{"id":5225,"date":"2011-10-18T12:25:55","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T16:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5225"},"modified":"2011-10-18T12:25:55","modified_gmt":"2011-10-18T16:25:55","slug":"unionville-school-board-rejects-k-5-reconfig-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5225","title":{"rendered":"Unionville school board rejects K-5 reconfig study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents argue for keeping current ‘neighborhood’ school plan; board splits vote 4-4<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pocopson Elementary and its three sister grade schools appear destined to remain in their current kindergarten through fifth grade format, after the Unionville Chadds Ford Board of Education rejected a proposed district goal to study building utilization.<\/p><\/div>\n

POCOPSON \u2014 Reworking the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District elementary schools is off the table.<\/p>\n

The Board of Education was unable to get five votes Monday night for a motion to make studying potential changes the district\u2019s neighborhood school plan\u00a0a district goal \u2014 including a option to have two kindergarten to second grade schools and a pair of third through fifth grade schools, deadlocking at 4-4. Outgoing member Paul Price was absent from the meeting. The remaining district goals were approved, 8-0, in a later vote.<\/p>\n

The sometimes stormy and emotional meeting put to rest the issue for the time being \u2014 although as noted, any current or future board member can seek to revisit the issue \u2014 the topic was possibly more charged than usual with five school board seats up for election next month.<\/p>\n

Before the issue came up for a vote, parents and teachers expressed their concerns about changing from the current K-5 format \u2014 noting the fierce community battles over switching the district from its previous K-3\/ 4-5 format more than a decade ago \u2014 culminating in the 2003 opening of Pocopson Elementary School and the K-5 neighborhood school format.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very disturbing,\u201d said Lynne Brookes of East Marlborough, who noted that she did her own research into the issue and found some 20 studies on school configuration, all of which, she said, suggested that students do better with less transitions from school to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we even having this conversation?\u201d she asked. \u201cClearly, the real issue here is cost. The developmental needs of students should be put first, but if all you care about is cutting costs, then the hell with the kids, vote yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of parents followed, echoing the same sentiments, suggesting that if cost savings needed to be found, they be found in another manner. Even Harry Miller of Birmingham, typically a critic of district spending, argued for keeping the neighborhood school plan and finding savings elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unconscionable that you\u2019re even considering this again,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

But some board members suggested that they had a fiduciary responsibility to look at all options \u2014 and just because something would be studied, didn\u2019t mean that it would be implemented \u2014 citing the earlier transportation, food service and grounds\/maintenance studies, all of which led the board to decide against outsourcing, as was widely feared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it amazing that so many of the speakers already know the answer,\u201d board member Keith Knauss said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be afraid to ask questions and seek information so we can make informed decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve seen all sides of this,\u201d board member Jeff Leiser said, expressing his support for looking at the impact of a reconfiguration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t sacrifice the children,\u201d member Eileen Bushelow said. \u201cBut I do feel it is my responsibility to look at this. Not a lot of information has been given to us on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holly Manzone noted it would better for the board to look at this issue now, rather than at some later date when the district is in greater financial distress \u2014 when monetary pressure might prevent a more reasoned analysis of the options. She also noted that after the transportation study \u2014 which she opposed \u2014 didn\u2019t lead to outsourcing bus services, she felt more confident that the process would be fair-minded and without a pre-set agenda.<\/p>\n

On the other side \u2014 Corrine Sweeney, voting in her final formal board session after 18 years on the board, Timotha Trigg, Frank Murphy and Jeff Hellrung all voiced opposition to looking at a non-K-5 configuration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is important for the district to take a look at global issues,\u201d said Trigg, the board\u2019s president. \u201cBut is this something that could have long-term viability? I\u2019m not convinced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trigg questioned the basic numbers and assumptions of the plan \u2014 suggesting that a K-2 set up might lead to overcrowding at Hillendale and Chadds Ford and that the savings would be less than originally thought.<\/p>\n

Murphy argued that with the recently concluded teachers contract, two years of rugged budget processes, a new superintendent of schools and the ongoing Unionville High School renovation project, that even if the idea had merit, which he wasn\u2019t sure it did \u2014 it was a bad idea to put both the administration and community through yet more turmoil at a point where the district and the community might be able to enjoy a moment of quiet normalcy.<\/p>\n

Hellrung said nothing initially \u2014 voting against the study without comment \u2014 having previously been thought to support it. Later in the meeting, as what proved to be the pivotal vote, he did address his thinking. While saying he, too, had read many of the studies, most of which left him unimpressed at their methodology and quality, he suggested that he, too, was swayed by Sweeney\u2019s stance and noted that the current structure was clearly working very well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would upset the community in ways that we don\u2019t need,\u201d Hellrung said. \u201cEspecially in light of what we\u2019ve been through in the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy, beyond his rejection of the proposed study, was equally vehement that both he and Trigg were put in an impossible position because of politics. With both on the ballot in November, he suggested that however he voted, it would be attributed to politics, not his actual opinion, something he said he finds frustrating.<\/p>\n

Trigg, though, appeared to be even more upset \u2014 and addressed it in the final minutes of the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been offended,\u201d she said. \u201cMy integrity, my honesty has been questioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fighting back tears, she related discussing another issue with her daughter \u2014 whether she could vote for what she thought was politically expedient, rather than what she really believed was the proper choice. She made it clear to her daughter, then, she said \u2014 and last night to the audience, that she feels she cannot go against her conscience, regardless of the political impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I believe the correct answer is no, I vote \u2018no\u2019 \u201c she said. \u201cI don\u2019t compromise my integrity for a volunteer position.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parents argue for keeping current ‘neighborhood’ school plan; board splits vote 4-4 By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com POCOPSON \u2014 Reworking the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District elementary schools is off the table. The Board of Education was unable to get five votes Monday night for a motion to make studying potential changes the district\u2019s neighborhood school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[630,44,24],"class_list":["post-5225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-k-5-recong","tag-school-board","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}