I must admit I was so anxious to read about the "Big Plan" that would come out of yesterday's Merger Sub-Committee meeting that it was the first thing I looked up online when I woke up this morning. Luckily, the Durham Herald Sun and Raleigh News & Observer covered the meeting.
As I read Cara McDonough's Herald Sun article, I can say I was more than a little disappointed by how small the "Big Plan" really is, and very confused by some of the assumptions the Board (or more accurately Dennis Whitling) is making with its preferred plan.
Then it hit me; they think HES parents are bluffing about not sending their kids to a merged school.
According to the article:
"A proposal by school board chairman Dennis Whitling [and endorsed by the sub-committee] would involve a restructuring, making Central Elementary a K-2 school serving the children who are currently districted to Central Elementary and the children who currently attend Hillsborough Elementary. Hillsborough Elementary would be a grade 3-5 school which would also serve the children currently attending both schools."
Regardless of what new name you put on it, this is a merger of CES and HES. And like Shirley Carraway's merger proposal from earlier this year, this plan assumes one key element around which there is great doubt - whether "the children who currently attend Hillsborough Elementary" will continue to attend this "restructured" school.
The majority of families with children at HES will have the option of not taking part in this "Big Plan" by returning their children to their neighborhood school or opting out of the Orange County Schools all together. This is why only 17% of HES parents stated that they would definately stay in a merged school earlier this year.
Of course, why should they stay? The single largest factor driving the decision to enroll one's kids at HES is "student performance" (41%). Just as under the original merger proposal, under Whitling's "Big Plan," average student performance for the children at HES will suffer. That is not my assertion, rather is what was planned for in the original merger proposal.
Of course not all who agree to remain will attend HES. The children applying for kindergarten in January, and those starting kindergarten and first grade next month won't be attending HES at all in 2008. According to Whitling's "Big Plan," both schools will keep their separate names, principals and facilities, but children in K-2 will attend Central Elementary School while those in grades 3-5 will attend Hillsborough Elementary School. So much for Dolphin Pride.
What is not made clear in Whitling's "Big Plan" or was addressed in Shirley Carraway's original merger plan is: What happens when over half of HES students return to their neighborhood schools?
As proponents of the merger have readily pointed out in the past, a large percentage of HES students (about one-third) are zoned to Efland-Cheeks Elementary. Does Efland-Cheeks have enough empty seats to accomodate an extra 75 or 100 kids showing up at its door? That is a full classroom in each grade! Does the school have 6 empty classrooms? Is Cameron Park ready for an additional 50-60 kids? Is Pathways ready for another 25-30?
Does the District have enough school buses for all those extra kids traveling to each school?
Any decision can have unintended consequences, but in this case, the Board cannot say they were unexpected consequences; only that they chose to ignore them. I guess ignorance is bliss afterall.
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Yesterday at the meeting, the board committee discussed sending a letter (Oct.-Nov. 15) asking parents (district wide) whether they would sent their child to a modified year round school. If they found enough support for the merged/restructured schools they would continue w/ the merger (or whatever they are calling it). If they concluded that there was not enough support for both schools to be year round, they would make both traditional REDISTRICT....again. That is Plan B---no choice school and redistrict.
I don't know what the outcome of this merger will be. Anyone who comes forward right now and says that this merger is in the best interest of Orange County is not being honest. There is no way anyone knows what the eventual outcome will be.
It feels like to me that the Board is trying to reverse the "Brown vs. the Board of Education" decision from the 1950's. By Dennis's proposal, there will be segregation between the "traditionals" and the "year-rounders". This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Face the facts, a merger of schools only happens when the "kids" are merged into day-to-day surroundings. It is too bad that Debbie, Susan, Liz, and others cannot figure this one out--Dennis's plan is bad.
It is time our community rallies behind a leader of the school board--our community is ready for some leadership. I only hope the leadership occurs before the next election.
Allyson,
Thank you for posting using your name so I can respond.
I appreciate that a number of HES parents chose the school primarily for its year-round calendar. And, if that is so, I encourage them to "vote yes" when asked if they will return in 2008.
While we have adapted to the non-traditional schedule, that is not the reason we chose HES for our son. We chose HES for the academic performance of its students. Without that, we will be voting No.
"We chose HES for the academic performance of its students."
Are you concerned that the quality of students will go down with this plan and therefore your child will suffer for it? If the same staff remains at HES, won't your child continue to recieve the same high quality of education regardless of who is sitting next to them?
"If the same staff remains at HES, won't your child continue to recieve the same high quality of education regardless of who is sitting next to them?"
My child will be taught by a different staff if we have to go to Central.
In answer to your questions:
"Does Efland-Cheeks have enough empty seats to accomodate an extra 75 or 100 kids showing up at its door? That is a full classroom in each grade! Does the school have 6 empty classrooms? Is Cameron Park ready for an additional 50-60 kids? Is Pathways ready for another 25-30?"
The answer is YES! Efland has 93 empty seats, Cameron park has 94, and Pathways has 72. These numbers come from the district website. FYI Central has 185, Grady Brown 83 and New Hope 150.
And the children learn best when the schools are at capacity? We need small classroom sizes. I believe that the resources will be severly stretched.
Redistrict now!
