Alt School Location

At this past Wednesday's board meeting we approved changes to student fees and the purchase of new computers. The big change in the student fees is that the sports fees are $60/sport and the increase of the nursing fee associated with the MATC program from $25 to $200. This fee is still short of the $375 fee the district pays, but it does help offset the costs. The computers are part of the 5 year replacement cycle and are an annual expense. Bill Herman tried once to go to a 6 year replacement cycle, but had lots of problems, so he went back to a 5 year cycle.

We also discussed the changes in the board's meeting schedule now that the standing committees are back for this next year. We will meet once a month on the 2nd Wed. of the month beginning with our June 9th meeting. Committee meeting dates and times will be determined once the committee chairs are in place.

The biggest topic of discussion in my opinion centered on where to house the Alt. school next year. The Alt. school is currently housed in a rented facility that needs improvements and frankly they have outgrown the space. It has been assumed that the Alt. school would move into Nichols. The costs for this move is more than anticipated due to some concrete work that needs to be done to make the 2nd egress functional. The other possibility mentioned was using space in the lower level at Winnequah.

I think it is extremely ironic that we are even discussing Winnequah as a valid option. During the past few months we have heard many parents state that it was unacceptable to have 4k students in the same building with 5th graders and now we are going to consider putting 3rd graders in a building with high school students. The board has to make this decision at the May 26th meeting, so there is no time for public input, but I am not sure we need any given the strong feelings we heard about putting kids who would have been 5-6 years apart in age. Imagine the reaction if we put kids that are even further apart in age in one building.

I would rather see the Alt. school in Nichols where it has its own identity. There will be some that say we can keep the elementary and high school kids separated, but that is false as explained by Ann Schroeder and Mark Scullion. The reason is that the down stairs bathroom would be used by both groups of students. The additional part that scares me is the security of the building. Right now everyone enters thru the main door by the office. If the Alt. school goes in then they would enter thru the downstairs doors. This to me creates a potential security risk that is unnecessary in an elementary building.

The estimated costs for both buildings will be discussed further on May 26th. The initial estimates are $20K for Nichols and $10K for Winnequah. The other variable in this discussion is that we won't hear on the report for Nichols by D.L. Evans until the June 9th meeting. No matter what is decided it may be a one year solution. Given all these moving pieces I still feel that for next year Nichols is the better option.

Also, for those that are going to tell me we need to save that $10K, I would argue that if we are willing to dip into fund balance for $190K this year that we surely can for $10K next year. I hope that no board member would use this as justification for voting to move the Alt school to Winnequah.

Again, this just drips of irony that we even discuss this as an option. I hope that the same people who felt it was unacceptable to have the 4k and 5th graders in one building are just as outraged at the thought of putting an 8 yr. old 3rd grader in the same building as an 18 yr. old senior. If there is not the same outrage then it will truly indicate that the concern is not for the students, but to keep Maywood open at all costs.