Superintendent Presents Redistricting Recommendations to the BOE

Superintendent of Schools Dr Elizabeth Morgan presented her recommendations to the Board of Education.  I am happy to report she chose to follow the FEAC Committee's recommendation regarding Keedysville students attending Boonsboro Elementary.  The link to her full report is here.   The article in the Herald Mail can be found here.

FEAC presents recommendations to Board of Education 11/17/09

The FEAC presented their recommendation for school redistricting to the Board of Education during their Business Meeting on 11/17.  They delivered their recommendations with a power point reviewing the process of coming up with the proposal and two very large binders that, among other things, held the proposals as well as all correspondence received from the stakeholders.

The Board thanked the members of the FEAC and presented them with a Golden Apple award for their many hours of volunteer service.

A member of the Board asked the Committee to give them some feedback about the overall process, specifically what worked and what didn't.  Adam Lewis, co chair of FEAC, committed to delivering their comments in writing.  My recommendation would be to get the stakeholders involved much earlier in the process and for the FEAC (and BOE) to answer questions at the forums instead of just allowing stakeholder's statements.    

Here are the next steps in the process.

December 8th School superintendent Dr Elizabeth Morgan will make her recommendations concerning the FEAC's proposal to the Board of Education.  She can accept it as it is or make changes.

December 15th Board of Education will have a public work session regarding redistricting  from 8:30 am to 11:30 am.  This work session will be televised.

December 22nd Second public work session will be held from 8:30 am to 11:30 am.  Also televised.

January 5th Public hearing tentatively scheduled at South High to hear from stakeholders.  This will be the only public hearing unless there are so many stakeholders that the Board of Education cannot hear from all of them during the time allotted.  If not, a second public hearing will be held on January 12th.

January 19th The Board of Education will take a vote on the redistricting proposal and make their final decision.  

As you can see, there are still several steps left before a final decision will be made.  Although the FEAC's decision to not send Keedysville students to Rockland Woods was a small victory, we are not out of the woods yet.  The Board can make a decision to not follow the FEAC's recommendation.  Please continue to communicate to the BOE and plan on attending (and speaking) at the public hearing if they decide during their planning process to send our children to Rockland Woods.

 

FEAC Meeting 11/03/09 FEAC Finalizes Recommendations to present to the Board of Education

The FEAC had their last meeting for the year on Tuesday 11/03/09 to finalize their recommendations for School Redistricting to present to the Washington County Board of Education.  

There was a lot of information gone over in this meeting in an attempt to wrap things up before the redistricting proposal is due to the BOE.  The full minutes will eventually be posted on the Washington County Board of Education FEAC website (as are all previous minutes).  The website has also been updated with all of the current proposals for redistricting with boundaries for each district.  I would highly recommend all interested parties visit the WCBOE website as well as the Herald Mail website to get additional information regarding the overall redistricting plan.  This blog focuses on the Boonsboro/Keedysville community and so the information shared about the meeting will omit other areas.  I also highly recommend interested parties to attend Board of Education meetings and future FEAC meetings if at all possible.

• A petition of 97 names of Keedysville residents who opposed the proposal to send our children to Rockland Woods was presented by Keedysville/Boonsboro representative Lorraine O'Connor to Staff for them to include in the presentation to the Board of Education.  Thank you to those concerned residents who went door to door to collect the signatures and those who signed this petition.
  
