Making the case for reconfiguration

I have already expressed my feelings on the recent RUSD hot-button debate of neighborhood schools versus busing for socio-economic equality. I have stated both scenarios have potential drawbacks, and the best solution would probably be a blend of the philosophies. But I will keep lamenting on the subject because the district needs to make a timely decision; they need to move ahead and focus on their other plans to improve student achievement.

I am not suggesting that there will not be gains in student achievement by some sort of redistricting; however there is something I believe will raise the test scores and increase student engagement even more than redistricting – reconfiguring the schools to the junior high configuration. One board member has said (repeatedly) that the 9th grade failure rate skyrocketed after the implementation of the middle school concept, and has never really stabilized over the years. There is also the case of reconfiguring to make the schools smaller and more manageable.

When RUSD reconfigured the districts’ school in the 1983-84 school year, RUSD had approximately 22,000 students. It has been explained to me that there were long-range predictions done at the time that suggested that the district would only have 15,000 students in a few years, so although the schools were overcrowded the public was assured that the overcrowding would be for only a short time.

But there apparently something wrong with the demographer’s long-range predictions, there hasn’t been the predicted decrease in students as expected; 23 years later we have approximately the same amount of students and our schools are just as overcrowded.

The big three comprehensive high schools are designed for 1200-1400 students, yet we have 2200 students in them! Simply by moving the 9th graders out of these schools would be a huge first step in reducing the overcrowding at our schools – of course 6th graders would need to then move back to elementary schools – and this is where the problem lies, I believe. With the expanded 4-year old kindergarten and all-day 5-year old kindergarten, there is no longer room at the elementary schools for the 6th graders.

The Paullin Group has recommended that the district build 3 early childhood centers to house the both kindergarten and the early childhood programs – this of course will cost money and lots of it! Is the general public willing to invest in the future of our community, or are we destined to keep making the same mistakes again and again? We need action, not a board afraid to make an unpopular choice. What the district “looks” like is not as important as how the district functions. We need to focus on student achievement, not secondary issues like racial balance and busing. I am not trying to convey that racial balance is not important; I am simply suggesting that student achievement should be the district’s primary mission.

The first step in making the district sustainable is making the schools work, and they cannot and will not work when we have high schools that are dangerously overcrowded.

Please urge the board members to make a decision on redistricting so the district can focus on their primary mission – educating the young people of this community.