Do we have the facts?

Many Committee members resent being questioned about the decisions they are making.  They are tired of the process, tired of the late night meetings filled with arguments and angry people and just want to be done.  One can sympathize, especially after reviewing the mammoth pile of unrelated and disjointed paperwork the School District has thrown at them.

I’ve got a big pile of papers.  Doesn’t that prove I’ve got all the facts?

Unfortunately, the District seems unwilling or unable to provide clear, concise information for the Committee’s use.  Members of the Committee have asked multiple times for more detailed, clearer information from the District Facilities and District Transportation departments only to be told that staff were “too busy” to respond to their requests.

Instead, the Committee must make do with hand-written notes on poorly copied school maps, single page summaries full of inconsistent data, and reams of paper on topics completely unrelated to the School Closure filters.

In the absence of clear facts, Committee members are left to vote based on their opinions and affiliations. 

The Building Capacity (No Portables) filter is a great example of the Committee’s challenge.

The filter “Building Capacity (No Portables)” seems like a clear, simple measure that can be used to rank schools.  Simply count the number of in-building classrooms at each school, figure out how many kids fit into each classroom and there you have it!

The following table provides you with this information using an estimate of 20 kids per class (as well as an estimate of 25 kids per class).

From this schedule you can see that Vinland Elementary has the most classrooms and has the most capacity of any school in the District.  You could fit 520 kids at Vinland if you fill each class with 20 students per class – if you put 25 students in each class Vinland can accommodate 650 students.

Vinland also has a library, a full-size gym, a multi-purpose room and a dedicated, in-building music room.  Teachers have mandatory planning sessions where their kids need to go to other rooms at times during the day.  Having these extra rooms available is important for meeting state educational requirements.

From this schedule it is easy to see that Vinland is not the school you want to close when evaluating the “Building Capacity (No Portables)” filter.  The facts are clear and are indisputable. 

There’s no reason to vote on this schedule – in fact a vote would be inappropriate as it would only provide the opportunity to skew the facts.

Now take a look at the School District’s data ...

Most of the information available to the School Closure Committee is available at the NKSD School Closure website.  The first thing you’ll notice is that there’s no “Building Capacity (No Portables)” schedule available.

The closest document is the "Program Support Capacity vs Enrollment" schedule available on the Closure Website.  Take a look at this schedule and try to spot which column should be used for this filter.  Is it “Program Support Capacity ***”?

Also …

• If you divide the "Program Support Capacity***" column by the "Total in Facility Classrooms" column and you'll get very different numbers for each school.
• Notice that the "Additional Students without Portables" column is suspiciously rounded.
• Notice how Wolfle currently uses 8 portable classrooms yet has room for 75 "Additional Students without portables".
• An earlier version of this schedule listed Wolfle and Gordon as having 0 "Additional Students without portables" and then suddenly these schools have room for 75 and 50 respectively.

The frustration of the School Closure Committee is understandable.

Every filter should be clearly defined and supported by official District facts.

It is not enough to say that the Committee voted on “Building Amenities”.  Which amenities are being voted upon?  Are some amenities more important than others? Is the Committee voting on the size of the principals' offices?

The Committee needs to determine what “Building Amenities” should be considered and how they are going to rank schools based on this criteria.  The District then needs to supply an official schedule listing Building Amenities by school that can be reviewed and vetted by the Committee (and the public).

Once the District has done its work, then the Committee is able to take a vote.  NO VOTING UNTIL THE FACTS ARE CLEAR!  Committee members need to stand up for this principle and demand a fair process from the Superintendent.

The Committee has not even officially visited and surveyed the elementary schools they are voting to close.  The District feels that it is “too busy” to take the time to provide accurate and clear information.  How does that make you feel as a taxpaying member of the community?