Growth Boundaries Plan and Amendment 12 Vote
Amendment #12 - McLaren and Peaslee - Growth Boundaries will be reviewed annually (with a lot of input and data) PASSES
Patu - includes where it has to come to Board? Yes.
Carr - feels redundant - I know what you are doing but I feel like Tracy &Co are doing this already.
Peaslee - not directing staff but acknowledging concerns of public.
Discussion around this.
Vote - 4-3
Back to main motion for Growth Boundaries with all of amendments in place. PASSES
Vote 7-0
Poke me with a fork - I am done for tonight and will review the tape for the rest of the meeting.
Patu - includes where it has to come to Board? Yes.
Carr - feels redundant - I know what you are doing but I feel like Tracy &Co are doing this already.
Peaslee - not directing staff but acknowledging concerns of public.
Discussion around this.
Vote - 4-3
Back to main motion for Growth Boundaries with all of amendments in place. PASSES
Vote 7-0
Poke me with a fork - I am done for tonight and will review the tape for the rest of the meeting.
Comments
Thank you. For those of us who could not attend, this has been huge.
It does scream that engagement and transparency is still the biggest Achilles heel in this district.
Here's hoping that becomes the single highest priority going forward.
Where is that often promised communications strategic plan?
Leslie
I do not often agree with you but good work hanging in there last night. Wow.
-Been there
- wundering
- North-end Mom
LCP
SB mom
However, the answer was that they didn't want to do a middle-school roll-up and that Hamilton is too crowded to keep those 68 7th graders.
I'm sad for my son too, who is going to be moved from Hamilton for 8th grade, especially as he struggles with school in many ways, while being academically gifted. The disruption of being in a brand new program in a brand new school for the last year of middle school will be tough. I'm worried that it will hurt the rest of this current year as well.
Momof2
Same with APP/Hamilton. NE APP families will go to JAMS starting next year, even if currently at Hamilton.
This is the result of families rejecting the (other) idea of rolling up JA as just 6th grade next year. That would have left (at least some) current kids in place at Eckstein and Hamilton. But families, especially Eckstein, rejected this. So this is the result.
Seen It
Indeed.
Seen It
- wundering
I personally think the School Board should change their name to the "Option School Board."
- North-end Mom
"Won't some of the Hamilton and Eckstein teachers apply for JAMS positions? They can't all stay at Hamilton and Eckstein when so many students are leaving. How does it all work?"
Yes, some teachers have to leave from HIMS and Eckstein with the students to JAMS. I am not sure how this will work either and I don't think anybody has the answer to this yet.
- Really sad
JAMS will have to hire, but won't have to give preference to applicants with seniority and will be able to choose from a broader pool than just those released by other north-end middle schools. There will undoubtedly be applicants from other middle schools as well.
This isn't going to impact Eckstein and Hamilton exclusively.
I like that: Option school board.
I've also been wondering why they aren't called charter schools. It seems they fit this definition:
"an experimental public school for kindergarten through grade 12; created and organized by teachers and parents and community leaders; operates independently of other schools
public school" -
Eden
So, sounds to me that with no reduction in students there will be no teacher attrition.
LH
- Really sad
Yes there are teachers who are deeply committed to program integrity (and the socio-emotional needs of the kids having to make such a hard switch) who would go to JAMS. The new principal does the hiring, though. If you want an experienced APP founding nucleus PLEASE speak up.
open ears
I would speak up but it would be against my student's interest, who will (un)fortunately stay at HIMS next year.
This makes me even sadder...
-Really sad
reader
Last year I observed 5th grade parents from the now JAMS region rejecting the idea of a 6th grade roll-up. And I understood (I would have preferred the 6th grade academy – and still do- but that was even less attractive to most). This year, I observed 6th grade parents from the JAMS region advocated against a geosplit (and I understood). But I have a 5th grader on the line now and I don’t like the idea of a MS 6th grade roll-up for any child. Do I live in the JAMS region? Sometimes I seem to, sometimes I don’t (right now I don’t but my children attend a JAMS feeder school). I would still prefer to send my child to a 6th grade academy, spreading the “pain”, and avoiding a geosplit. But that wasn’t an option. There just isn’t a good solution for this problem. We can all agree on that without assuming the worst about each other’s intentions.
And really, what could Eckstein parents have advocated for? A geosplit even if many would have disliked for their own children to attend a MS 6th grade roll-up? A roll-up because they knew their own children would have been “safe” regardless and it was the “nicer” thing to do? Please, don’t assume that parents who spoke up for the geosplit solution (I did) only wanted to “empty” out Eckstein. I know many of the 6th graders starting at JAMS (whether my child is one of them or not) and I didn't want them to carry the burden of starting a new MS all by themselves.
N Ravenna parent