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Post by life lonf on Mar 18, 2008 16:03:10 GMT -5
sdaletoorchard. Where do you propose they draw the line. It does not matter where the lines are drawn they are splitting neighborhoods. Even using only major thoroughfares will still cause friends to be split up. We need to get over the its not fair and not in my neighborhood mentality and take care of the kids. Do I agree that open enrollment have been addressed no. Should they be able to choose the school no, but you can not lump them all in one building. Just like the closing of Franklin street with to shall pass.
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Post by sdaletoorchard on Mar 18, 2008 16:21:13 GMT -5
I would propose that the school board put CF kids first,,,, They can draw the line anywhere they want because as a citizen of CF you are hostage to the lines they draw( open enroll and you can go wherever you want). Now why don't you haul your butt down to the next city council meeting and bring along some of our school board members and help us get some sidewalks and safety measures put in place as surprisingly enough our kids don't qualify for bussing either. The last people I entrust to take care of my kids are the ones who are endangering them in the first place. Funny how that worked out in the end,,,,,,,, Cash over Kids ,,,, fair , my kids will thrive in any school and as for friends they will make new ones,,, this plan is short term and of no value to people who actually want our school district to thrive
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Response to Guest guest
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Post by Response to Guest guest on Mar 18, 2008 21:48:30 GMT -5
Guest:
I would reply this has not brought out the worst in people but the best in people. Our forefathers envisioned a country where citizens utilized their freedom of speech. They saw a country where citizens participated in our process.
And, yes, sometimes people become involved when a change or policy is discussed that they feel strongly about, it may or may not affect them. Should make no difference. It takes people of principle to stand up and speak up. This is how change can happen, without it, woman may never have had the right to vote and slavery would not have ended.
He has stands for nothing will fall for anything!.
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Post by CF Family on Mar 18, 2008 21:58:13 GMT -5
I am proud of the parents and citizens who have taken time to ask tough and sound questions. it is not easy to disagree with a policy, especially if you have supported the school board in the past.
But just like politicians, there are no free passes for any board, that is what can lead to corruption and government not representing the people.
Having attended council meetings, boundary meetings and CF kids first meetings, I can speak to the fact that CF Kids first was a positive, fact base group of citizens. They presented full disclosure and reached out to all neighborhoods and schools.
That is a positive approach in my book.
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Post by Appeals Process on Mar 18, 2008 22:16:48 GMT -5
An appeal to the State Board concerning the Cedar Falls recent bounary decision would pertain to Iowa Code 290.1 appeal. This means the parent/s of the child/ren directly impacted by the decision of the CF board can appeal within 30 days of the local board's decision. The appeal must be in writing and signed by appellant/s, notarized, then either faxed (515-281-4122) or mailed to the Department (Administrative Law Judge, Department of Education, Grimes State Office Building-2nd Floor, 400 East 14th Street, Des Moines 50319). If there is a group of parents who desire to appeal, it would help expedite matters if the request is consolidated into one, or if one parent files on behalf of the group. The entire appeal process can take up to six months. The only case that is related to the one you present can be found at www.edinfo.state.ia.us/web/appeals.asp?book=22&decision=182 <https://www.edinfo.state.ia.us/web/appeals.asp?book=22&decision=182> . Lastly, please keep in mind that Iowa Code 279.11 states, "The board of directors shall determine the number of schools to be taught, divide the corporation into such wards or other divisions for school purposes as may be proper, determine the particular school which each child shall attend, ... ." This means the standard of review is whether the board abused its discretion.
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Post by Question on Mar 21, 2008 7:36:23 GMT -5
Does anyone have the numbers yet for the difference in enrollment at the schools after this plan? How many kids are actually being moved from Southdale to Orchard and from Hansen to N Cedar?
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Post by cf family on Mar 21, 2008 9:07:46 GMT -5
Regarding from Hansen to North Cedar:
At the school board meeting, one slide showed that there are currently 15 open enrolled students at Hansen and 13 can be moved, (meaning they do not require any special programs, that is simply the school of their choice)
Currently, there are approximately 8 Hansen kids, they will be redirected to North Cedar this fall. Remember, have to back out fifth and sixth graders, so this number could be less.
What will be very interesting is to see of the 13 open enrolled student currently as Hansen, how many are there this fall.
Because, if Hansen is crowded, and the school board decides we need to move eight Cedar Falls Resident Kids, wouldn't we also move 13 open enrolled kids to North Cedar From Hansen.
Is anyone else getting really frustrated by the double standard here. You know some of the school board members are reading this post. Could they in anyway explain this decision?
When asked how many of these 13 open enrolled students will be at Hansen next fall, the answer is "Well, we don't know".
So we move 8 (let's see how many go) resident students first before addressing the open enrolled students, a greater number, at a school the principal says is getting crowded.
I think this is what the Cedar Falls Kids First Coalition was all about and the 700 plus signatures were saying. Before moving OUR Resident KIDS, let's redirect open enrollment.
This issue will not go away. Find 3 candidates, and there will be three new school board members next fall. Out in the public, there is a lot of dissent with the board as it relates to this decision.
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Post by linnea on Mar 21, 2008 16:43:22 GMT -5
CF Family,
There is another way to look at this: instead of saying "approximately 8 Hansen kids will be redirected to North Cedar", you can say "8 Cedar Falls kids will move from Hansen to North Cedar".
I also hear people saying "They have taken away my right to send my child to my neighborhood school." Try this instead: "My child now has a different neighborhood school."
