School Redistricting Grump
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| Mon, 05-07-2007 - 2:09pm |
We finally got ds formal eval at the beginning of the year where he was given AS dx. We have our first IEP meeting scheduled for next week (tho' we're still missing the written eval from the neuropsych -- we have two other evals from the pysch and speech; the pysch is trying to get the neuropsych to hurry up her report). Now we just found out our neighborhood is being redistricted into another school. I understand that even tho' it's annoying, it's sometimes necessary to redistrict. However, our School Board is being really obnoxious about this, and it looks like it's a political thing.
There are two communities (#1 & #2) that feed into two elem schools (A & B), but both schools are within community #1. We live in community 1, very close to school A. All of community 2 feeds into our school. The school district has decided that instead of splitting community #2 between two schools, they will split community #1. The problem is that they are taking kids that live near school A and sending them to school B, across several streets without crossing guards, including the busiest street in the community. They are splitting boundary lines down the middle of three different streets (houses 1-2-3 go to one school, houses 4-5-6 go to another school) as well as splitting neighbors whose homes face each other across the street. NO ONE is happy with this -- not the community, not the elementary school, the redistricting committee (which doesn't even have families who are being affected), or the PTA. The redistricting committee offered another solution, splitting a section of community #2 that is isolated from the rest of community #2, and sending them to school B, which they are geographically closer to and already getting bussed PAST to get to school A. It is also a new development (1-2 yrs) so doesn't have the same long-term ties to school A that community #1 has. (Did any of that make any sense?)
The School Board Vice Pres lives in community #2 and is a bit of a snob. I have a feeling he thinks school B is beneath those who live in community #2 so doesn't want them to go there. The reasoning by the School Board and demographic planning specialist for their redistricting plan is that they don't want to "divide" community #2 (which is already naturally divided by having one section isolated from the rest), and they want to "unify" community #1 by putting it back at the school it used to be part of many, many years ago, even tho' they now have a multi-years' relationship with school A, it's dividing neighbors, it's creating a safety hazard for the kids crossing streets, etc.
I called to find out how to get my AS ds to remain at his current school. I was told no "out-of-area" transfers are being accepted since the school is over-enrolled. I'm not even sure how this affects the IEP meeting. The person I need to speak with about that it out of the school all week. I guess I just show up for the IEP, get things settled, and then continue the fight to keep ds in school. I've asked the psych for a letter supporting keeping ds at this school.
What I don't know, however, is if I get AS ds an "out-of-area" transfer whether I can also get my 10yo NT ds the same thing. He's supposed to graduate from elem school. I think the kids from the other elem school feed into a different middle-school district than the one my 12yo currently attends, farther away than the 8-mile away one my 12yo attends (even tho' we're in major metro area, we're on the edge of the county).
We were active in our campaign against the redistricting option. We honestly thought we'd been a little over-the-top since the School Board's redistricting plan was so goofy and since such a logical plan had been provided as an alternative. Oh, one of the ladies on the redistricting committee discovered the School Board even had our school in the wrong location on their maps. I was STUNNED when we learned this weekend that the School Board had approved their original plan. I cannot imagine it's anything other than political when they're logic is that they are "unifying" our community by tearing it apart and creating safety issues for the children. I've written everyone I know to write to try to rectify the situation, but I have a feeling this battle was lost long ago. Grrrrrrr.
Thanks for listening to my grump!
| Mon, 05-07-2007 - 5:09pm |
