The members of Eugene School District 4J’s board will have a serious date on Valentine’s Day — but it won’t be with their spouses or partners.
On Feb. 14th, the final recommendation will be presented to the school board by the School Closure Committee, which is a group of parents, community members, students and 4J staff appointed by the board. The board has several meetings to receive further analysis before March 21, when they must vote upon their final action on the issue.
On Monday night, the committee finalized its recommendation with a vote of 25-3, choosing to send the entire list of six schools to the board.
“Forwarding the list as it is now gives [the school board] maximum flexibility,” said John Owens, a community representative of the closure board.
The recommendation that will go the school board will have three parts. First, it will include a plea to the board to make closures the last resort in dealing with budget cuts. Second, the committee will list reasons brought forth as to why specific schools should and shouldn’t be closed. Lastly, the recommendation has a statement encouraging the school board to look at the possibility of dealing with alternative schools before closures.
Tom Henry, assistant superintendent for instruction, presented six options to the closure committee. The options centered on splitting up the students of closed schools and sending them to two other schools, which would eliminate problems such as redrawing boundary lines, Henry said.
One of the main concerns of the committee was to have all the options address the loss of programs in the schools that would absorb students. In order to fit students, auxiliary rooms now used for computer labs, music or reading rooms in some schools would need to be utilized for classrooms, Henry said.
“All the decisions haven’t been made whether schools will keep computer labs, music rooms versus reading rooms, special education programs, etc.,” Henry said. “Some programs will have to go. If we displace programs, we can fit the kids in.”
But the potential loss of programs was of concern, as part of the early pitch to close schools included the attractive promise of providing students with more opportunities, said Severena Johnston, an Edison Elementary parent and member of the closure committee.
“I’m surprised no one is concerned about the quality of education,” Johnston said. “We were selling this as making larger schools to offer more programs, and that’s not what we’re giving them.”
Other committee members shared concerns that sending the students from closed schools to other schools would crowd the remaining schools. This concern came from the number crunching of the options presented, which increased the attendance in some of the remaining schools by almost double.
“We’re creating schools with 500 kids, which is not a good thing,” said John Belcher, a neighborhood leader and member of the closure committee. “But short of restructuring the 4J district, I don’t know what else we can do.”
Due to such concerns, committee members agreed that forwarding the entire list on to the school board was the most reasonable option. In the next month before the school board reaches their decision, community members will continue to present information to the board.
“This isn’t something new, it comes with a great deal of thought,” school board member Virginia Thompson said. “We’ve come to a crossroad for the future, and sometimes the future is now.”
4J School Closure Committee passes buck to board
Daily Emerald
February 5, 2001
More to Discover