Monday, September 28, 2009

Misty Roosa Letter to the FEAC

The following is a letter sent to the FEAC from Keedysville resident Misty Roosa.


I am writing to express my thoughts and concerns about the possible recommendations the FEAC are considering in regards to Redistricting Keedysville to Rockland Woods ES.

It is very unfortunate that this is a fight that we Keedysville residents have encountered yet again and it seems we will continue to have, however our concerns and issues remain the same the last time we stood together and fought this...and as of last year, still have yet to be addressed or resolved.

It just seems to me that Keedysville has the so called magic number that the FEAC Committee seems to be looking for so we are obviously an easy target. Which leads to my question of…WHY? Why do we have to go through this once again if none of the issues or concerns we had last year have been addressed or fixed and it makes me wonder if they have even been taken into consideration at all?

Below were my concerns last year, and continue to be my concerns.

1. Moving Keedysville, will put the enrollment at Rockland Woods over capacity and not allow for growth from the surrounding neighborhoods. What will be the proposal when those surrounding communities continue to grow and the enrollment of Rockland Woods continues to go up...will our children be shipped back to BES, so this is yet another move they will need to make?

I was reading the minutes from the June 9th meeting and it sounds like it is even a possibility that Keedysville could be SHIPPED to Fountain Rock first. I could be misinterpreting this and maybe the reason could be because Keedysville residents haven’t been told anything about the possibilities that will affect our children we have just been hearing the “hear say”.


2. After a little research it looks to me, the start time for Rockland Woods is 7:30, where BES is 7:50. My children catch the bus now at 7:08, what would be the time my children would have to catch the bus in order to travel farther to a school that starts 20 minutes earlier then their current school?

I did read that a solution to this would be to eliminate some bus stops. Is this really in the best interest of our children? This could potentially put them walking further to bus stops, and in harm’s way of vehicles which to me shouldn’t even
require thought to know that is not the right decision.

3. Isn’t it taken into consideration that these kids are still in elementary school and start at the age of 5 and at some point they will need required amounts of sleep? Yes, we could take our children out of all sports and after school activities to ensure they get more of the required sleep but is that really good for our children to take them away from activities that they enjoy and help them learn and bond with other children???
4. This leads me to yet another concern that our children won’t be able to participate in afterschool activities because they will be so far from their communities.



5. With the above concern, the travel time to get to Rockland Woods and routes will be the longest and most dangerous for our children.


6. Has anyone given any thought or estimate to the number of kids that will be leaving BES over the next year or two, in comparison to the students coming in? It has been brought to my attention that the number of 5th graders leaving BES this year was higher than the number of students registered to start Kindergarten in Aug 2009.


7. I have also heard, that if a student is going into 5th grade they will get to stay in BES, what happens to those families where they have multiple children, and one goes to BES and the other is over 12 miles away at Rockland Woods. Would special permission be granted to those families to keep all their children at BES?



8. Before and after care will be a major hardship on families. There are a number of families that use the Before/After care at BES, if they were required to do this at Rockland Woods, this could potentially add 30 miles (to and from) to their commute one way. So total additional daily commute would be 60 miles...over an hour of travel time which takes away from family time and homework time.

When those of us moved to the area, we chose this area specifically for the schools, and the location of the schools. Having the schools so close to home is very convenient especially when those of us with multiple children at a given time (like myself) could have a child in each ES, MS and HS....with the location of each of these in Boonsboro it makes it most convenient.

Personally, I do not want my children to get sent to a Hagerstown school...and potentially be sent to a city school...this is not why I moved to Keedysville. And I don’t think that if we are redistricted we will never be sure our kids won’t attend a city school. Had I wanted my children to attend a city school I would have moved to the city.

I know I am not the only Keedysville resident with these concerns and issues. Before the FEAC and/or Board of Ed approve this move, I would like to see that each of the concerns from the Keedysville Residents are heard and will be addressed to the public. After all it is OUR children that are being affected.
I hope you have taken the time to read my concerns and I further more hope you and the FEAC take them into consideration and remember that there is children being affected by this and our children are NOT just “numbers” to be thrown around.

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Misty Roosa

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