Oh it’s never nice when someone decides to ruin the Christmas party. The eggnog has gone bad, the shortbread cookies have gone hard and the tree has toppled as the prospect of school closures intrudes on the festive season.
In what is just some very strange timing, The District Visioning Committee of School District 52 decided to jump into the Christmas spirit with an updated list of schools to be closed in order to meet the goal of 85 per cent capacity in the other schools of the district.
Wednesday’s newsletter to parents of Westview students added the extra bit of news that in 2009 Ecole Westview may be no more as well, as the Committe prepares to release its interim report in January over the issue…
They’re doing this in my town too. It sucks, but it’s gotta be done. It’s too bad about the French Immersion school though. If there’s no French Immersion school up there when my kids are ready for school, I might have to re-locate or home school (as I said in a different thread). I really hope they provide F.I. somewhere.
I received the letter from the Visionary Committee as a parent who has a child attending school in the district. I must say that I agree with the direction that the Visionary Committee is recommending. In a perfect world all of the schools are open and full of kids which would put the district to 85% capacity and able to receive increased funding. I hate the thought of children having to change schools, longer commutes and possible staffing reductions but apparently the staus quo is just not working. If closing a few schools is necessary to adjust things in order to receive funding and improvements then I’m all for it.
The one question I have is why Westview? As far as I’ve been told Westview is the only school which had 100% enrollment. Is the building in dire need of repair? From my vantage point it would make more sense to close Pineridge or Roosevelt as they are two schools in the same area, Westview services a distinct area and is the only school there.
I think that they have already modified Roosevelt for earthquakes and such so that school is pretty well up to standard now, plus the catchment area for students there is one which probably doesn’t have many parents with automobiles for transiting their kids across town to another school. Hence I don’t think Roosevelt will ever be on a closure list.
Don’t know as much about Pineridge but I think it’s a newer school than Westview, probably won’t need as much in the way of renovations or upgrading…
That being said closing Westview sure leaves a wide residential area without a school, going to be an interesting discussion I think once the Committee releases their report and gets to the actual debate over the pending closures…