Student Placement Task Force Student placement option presentation Maize Board of Education | Feb. 10, 2014
Introduction: • Peggy McNeive, Commissioner Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service • Student Placement Task Force members • Lori O’Toole Buselt, Maize Director of Communications
About the task force: • Members are volunteers. • Members include Maize USD 266 employees, parents, high school students, community/business leaders. • The task force met in May, June, August, September, October and November 2013 and in January 2014.
About the process: • Task Force divided into five work groups • Discussed concerns about and possible solutions for current placement model • Identified and discussed pros and cons of other models to consider: reconfiguration, boundaries, feeder patterns and select combination options
Factors to consider: • A placement process change will require a transition plan. • There is no one perfect solution. • Community communication about any change will be imperative.
About tonight’s presentation: • Members volunteered to present options in groups on behalf of and representing the work of the entire task force. • The presentations are findings – not recommendations. • A member’s involvement in a presentation is not his or her endorsement of that option.
Questions?
Placement option: Status quo
Group members: Shari Grabman, Karen LaMunyon, Randall Mark and Andi Shipman
Explanation of placement option: Status quo: Maize USD 266 students/parents elect a building preference before entering the middle and high school levels. Elementary students are randomly assigned to buildings, and siblings follow siblings.
Top concerns of this placement option: • Lack of consistency/clarity • Mentally, preference = guarantee • Communication about how process works • Negative perception – “Squeaky wheel” – Attitude in and out of the district is a lack of trust in the system’s chance of success
Top concerns of this placement option (continued): • Creates fractured communities – Student/parent stress on making preference – Student separated from friends at critical age – Inequalities between schools in areas of special education, extra-curricular activities and socioecomonics • Recruitment – both athletic and academic
Top concerns of this placement option: • Supply (number of seats) does not always meet demand (preference) • Creates unhealthy school rivalry
Top solutions of this placement option: • Communication on how the system works: Educate parents to make a sound decision • Boundaries • Building reconfiguration • Feeder system with configuration • Preference for Kindergarten and new students • Transfer based on KSHSAA guidelines
Questions?
Placement option: Reconfiguration with one high school
Group members: Duranda Fessenden, Rocky Helm, Craig Ratzlaff and Theresa Schultz
Explanation of placement option: Reconfiguration with one high school: Students would be placed at random or according to boundaries and would feed through the schools on two separate patterns that would merge with a ninth-grade center at Maize South High School and with grades 10 through 12 at Maize High School.
Maize High 10-12 Freshman Academy Maize South High School Maize Maize South Middle 7-8 Middle 7-8 MCE VES PWS MES K-6 K-6 K-6 K-6 MSE K-6
Top pros of this placement option: • Friends stay together at all grade levels (K-6, 7-8, 9, and 10-12) • Optimizes building capacity, facilities and is financially responsible • Eliminates rivalries and the potential for recruiting people to go to certain schools
Top cons of this placement option: • Loss of extracurricular opportunities, and participation is limited • Difficult staff divide/staff turnover • Contradicts community wishes for a smaller high school
Questions?
Placement option: Preference for Kindergarteners and new students
Group members: Candace Allenbach, Michelle Bliss, Mike Domnick, Jenny Ecord, Angie Jennings, Bill Perkins and Raquel Tyrell
This option involves preference, reconfiguration and two separate feeder patterns. The first feeder pattern involves a contained Maize South Campus. • Maize South Elementary School would house grades K-4. • Maize South Middle School would house grades 5-8. • Maize South High School would house grades 9-12. The second feeder pattern would have three transitions in buildings on the north side of the campus . • Pray-Woodman Elementary, Maize Elementary and Vermillion Elementary schools would house grades K-4. • Maize Central Elementary School would house grades 5-6. • Maize Middle School would house grades 7-8. • Maize High School would house grades 9-12. Normal transfer rules according to the KSHSAA rules. Open enrollment up for discussion.
Top pros: • There is a definitive plan in place. • All existing buildings used appropriately regarding capacity (at or below 200 students per building per grade level) • It allows room for transfers to each campus. • Transparent process • Eliminates recruiting for all programs • Extracurricular consistency • Siblings stay together. • School/community allegiance • Potential space for Early Childhood Center at each campus • Still provides for preferences with additional structure
Top cons: • Cost to remodel versus bond for new construction • No preference after initial enrollment • Potential for uneven demand • High school curriculum availability to some and not others
Questions?
Placement option: Feeder/Reconfiguration
Group members: Heather Blankinship, Pam Dearmont, Marv Schellenberg and Joyce Schreiner
This option involves a feeder pattern with a reconfiguration of the existing buildings. It includes: 1) Two building transitions for students 2) Two feeder paths: • South campus: Grades K-4 at Maize South Elementary School, 5-8 at Maize South Middle School, 9-12 at Maize South High School • North campus: Grades K-6 at Pray-Woodman, Maize Central, Maize and Vermillion elementary schools, 7-8 at Maize Middle School, 9-12 at Maize High School 3) In combination with one of two possible entry options: • Random: placement at Kindergarten or upon entering the district • Boundaries: based on home address
Pros of this placement option: Feeder: • Clear-cut placement – kids, parents, faculty know where students will go • Relationships – friendships, school pride, parent/student/staff familiarity • Program – academic/extracurricular consistency and continuity – less promotion and recruiting • Facilities – could utilize existing buildings Feeder with random placement: • Certainty of placement once in the system • Efficiency of building utilization • Maintains current socio-economic balance Feeder with boundaries: • Certainty of placement until boundaries need to change (grandfather for existing) • Ability to choose based on where you live
Cons of this placement option: Feeder: • Confusing – two different feeder patterns based on building capacities • K-6 and 5-8 may not be optimal age groupings socially and developmentally • Must reconfigure existing buildings to accommodate Feeder with random placement: • No preference • Loss of students if no preference Feeder with boundaries: • Placement could change over time as boundaries must be reset • Moving home could result in feeder school change (5 th /6 th graders) • On-going cost to revalidate boundaries
Questions?
Placement option: Boundary/reconfiguration with middle school options
Group members: Kathie Bowles, Kevin Frye and Laura Wheeler
Explanation of placement option: Boundary/reconfiguration with middle school option: Boundaries would determine high school placement. Middle school options would provide a flow into high school. Boundaries or assignment would determine elementary school placement.
Top pros of this placement option: High School Boundary • Eliminates recruitment (academic, extra- curricular and athletics) • Clear communication system • Sense of community (neighborhood, friends, teachers)
Top cons of this placement option: High School Boundary • Inequalities of socioecominics • Continued reconfiguration of boundaries • Less family choice
Top pros of this placement option: Third Middle School • Utilizes all existing facilities • Reduces middle school crowding • Feed into assigned high school (Maize South Middle School to Maize South High School and Maize Middle School/new middle school to Maize High School)
Top cons of this placement option: Third Middle School • Maize Middle School could be perceived the inferior school • More splitting of friend and groups • Added long-term cost of three staffs
Top pros of this placement option: Large New Middle and Conversion of Maize Middle School (Career Tech Ed/Early Childhood Center/Maize Virtual School/Shared Teacher Classes Building/Sixth Grade Center) • Clear identities/school pride/equality • Long-term cost benefit (staff, resources, busing) • Creates opportunity for more community use (YMCA, Maize Rec., etc.)
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