• The previous revelation that a new school being built in South County was not on the docket until 2018 came up and the recommendation was eventually passed to have the Board of Education review their capital expenditures in the CIP to raise the priority of this expansion happening due to the obvious need.  I am certain that I did not word this exactly right as there was a lot of debate about how exactly to word the recommendation but that is the essence of it.
• Deputy Superintendent Boyd Michaels shared the information that they reviewed the proposal to send approximately 20 Keedysville students to Pleasant Valley instead of Rockland Woods and the school would be able to accommodate the additional students without having to add staff.  
• The question about the usage of the area behind to soccer fields as a prime location for a new Boonsboro school was met with some hesitation from Executive Director of School Operations Rob Rollins who explained there were some stormwater issues as well as traffic issues that would have to be addressed and it may not serve the best needs of the school although he said when they do make the decision to look at that area for a school, all viable locations will be considered.  Which led into a conversation about...
• Site selection. Recommendation to the board to get FEAC involved on the front end of site selection spurred a great deal of debate.  Boyd Michaels and Rob Rollins both discussed the need for confidentiality for the selection process due to the unintended consequence of having the information shared with public, one of which would be to take away negotiating power for the real estate purchase and inflate the price.  Washington County  purchases the land for schools and in some cases use a third party to complete the transaction. The State of Maryland allows for meetings involving real estate selection to be closed to the general public due to the sensitivity of the information.  
• The magnet program at Boonsboro sparked a great deal of heated debate.  FEAC CoChair Adam Lewis held fast to the belief that if you take the program out of Boonsboro, several of the parents would follow the program giving voluntary relief to the school.  Lorraine O'Connor disputed that and referred back to the recommendation made a couple of years ago which led to outrage from the community.  FEAC committee member Bert Iseminger agreed with Lorraine and said he was against taking away such an important program from any school and felt test scores would suffer as a result.  A vote was held and the motion to recommend to the BOE to consider removing the magnet program for further relief of Boonsboro passed with only Lorraine O'Connor and Bert Iseminger voting against the proposal.

So what happens next?  The FEAC Committee will present their completed recommendations to the Board of Education on November 17th at 6pm.  The Board of Education can send it back to them with additional direction to revisit portions of it (as they did last time).  There will be a series of public hearings on the matter during the month of January and further meetings during the month of February.  The final decision will probably happen at the end of February or the beginning of March. 

Although the FEAC Committee makes it's recommendations to the Board of Education, the Board can elect to accept all of it, parts of it, or none of it.  So in other words, it is still possible they can decide to send the Keedysville students to Rockland Woods. 

It is important to recognize the FEAC Committee for doing the right thing by voting against breaking up Keedysville.  It is a very difficult job they have and one they receive no compensation for.  Although I do not agree with all of their decisions or their methodology in coming up with those decisions, I do respect the time and energy spent in doing what they believe is right.

FEAC Meeting 10/27/09 Good News

The FEAC committee met today to continue voting on the proposals for school redistricting in Washington County, MD.  Many decisions were made tonight but there were several left that were not addressed requiring the committee to schedule an additional meeting on Tuesday November 3rd.

Since this blog is focused on Keedysville, we will focus on the portion of the meeting that impacts our community.  For those parties interested in other areas affected by the proposed redistricting in Washington County, I would refer you to the Herald Mail or the official Washington County Public School website for details.  If at all possible, I would encourage you to attend the meetings which are open to the public.  

I am pleased to announce that the FEAC Committee made the decision to reject the proposal to send our children to Rockland Woods.  There was an additional proposal made and passed to send approximately 20 students from Keedysville to Pleasant Valley which is closer than Rockland Woods and feeds into Boonsboro Middle and High Schools.

The FEAC Committee meeting was originally scheduled to end at 8pm but ran late and ended at 9:30 in an attempt to complete voting on all of the proposals.  At time the meeting became fairly contentious especially involving the Boonsboro area.  Lorraine O'Connor, who represents Keedysville/Boonsboro on the FEAC committee, presented an alternative plan to alleviate the overcrowding at Boonsboro and was very passionate and outspoken about the negative impact on the Keedysville community.  Board of Education Donna Brightman was present as an observer in the audience.  

Adam Lewis, the co chair of the FEAC Committee, made a motion to recommend to the Board of Education for the magnet program to be taken out of Boonsboro and placed into the new Eastern Primary School.  His thought process was he felt as many as 50 students would voluntarily move with the program which would alleviate the overcrowding at Boonsboro. The problem with this thought process is out of the approximately 90 students involved in the magnet program at Boonsboro, 82 of those students are Boonsboro residents.  Although there was a recommendation to poll the parents involved in the program whether or not they would follow the program if it moved, the likelihood of parents doing so is slim especially considering they would have to provide their own transportation.  

So what is next?  The FEAC Committee will meet next Tuesday to go vote on the remaining discussions and finalize their proposal for the Board of Education.  They will simultaneously present their proposal to School Superintendent Dr Morgan and the Board of Education.  Dr Morgan can elect to accept, reject, or modify the proposal.  She would then present the plan to the elected Board of Education who will vote on it.  The FEAC Committee only makes their recommendation to the BOE, they do not make the decision.  Although it is very encouraging that the proposal to send our children to Rockland Woods failed, we must continue to press hard and continue to make our voice be heard.  Be on the lookout for our petition to sign which we would like to present next week.  If you live in Keedysville and would like to sign the petition or help gather signatures, send an email to keedysvilleredistricting@gmail.com

Thank you very much for all of the parents and citizens of Keedysville and the Boonsboro area who showed their support by attending the FEAC meeting tonight.  I know there were many other who were there in spirit but were unable to attend. 