That may seem trivial, but it's not. No one has ever been promised that their property will remain in the same school district forever. No one has even been promised that their designated neighborhood school will be the one closest to their home. (For instance, if you live at 22nd and Franklin, you go to Cedar Heights even though Lincoln is closer. If you live at 4th and Division, you go to Lincoln, even though Hansen is closer.) The school board has to put their lines somewhere.
When I look at the lines the Board has drawn, they make sense to me. In order to direct more kids to the underused North Cedar School, they added the neighborhood that is closest to the current North Cedar boundary. (I'm not as familiar with precisely what changes were made in the boundary between Southdale and Orchard Hill, so I won't comment on that.) They also rejected proposals to assign UNI's Married Student Housing, or various new developments west of town, to North Cedar, since those areas don't border on the current North Cedar district. They are going with the prinicple of NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS.
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guest
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Post by guest on Mar 21, 2008 18:11:16 GMT -5
Linnea, don't you find it all weird that the school board basically just filled North Cedar and didn't address the overcrowding at Southdale? The school board could have been directing open enrollment kids to North Cedar for the last year - at least since the boundary committee has been formed. Before any kid got attached to a school. Also, they most likely add cost to the budget in that they will have to hire more teachers for North Cedar to make additional sections.
I don't disagree with you that neighborhoods might have to be looked at for boundary readdressing. But only after they addressed the crowding they created through open enrollment.
I do not have kids affected by this, but it has been an eye opener. I will be looking hard at who is running for school board this Fall. No one can be worse than what we already have. The laziness of this board not to address this sooner is very sad.
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Post by cfschools on Mar 21, 2008 18:59:20 GMT -5
I agree. I understand that sometimes boundries have to be moved. I also understand that no family wants to move their child. But because the board has to make tough decisions when populations shift they need to prioritize students.
Families who have made cedar falls a priority by living here should in turn be given priority by cedar falls. It isn't a one way relationship.
If after they addressed open enrollment aggressively, they still needed to move students I for one would be more open to the idea.
The Board made a bad decision here. They have let the taxpayers of this community down and it will come back and hurt them in the end. If these types of decisions continue it will be bad for cedar falls. If residents aren't given a priority in their very own district, they will eventually take their residency somewhere else. And that will hurt more than just the school district in this town, it will hurt every segment of this town.
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Post by linnea on Mar 27, 2008 11:03:57 GMT -5
Okay, I'll jump in here again.
"guest" writes: "Linnea, don't you find it all weird that the school board basically just filled North Cedar and didn't address the overcrowding at Southdale? The school board could have been directing open enrollment kids to North Cedar for the last year - at least since the boundary committee has been formed. Before any kid got attached to a school."
What you're saying is, the board should have started acting on a policy before they decided what the policy was. As of a year ago, there were many options on the table, including closing North Cedar.
Also, the board *has* addressed crowding at Southdale by closing it to new open enrollment. They have also said that they *will* be moving some current OE students, and we should know before too long how many. (A friend of mine whose daughter is OE was told to check back in mid-April.)
"Also, they most likely add cost to the budget in that they will have to hire more teachers for North Cedar to make additional sections. "
More teachers = smaller class sizes = less crowding. Isn't this a good thing? How else can you relieve crowding, except by hiring more teachers?
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Post by cfschools on Mar 27, 2008 14:57:43 GMT -5
Linnea, they could have acted on this policy earlier. they didn't change any policy at all. the policy of directing oe students to specific schools is already on the books. the board has always had the descretion to do that they just have not done it. They could have been doing it this whole time and saved a lot of people a lot of problems.
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Post by guest on Mar 27, 2008 15:23:30 GMT -5
What you're saying is, the board should have started acting on a policy before they decided what the policy was. As of a year ago, there were many options on the table, including closing North Cedar.
No, that's not what I'm saying. First, the policy never stated that they couldn't send the kids to North Cedar, so it's not as if they had to change it before they did that. What I am saying is that they could have avoided a lot of hurt feelings by many. Direct the people coming in through open enrollment to North Cedar since it has most of the space. This way you wouldn't have to move anyone around later on. It's obvious that they wanted to fill up NC, so why not be a 'thinking board' that solved this problem with less hassle and grief? You know which schools have the most capped classes? Orchard Hill and Cedar Heights. Yes, Orchard Hill neighborhoods were affected but not in a way that relieved the school.
Also, the board *has* addressed crowding at Southdale by closing it to new open enrollment. They have also said that they *will* be moving some current OE students, and we should know before too long how many. (A friend of mine whose daughter is OE was told to check back in mid-April.)
Southdale has just a few open enrollees. Maybe a dozen? So if you call that relieving crowding, I'm not sure as I agree. I will believe it when I see it as to if they really move any open enrollees.
More teachers = smaller class sizes = less crowding. Isn't this a good thing? How else can you relieve crowding, except by hiring more teachers? It might be a good thing if they had actually relieved the schools where the crowding was - ie Cedar Heights, Orchard Hill, Southdale. But they didn't.
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Post by linnea on Mar 27, 2008 15:30:48 GMT -5
Hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it?
I was referring to the change in guidelines that they did make, namely, closing Southdale to new open enrollment and not putting OE students in the last three open spaces in a class.
So, do you agree with "guest" that the 16 OE students at Southdale are the source of the overcrowding?
(By the way, it would be nice if all these "guests", etc. would come up with names for themselves. I don't know whether I'm talking to one person or many.)
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Post by linnea on Mar 27, 2008 15:33:46 GMT -5
(Sorry, "guest", I was posting at the same time as you.)
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