Teachermom,
Yes you will have the same fine teachers at HES, but there will be an adverse effect on our achieving students when non-achieving students are disrupting the learning environment. I have seen it up close and personal, elsewhere. Besides you do not close the gap between high achievers and low achievers by hurting the high achievers. The school board and CES parents need to get in there and help the low achieving students at CES. Dennis' plan calls for parity, mediocrity and balance. Excellence is not his priority. He believes socio-economic diversity is the key to success. Fine teaching, involved parents and hardworking students are the key to a successful school system. His supposed plan hopes that by placing CES students with HES students CES student scores will increase by osmosis. However, he does not truly believe this. Due to classroom disruptions, the opposite affect will occur and he knows this. It is easier to close the "gap" by bringing the scores of our HES students down, rather than the board and CES parents rolling up their sleeves, getting dirty and raising CES student scores. One final note, I believe that it was the plan of certain board members all along to shut down HES. They want us to pull our kids and return to our home schools, especially ECES and CES. To that, I will not knuckle under to their whims and ill conceived plans to close the "gap." I will most likely keep my child at HES, roll up my sleeves, get in the classroom, get dirty and help all of the children to succeed.
The board does not seem to be addressing the issue at hand. WHY are there kids performing below grade level? I believe the previous post addresses that question thoroughly. "Fine teaching, involved parents and hardworking students are the key to a successful school system." That is 100% true, with parental involvement being of utmost importance. Do low performers have all three? Likely not. Until this is addressed specifically for each child, moving them across the street isn't going to change a thing, and the board knows that.
"He believes socio-economic diversity is the key to success"
That belief is bull.
"Fine teaching, involved parents and hardworking students are the key to a successful school system."
EXACTLY!
CES teachers, admin & most importantly parents need to step up. Kids are smart & can learn no matter their race or economic status.
WOW!!! I'm practically speachless. Now I know why HES parents have such a bad reputation in our community. Although the views expressed by the last 3 anonymus posters represent a small, vocal minority (pun intended!) I still cannot be-lieve you put those thoughts in writing!!! So you don't want your high achieving, well behaved, well parented children mixing with "disruptive low achievers" with bad parents? I get it! Let's keep those kind of kids at CES, where they belong. O-M-G!! I could go on but I'll refrain. BTW...my most distruptive student this past year in my class was rich, white, and a highly gifted student (aka a high achiever)whose mother is the vp of our PTA.
ok teachermom, you tell us why CES is low-achieving. Is it the parents, staff, what? Will merging the schools raise the current CES students scores or just bring the total school scores up due to the HES kids coming in?
My family went to several different schools and checked out many things. We loved, first of all, that Hillsborough Elementary was year round. That was great and works very well for our family. Studies also show that kids that have smaller breaks retain more that they learn. In traditional schools, the teachers usually spend the first nine (9) weeks reviewing with the kids what they learned months earlier.
Second of all, when we checked out HES we fell in love with the staff and teachers. Still to this day, we made great friends and hope to keep these people in our lives.
We are sick and tired of HES being called "wealthy" and "white". We are sick and tired of CES being called "poor" and "dumb". Everyone has the same choice - how you make your choice is up to the individual families.
The school board and the superintendent have made a mess of this whole merger thing. Dr. Carraway is leaving and so are some of the school board. Guess what - how many have kids that go to CES and HES are actually children of the school board? I wonder if they really have these children's best interests at heart. I personally believe it is about making numbers look good. They are destroying our trust!
All of us need to get very involved during this next election time and really ask more questions! Get ready for more redistricting!
Merging CES & HES is an attempt by the board to raise CES test scores. It has nothing to do with helping children learn better. That is why I'm against it. If children struggle at CES, they will more than likely struggle at HES. Kids that excell at HES will excell at CES.
Question: How does this merge help childern raise their test scores?
Teachermom, I'm sad that you, a teacher, are telling people they should be ashamed for WRITING THEIR THOUGHTS. Is it any surprise that a "highly gifted student" was your "most disruptive" one as well?
I don't think anybody is saying that ALL CES students are "bad" as you put it, but if they're so great why is the school failing? I'm not saying it's their fault but there is an indisputable correlation between parental involvement, socio-economic status, and achievement. Arguing otherwise just shows that you value political correctness over reality.
Teachermom,
I really hope you are no longer teaching. If I was the mother or child mentioned in one of your posts I would be furious. I can't believe you had the audacity to write "BTW...my most distruptive student this past year in my class was rich, white, and a highly gifted student (aka a high achiever)whose mother is the vp of our PTA." It would certainly be easy enough to figure out who you are speaking of. I hope this mother has already taken issue with you as you have pointed out to the entire world her child's faults!
Dear Teachermom,
Thanks for letting everyone know that my kid was the "most disruptive". Have you ever heard of Confidentiality? My guess is that you have, but you just don't care to follow that rule.
From Teachermom: Don't worry, everyone. STudent confidentiality is VERY important to me. Because I don't teach in the OCS, I'm sure my student's identity will remain a secret!
Both my children attend HES and, they both loved the school as well as some of the staff members. I still stay in contact with some of them on a regular basis. I in no way felt that my children were better than any other student in any other school. I chose HES because, it was the only year round Elementary school in the county. I also have heard that they wanted to shut down HES for years now. I just don't understand why not do something that will bring up the grades of the students at CPE instead of moving them into a school that their not use to. Honestly it doesnt make sense to me. Those kids are going to be in an unknown environment and, expected just to jump right in. I'm afraid it's not going to work....
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