[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Public Hearing - Part 1

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Public Hearing - Part 1
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1198044542.shtml


   I attended the Robbinsdale Area Schools (281) Public Hearing on the
   proposed $5 million in budget cuts. Nearly the first hour was spent
   presenting the plan, pretty much as they did yesterday at the
   regularly scheduled Board meeting. Then, 64 speakers were heard, with
   a 2 minute limit. The meeting ended about 10:15 pm.
   It's a pity that it takes a crisis like this to bring people together.
   I attended a session like this a few years ago at the Osseo schools
   (279). There, much anger was vented at the school board but tonight
   there was very little rancor. All but a few stayed on point, helping
   the board evaluate its options. I decided not to speak, as I'm looking
   ahead to the next round. By the way, KSTP-TV's 10 pm news account of
   it was excellent.
   The Board tried to frame it as a done deal, which includes closing one
   school (Northport Elementary). The only thing left was whether to pair
   the remaining elementary schools should be paired into K-2/3-5 sets,
   which would provide slightly smaller class sizes. The public largely
   disapproved of this, and came up with many good reasons why.
   As is typical, the parents and staff of the closed school and
   curtailed programs were there in force. One, in support of Northport,
   the school to be closed, made a good point. Originally, Lakeview
   Elementary and the middle school program housed in the old Robbinsdale
   High School were also on the chopping block (plan E), both in
   Robbinsdale. Robbinsdale parents and city officials raised a stink,
   and suddenly that's off the table. Northport supporters were
   blindsided by this late change in that with 3 schools being closed,
   there was little point fighting. When Lakeview came back to life, they
   now asked, why not Northport instead?
   Some others basically cast the Board as not doing a very good job in
   developing and communicating these hard choices, before and after the
   vote. I tend to agree.
   I'll have more tomorrow, including reports on my tours of the
   Northport (1956) and Forest (2005) schools.