More Comments from the Vice-Chair of your School Board – Twinkle Ann Morton
QUESTIONS from the COMMUNITY
One of my “key” concerns is communication, and earlier columns discussed the role of our new Key Communicator Network. I am so pleased to say that it is beginning to work. I must, of course, say that these are my comments and opinions; I cannot and do not speak for the board.
Several questions have come in, and I have a few answers here. If there are not enough particulars, I will try and gather them if more questions arise- but for now… Here is what I know.
Questions about Elmira Elementary -Most people are happy that the entire school is being replaced. The question on where the money is coming from to build it (as it was not in the original budget/proposal) has come up quite a
lot. Also, there is a concern that the money spent on the first
design has been wasted?
The cost to preserve the parts of EES [the middle section] equals or nearly equals [more to come] the cost of actually rebuilding. Money is saved by not having to do things in pieces as well…The plan was to keep the center- build a wing- move that group of kids to new wing-tear down and build new wing… move kids… etc. This way- that won’t have to be done. The infrastructure [parking lots, permits, etc.] will be done all at once rather than piecemeal saving both time and money… AND the bids will be at the current prices [at the time of letting them] rather than be inflated as the prices continue to rise.
No money from the first design was lost due to careful work with DLR, Cornerstone and contractors.
Veneta Elementary – One question is, “since the loss of the Garcia Center, did we really gain the classroom space we
needed?” Also heard concerns about the Vet. Some believe that the District is going to build a fence on the property line which
is 10 feet from the Vet building. Talk is that the District is trying
to “push out” the Vet. The Vet has been part of this community forever
and people are upset about it.
Garcia Center still stands [as of right now anyway] and yes, we gained the classrooms, security, and technological advances for our children [same in EES]
The Veterinarian Office has been using school property as part of a friendly agreement for years, and we have always had a very good working relationship with them. The old tennis courts and the road there are school property. Since the project involves much of the rest of the property, this is the best and only place to store machinery while different phases of the building proceed at the same time. Drive past this area, and you will see that contractors are trying to keep it as open as we can for as long as we can for their use. The community spoke loud and clear that they did not want the district to move the bus dropping off point to behind the building which would have allowed us to enter into a different agreement with the Vets. After long consideration, we kept the original bus plan and that meant the Veterinary Office would lose some of the parking they had been using on school district property. Listening to the community and making the most sense and cents out of the project resulted in the loss of some of their parking [which I must repeat has been on district property all along.] I wrote an earlier column about this entitled “Listening” and used this as one of the ways that the school board listened to the community and changed their minds about the direction to go with these projects.
Middle School – Overall very positive, no concerns.
High School– There has been some concerns about the cost of the new gym which somewhat addresses a Title IX discrepancy involving federal dollars]. Our Project Manager has a tight handle on the budget, and I sincerely doubt, unless some horrific problem manifests itself, that there will be an overrun. However, if it happens, it is far more likely that the District Office would continue in its dilapidated condition. That would be a very sad statement about our district for new folks entering our system, in my opinion.
New start times – I understand that the new start times are 0755,
0845, and 0820(ish). Heard talk about why the Middle School is
starting so late, parents are asking that if they drop off their
Elementary School child, can they still drop off their Middle School
kid? If not, how will they make it to work on time? What will the kids
do for an hour at the Middle School? Parents are talking that this
would be a lot of unsupervised time to cause trouble. On the District
homepage it says that young minds need more sleep as one of the
reasons for the late start; some parents aren’t buying it.
I will continue to check into the research about the start time. I have been reading that middle and high school students should not start early as their brains are not awake as I imagine they go to bed later and later. The only way to start all schools at similar times is to pay for more buses, which I am sure would not be a positive idea. Our chair, Andrea Larson, indicates that this is an issue that two parents brought up to her as well. She says, “In looking at start times between middle schools and their feeder elementary schools in both Eugene and Bethel, I found no consistency. Some started at almost the same time while others were as much as an hour apart.”
The community might know that the School Board’s work is policy while the administration’s work is day to day running of the schools. When a policy decision affects the running of the school and when the running of the school effects policy, we interact to see how we might best work out the kinks. Please keep these questions coming to your key communicators – your friends and neighbors. Share your concerns and pose questions. They will bring them to us, and we will do our best to address your questions.
Quick quote and website for you: “A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.” Mark Twain
For a lifting experience watch https://youtu.be/tcXU7G6zhjU Please write to me at tmorton@fernridge.k12.or.us anytime… Thanks for reading and caring about our community.