[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: The Final Countdown

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
The Final Countdown
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1231654374.shtml


   After a year of strategic planning and facilities study, District 281
   now must now choose and adopt a "right-sizing" option in response to
   declining enrollment. The consultants have made their recommendation
   from among four options they developed as I posted last week. I agree
   with that recommendation, the "K-5" option, and no, not because my
   local Elementary (Northport) is staying open. I frankly expected the
   opposite, and would have accepted such a decision if that's where the
   facts led.
   I liked Wold's approach to first resolve the Middle school situation,
   then pair those choices with complementary Elementary decisions.
   That's why we have only four scenarios this year vs. ten last year.
   The Two Phase plan doesn't close a Middle school for 3 years. The
   second phase selects that school. Savings are delayed and at least 600
   students will again be relocated in 2012. It is an incomplete solution
   at best.
   The K-6 plan moves 6^th grade from the Middle schools to the
   Elementary schools. It closes two unremodeled schools (Lakeview and
   Northport), but because these are where the most students are, a
   compensating Elementary operation has to be created at the Robbisndale
   Area Learning Campus (RALC). That in turn means the Middle school
   operation there has to move to Sandburg Middle School, which works
   because Middle School is now only 7^th and 8^th grades. This is
   clearly the most convoluted solution of all. Don't forget, the RALC is
   a high school building that would now have to serve as a double
   Elementary plus the Elementary portion of the Robbinsdale Spanish
   Immersion (RSI) program.
   The two K-5 plans make the RALC a pure Middle School, i.e., the
   Robbinsdale Middle School, closing Sandburg. The recommended option
   moves K-5 RSI to a closed and repurposed Elementary (Sunny Hollow).
   The variation moves the entire K-8 RSI to a portion of a repurposed
   Sandburg Middle School, which also would house most auxiliary
   functions like Community Education. Of the two, the recommended option
   is the better match of function and facility. Elementary buildings
   house elementary programs, including K-5 RSI. Middle school is at the
   newly remodeled Plymouth Middle School and at the RALC, a former high
   school well-suited to exclusive Middle school use. And all the
   auxiliary functions are now also combined in a single, larger building
   (Sandburg), not just some of them.
   This doesn't answer the District's other big facility challenge:
   eventual replacement of its aging buildings. Forest Elementary (2005)
   is the only District facility built since 1970. Several are more than
   50 years old. We may hear more about this facet in the upcoming four
   meetings.
   ***
   Work Session: Monday, January 12^th 6 pm, ESC Boardroom.
       TV: First hour live, full replay Jan. 13, 7 pm.

   Public Meeting: Tuesday, January 13^th 7 pm, Cooper High School.
       TV: Replayed Jan 14 and 15, 1 pm

   Work Session: Thursday, January 15^th 5:30 pm, ESC Boardroom.
       TV: Live, replay Jan. 17 noon.

   Board Meeting: Tuesday, January 20^th 7 pm, ESC Boardroom.
       TV: Live, replayed Jan 21 7 pm, Jan 22 8 am, Jan 25 pm.