The next FEAC Committee Meeting in on Tuesday November 3rd from 6pm to 8pm.

 

FEAC Meeting 10/13/09 Time is Running Out

 

The FEAC Committee met Tuesday night in Hagerstown to continue the discussion about redistricting.  This post is just to hit some of the highlights of the meeting.  Full minutes for the meeting will be available on the Washington County school website at some point in the future. Previous meeting minutes are online (although a bit delayed) and I would encourage interested parties to read them.

• There was discussion at the beginning of the meeting regarding communication the FEAC received from Senator Munson's Office and Senator Barbara Mikulski.  A comment was made that the matter was out of their jurisdiction. 

• Misty Roosa from Keedysville was mentioned in reference to a letter that was not responded to.  They said an apology letter has been sent but said that according to their records, Dr Spong did respond to her questions.  They also referenced a question from Michelle Green that they were still unsure as to whether or not it had been responded to.

• A motion was made by Kira Hamman  to set aside time in each FEAC meeting to answer questions from stakeholders who were present.  Lorraine O Conner (representative from Keedysville and Cannon Ridge resident) was very vocal to say that it was not necessary or appropriate and that the stakeholders had their opportunity to send letters and address the FEAC at the public forums.  She stated that the same concerns were repeated over and over and that she had even been approached at the bus stop that very morning by concerned parents.  FEAC Co Chair Adam Lewis and committee member Bert Iseminger both verbally said they had no problem with it but when it came to a vote, the only person that supported  it was Kira who made the initial motion.  Once again I am very disappointed in the committee and our representative Lorraine O Conner for the lack of courage to engage the stakeholders in an open discussion.  Although the meetings are public, they accept written statements from stakeholders and, in the case of the FEAC forums, they have listened to stakeholders statements, they have never directly answered questions from the stakeholders, preferring instead to issue written response, most of which are prepared by Staff.

• The question of sending some students to Pleasant Valley came up again.  It is a possibility that up to twenty students could be sent from Boonsboro to Pleasant Valley without adding personnel or portables. 

• The magnet school system was discussed at length.  Ultimately it appeared to be decided that removing the magnet program from Boonsboro (and other schools) would be a detriment because it would cause a different fight and hurt the affected schools.  

• A committee member asked  if there would be a liberal policy about exceptions to the redistricting.  The response was rising fifth graders would be exempt.  Other than that, it would be on a case by case business although it was also stated that most principals would choose to say no to all request so they would not have to pick and choose. 

• They voted on some of the sections of the proposal focusing on the areas that showed little or no opposition.

• When the FEAC makes its recommendation, they will present it simultaneously to the Superintendent and the Board of Education.  The Superintendent has the option to make changes to the proposal before she presents it to the Board of Education.  The Board of Education then votes and makes the final decision.

• The last twenty minutes of the meeting were basically bickering about the impending deadline and what would be the best way to proceed.  An additional meeting was added since most members did not feel they would be able to complete it as planned at the next meeting.  The FEAC Committee can submit their recommendation with caveats (i.e. here is the best we can come up with although the stakeholders strongly disagree) and they can also roll out their recommendation in stages as long as future recommendations do not contradict previous recommendations.

• There was a lot of discussion about other schools that would be affected by the redistricting but this blog is focused on the Boonsboro/Keedysville Community. If you are interested in those areas, please watch the Herald-Mail who was represented at the meeting or better yet, make arrangements to attend the meetings whenever possible. They are open to the public.

The next FEAC meeting will be held from 6 pm to 8 pm on Tuesday October 27th.  The first order of business will be the discussion about Boonsboro.  Please mark your calenders and plan on attending this meeting.  Although we are not allowed to speak at this meeting, it is important to let them know we are there.

