School Changes

[Samantha]

Ok I know that I don't live there, but we are seriously considering moving there so I'd like to get some clarification. 
I also read in an earlier post that the school hours were changed...  what hours do the children attend school?

So here goes...
1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade kids from Howard will be put on a bus to go to Moline which is 9 miles away or 15 minutes, with the time it takes to pick up all the kids - you're looking at about a 30-40 minute bus ride.  So if school starts at 7:55 (like ours does...) the kids will be picked up around 7:15 -7:25.  If they are released at 2:55 (ours is) then that puts them back on your porch at 3:25-3:35.

4th, 5th, and 6th grade kids from Howard will be put on a bus to go to Severy which is 12.5 miles away or 18 minutes, with the time it takes to pick up all the kids - you're looking at about a 35-45 minute bus ride.  So with school starting at 7:55, the kids will be picked up around 7:10-7:20, and if released at 2:55 - they'll arrive on your porch at 3:30-3:40.

Am I understanding that correctly?

[DanCookson]

Give or take, I think you are fairly close, except school lets out at 330.  We have quite a few days off during the year so the days are a bit longer.  Ashley gets on the bus at 720 or so and gets off at 4.

[Samantha]

Ashley...  Is that the girl in your picture?  What grade will she be in?  She looks about the same age as my youngest who will be in Kindergarten.  Which school houses the Kindergarten?

[DanCookson]

Ashley is 6 going on 14....lol

She will be in 1st grade and just got out of kindergarten in Moline.  She loved it, what a great experience for a child as well as parent.  To have a kid that loves school so much they dread summer!!!  She is doing ok with summer now that we can go swimming and such!!!

[DolphinsLEM]

Samantha,
  School starts at 8:00.  Preschool starts at 7:50 because we need to have the right amount of hrs. for Am and Pm.  School gets out at 3:30.
  All children from Moline, Howard, Severy etc.  will be sent to Moline if they are 1st through 3rd.  All children from Moline, Howard, Severy, etc will be sent to Severy if they are 4th through 6th.  Both schools will have a preschool and a Kindergarten. 

[Tobina+1]

Teresa; in any of my posts I have never said I agree or disagree with the decision made.  I have actually been trying to fact-find and even play devil's advocate to come up with better ideas and promote interesting discussion.  I'm a little like Dan; I mask my emotions well on this subject.  I have high emotions about the subject; but not because I don't have kids... but because of what this means for the entire county and the school system in the future.  I don't know what the right or wrong answer is.  I do know that the way the board went about this decision is not in anyone's best interest.  And it irks me to think that people are judging each other and saying their opinion doesn't matter because they don't have kids, when really, everyone should be thinking about the FUTURE of the school system... and ultimately, the county!  If the option was given to make this change or close the schools in 5 years, I bet this conversation would be a lot different.  I have never suggested that anyone "go with the flo", and the quote you made about having "faith in change and others decision" was completely incorrect.  My quote was "have faith that change isn't all bad".  I didn't say "give up hope".  I didn't say "the decision was right and everyone should roll over and take it".  I stated facts; "something's gotta give".  The facts are:  too many teachers quit/retired, and they can't get any teachers hired for multiple reasons (low pay, not enough time).  Maybe the knee-jerk decision was bad (or just done in a bad way), but SOMETHING different has to be done... quickly!  I don't have the answers.  You don't have the answers.  But everyone in the county is affected and is entitled to their opinions... regardless of their child-bearing status.

How's that for emotion?!   

[DanCookson]

How's that for emotion?!   

Pretty good actually

I really am calm about the subject because I feel in the long run that the facts and economics of the situation will bring itself to the correct coarse of action on the subject.  I feel like interjecting emotion into this decision is not a good way to come to the BEST decision for the community now and the future.

If cost is the issue here (and we all know it is).  I seriously think that a cost analysis should be run using two models.  This will piss some people off, but that is going to happen no matter what you do, so that can't be helped.

Analysis One: A side by side comparison of the efficiency of cost to operate each school.  We obviously do not have enough kids or teachers to have two schools.  You then look at what it would take to consolidate into the most efficient and cost effective school and the costs involved with that.  You would obviously need additional staff at the school to handle the additional kids, but would obviously lose some kids that would bus to closer schools if one closed.  Keeping in mind if you close Moline, you are going to lose those older kids anyway under the current restructure and vise versa.

Analysis Two: Cost savings in building a new consolidated school that would be much more efficient to operate, not lose any kids, and possibly attract new students/teachers to the area(Cough Cough Samantha Cough Cough!!!!)

I don't like the current idea.  I will be honest that I cannot see the methodology of what it accomplishes.  As Angie and many others with several children have stated, it is a nightmare already when there are appointments, illness and all the activities when the kids are at the same school.  I am generally very open to FACTS.  There are no FACTS that support the cost effectiveness of this new plan, and cost is the problem.  At least the long term problem.  A teacher shortage is a short term problem and probably was somewhat avoidable with some earlier action.  Still both are problems...

[Diane Amberg]

I totally sympathize with the mental gymnastics you all are going through. We had a different, but similar problem here years ago, the out come of which still hurts today. We had court ordered busing for mandatory desegregation. It fought through the court system for years. But in the meantime, the school districts were dismantled so part of Wilmington, mostly black, was divided up among the 4 county districts. That created long bus rides for all kids, who ended up going to at least least 4 schools during their school life.  Newark shouldn't have been included as we are a separate place, with our own black and international population. We lost. So even our black kids were bussed to Wilmington part of the time. Go figure.  The kids adjusted pretty quickly, but the parents were livid. Parental participation dropped off, new private schools were started, people moved away...sound familiar?. The poor teachers had a terrible time. Transportation costs,...well, you know. Now they are trying to slowly undo the whole thing and get the kids back to their neighborhood schools, at least for elementary years. Very painful.   

[Samantha]

Wow Dan, you might want to get that cough looked at!!  hehehe  If we decide not to join the community, I can assure you the school issues you're having won't be a huge factor in our decision.

Compared to our every day routine here, The kids and I leave the house at 6:10am every morning, drive to town - drop off kids at daycare who then shuttles them to school and picks them up at 3:00pm during the school year.  I go into work at 7am and work until 4pm, drive back to the town they are in and pick them up at 4:30pm then we drive to the town we live in - arriving home around 5:00-5:15pm.  I drive at least 70 miles a day, just commuting from home to school to work to school to home.

So if we move there, and the kids are picked up from the house at 7:15am and dropped back off at 4:00pm, thats 2 hours more per day that they will get to spend at home, not to mention the $50 plus dollars worth gas I'll be saving weekly by letting the bus do the driving.  We don't have a bus that comes by our house, and there aren't any other school kids that are in our area that would be able to carpool.

Also a huge selling point is the size of the classes.  I think someone said 14 3rd graders earlier?  Thats with both schools combined?
Our current elementary school has 5 (yes 5) 3rd grade classes each with 24-25 students.  So thats about 125 3rd grade students, just at our elementary.  Then when they get to 6th grade, our school merges with 2 other area schools for junior high and high school, which adds about another 125 from each school.  So your looking at a graduating class of 375 kids.  Thats about how large my graduating class was also, and I remember it being total chaos.  The noise in the hallways at the high school (9-12th grade  375*4=1500 kids) is deafening, and most teachers walk around oblivious to anything that isn't thrown right in front of them.

[DanCookson]

Wow....

My graduating class had 38 I am pretty sure  (Been awile!!)