght now for my son to go to eastport is about half an hour.

so this fall you want to take my 3 year old and send him to pine for prescchool and EXPECT him to sit on a bus for an hour????????????? my 3 year old wont do it. half hour i feel is decent, theres gonna be travel time. but an hour on a bus, no thats not gonna work. and the sick thing is, we can walk across 20 and be at pine. home schooling??? hmmmm, ill have to check into that. i wonder if i can get state aide to send my child to another preschool????? hmmm, ill have to check into that. an hour ride, are these people using their brains!??? he is so excited to be starting school this fall, keeps talking about, wants to go now. i want him to have the same experience my oldest son has...... JUST KEEP EASTPORT OPEN!!!!!!!!!!

[Ang]

For the newbies: I am a 1984 Elston Graduate. I lived most of my life in City, born and raised. About 4 years ago I moved to Wyoming and currently live in Casper. I was an MCAS employee, some of you may know me from the MCHS Athletic Department. I moved away for a number of reasons, one of them being the state of education in Michigan City.
In Casper, we have open enrollment. I can put my daughter in any school in this town so long as there is space available. If not, there is a waiting list. Our school system is a county entity, not a city entity, it is called the Natrona County School District. They put their numbers together as a district and get their funding that way. They can do that because of open enrollment.
Now, here's how it works:
In the middle of the school year, they send letters to all the parents reminding them to sign up for school assignments next year. It is done on the internet. Each parent is assigned a user code and password for each one of their students. After a certain date, you log on and pick three schools, in order of preference, that you want your kid to go to. The site is open for a month or so, then they cut off and you can't sign up. If you miss it, you have to call central administration and you are at the bottom of the list.
They review and assign schools on a first come, first serve basis. Students who live within walking distance and kids who attended last year get priority. Next priority are for employees of that school who might have a child attend it. After that they go down the list.
Transportation is simple, too. Each school is a bus stop. You get your kid to the school closest to your house and they can ride a bus to the school they attend. Out in the county they pick students up from their homes, but they take them to another school to catch the bus for the school they attend.
So, I live on the east side of town and my daughter attends school on the west side of town. She walks across the street to pick up the bus at the school near my house, rides 15 minutes and gets dropped off at the school she attends. After school, she gets on the bus and rides 15 minutes to get dropped off at the school across the street. If riding the bus doesn't work for her, or if I decide I don't like the school she's attending, I can transfer her to the school across the street. If they don't have a space, I can go on the list, but since I live across the street I start out at the top of the list.

[Brian]

I still don't understand how people paying the same taxes as anyone else are supposed to have their kids doomed to an inferior education. How do kids break the cycle of poverty if from day one everything they get is inferior to what someone with money gets?

Paying the same taxes? I think that is the reason parents in Coolspring Township are upset. So we should all applaud consecutive redistrictings until the hierarchy of socioeconomics is no longer irregular? I don't think so!

[Southsider2k12]

Paying the same taxes? I think that is the reason parents in Coolspring Township are upset. So we should all applaud consecutive redistrictings until the hierarchy of socioeconomics is no longer irregular? I don't think so!

Again this is my question

How do kids break the cycle of poverty if from day one everything they get is inferior to what someone with money gets?

[proudeastportmomma]

Again this is my question

How do kids break the cycle of poverty if from day one everything they get is inferior to what someone with money gets?

im confused so i take it that if your child is redistricted to another school, you will keep paying taxes for the school she was pulled from? you mean the redistricting will not change taxes as well? so if your at coolspring and get sent to pine youll still pay for coolsprin?? shouldnt you be paying for pine??? that is gay. im sorry but that is gay. if you get redistricted then the taxes should follow.

breaking the cycle of poverty??? i honestly dont think they will be able to. its up to us parents to give our child the tools to survive in this world. what we as parents need to be doing is show our children when you can do it and are able to do it freely then you need to share. there are many people out there that just cant make ends meet, and for those that have no issues at all i think that teaching your children to help others is where the cycle can be broken. we cant wait for the board to change that for us. we need to unite together and show our children that everyone is different, everyone has things about their life that they can not change. if those that can make it through without help have a secret to their success they NEED to share that. you shouldnt knock someone down and just take what you want, its sad thats how the world is. we can change that. i have noticed in my time as a mother that moms like me are doing things differently with their kids than our parents did. building confidence in a child is very important, because ANYONE CAN DO ANYTHING, and we dont need the president to prove that.
some might say thats charity, well i dont consider help from my friends charity. i dont mean to offend anyone in any way. i know my hopes for my children, i want them to be a great assest to whichever community they choose to live in.

[Ang]

im confused so i take it that if your child is redistricted to another school, you will keep paying taxes for the school she was pulled from? you mean the redistricting will not change taxes as well? so if your at coolspring and get sent to pine youll still pay for coolsprin?? shouldnt you be paying for pine??? that is gay. im sorry but that is gay. if you get redistricted then the taxes should follow.

breaking the cycle of poverty??? i honestly dont think they will be able to. its up to us parents to give our child the tools to survive in this world. what we as parents need to be doing is show our children when you can do it and are able to do it freely then you need to share. there are many people out there that just cant make ends meet, and for those that have no issues at all i think that teaching your children to help others is where the cycle can be broken. we cant wait for the board to change that for us. we need to unite together and show our children that everyone is different, everyone has things about their life that they can not change. if those that can make it through without help have a secret to their success they NEED to share that. you shouldnt knock someone down and just take what you want, its sad thats how the world is. we can change that. i have noticed in my time as a mother that moms like me are doing things differently with their kids than our parents did. building confidence in a child is very important, because ANYONE CAN DO ANYTHING, and we dont need the president to prove that.
some might say thats charity, well i dont consider help from my friends charity. i dont mean to offend anyone in any way. i know my hopes for my children, i want them to be a great assest to whichever community they choose to live in.

AMEN SISTER!!!