School Board Approves new Eastern Primary School

The school board chose to ignore public opinion and unanimously approve the new Eastern Primary school in Hagerstown.  Click on the link to read the Herald-Mail article and the comments from the readers.  There are 24 million reasons for the school board to force our children to attend Rockland Woods.  Eastern Primary will not be built until Rockland Woods is full.  

There are several seats up for election on the School Board in 2010 and I expect that we will see new leadership chosen by the voters.  

10/08/2008

Plans approved for new Eastern Primary school in Hagerstown

By ERIN CUNNINGHAM 
erinc@herald-mail.com

HAGERSTOWN — Plans for a new $22.2 million primary school across the street from Eastern Elementary School were approved Tuesday.

The Washington County Board of Education voted 5-0 in support of designs for the school that could enroll up to 620 students in prekindergarten through second grade and open in 2011. School Board members Ruth Anne Callaham and Bernadette M. Wagner were absent for the vote.

A new Eastern Primary School is one of five schools, including a new high school in Hagerstown's east end, that are being considered for construction in Washington County over the next six years at a total cost of $158 million. State money for Eastern Primary and other projects will be requested for the 2010 fiscal year.

The designs for Eastern Primary show a single-story, 77,523-square-foot building will be built on about 20 acres off Yale Drive. The design was prepared by Gilbert Architects Inc., based in Owings Mills, Md.

Rob Rollins, acting executive director for school operations, said the design is similar to three recently completed schools: Maugansville, Pangborn and Rockland Woods elementary.

Robert Spong, facilities planning manager, said the design documents approved by the school board Tuesday will be sent to state and Washington County officials for approval. Spong said he expected comments from county officials concerned about traffic patterns and intersections near Eastern Primary, which is to be built off Mount Aetna Road, near the new Washington County Medical Center site.

Board Vice President Donna Brightman said she'd like to see some flexibility with the design so older children could attend school there in the future if necessary.

Officials said that was possible by expanding on the planned wings of the building.

Preliminary plans call for construction beginning about one year from now and ending in April 2011.

Bill Lang's Statement at the School Board Meeting

Below is the statement read to the school board on October 6th by Keedysville resident Bill Lang against building the proposed Eastern Primary School.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the School Board, thank you for taking the time to hear my comments.  I am here today to challenge you.  I am challenging you to make a tough decision not a politically expedient decision.  I am challenging you to provide leadership and help guide our school system for the next 20 years.  I am challenging you to live up to your charge of establishing a vision for the community schools and to participate in the strategic planning.  I am challenging you to begin earning back the trust of the citizens of Washington County.  I am challenging you to act in the best interests of the tax payers of Washington County and the State of Maryland, as well as acting in the best interest of the children of Washington County.  You have before you a great opportunity, the opportunity to show true leadership.  A true leader is one who is willing to say we have made mistakes in the past and we are going to learn from those mistakes and do things differently this time.  A true leader is willing to delay a project that does not serve the overall community.  As I see it you have 2 choices before you, choice number 1 is to build Eastern Primary and spend $25 million dollars on a school does not have popular support, does nothing to relieve overcrowding in existing schools, will not be close to filled even when it is completed and as of today the assumption is that the children will come to this school based on a redistricting program that has not even been presented to the School Board.  Choice number 2 is not going to be an easy choice, but it is the right choice.  The School Board needs to not award the contract for Eastern Primary today.  You as the School Board need to stand up and say enough to this philosophy of we will build it then force them to come.  That has worked so well with Rockland Woods.  You need to say to the voters of Washington County, we understand your concerns and we are not going to spend $25 million of YOUR TAX DOLLARS on a building a new school until we are certain that it is in the right location and the maximum number of children will be positively affected by this new school.  You need to advocate for those students who are in the overcrowded existing facilities to get those facilities relief and build Eastern Primary will not do that.  Finally, you need to restore the trust of the electorate.  The electorate who hears things said by employees of the Board of Education like “it costs less to build a new school than to renovate an existing school” and that a new school will be built in South County when “the time is right to receive maximum funding from the state.”   So Mr. Michaels feels that the welfare of the students is trumped by state funding?  One of the School Boards mandates are to “advocate for the needs of all of the students” now is the time to do so.  You stand at a cross roads ladies and gentlemen, do you want to be remembered as the School Board that went along with the status quo and did the easy thing, or do you want to be remembered as the School Board that stood up for what is right and what is in the best interest of the students and tax payers of Washington County.  Again, thank you for your time