The Collinsville School Board reached a resolution Tuesday on how to minimize the number of students bused to another school because there is no room in their home elementary school.
Photo by Roger Starkey
For more than a year, the administration investigated options to reduce the 237 students involuntarily transferred each day. Options included changing school boundaries, adjusting start times and moving to a center-based approach. (see related story)
In the end, moving five teachers to either a different school, or a different grade level, was the most cost effective, reduced transfers by the greatest amount and was the least disruptive to the district. The idea, first proposed less than one month ago, was adopted by the school board for implementation in the 2014-2015 school year.
Director of Human Resources Kelly Carpenter, who has been working alongside Director of Student Services John Griffith on the options, said called plan the result of experiment with a “crazy idea.”
“What if we move all the kids back into their schools and re-assigned the teachers?” she said.
The result was reducing the number of transfers to a currently projected 130, reducing the amount of time the students spend on buses – and therefore increasing instruction time – limiting the majority of the impact to three of the district’s eight elementary schools. The change will not require any additional teachers.
The majority of the transfer students will leave Summit Elementary School. Summit and Jefferson Elementary have a maximum capacity of 124, the smallest in the district. The elementary age population surrounding Summit is larger, which led to the current plan of transferring the excess Summit kindergarten population to Jefferson, the 1st through 3rd grade overflow to Webster and the 4th grade overflow to Renfro. The details could change based on fall enrollment.
The process of determining which teachers will change schools or grade levels is already underway. Carpenter said the Collinsville Education Association, the union representing Unit 10 teachers, has been very understanding.
“We have had conversations with the CEA leadership and they have been very supportive,” Carpenter said. “It’s going very well.”
Gary Clark, Board member and former teacher, noted that the changes are not much different than the changes that take place each year as enrollment changes in the schools.
The plan, however, is not the long-term solution to the transfer situation and does not address the fact that the district’s elementary schools are nearly at full capacity, Carpenter and Superintendent Bob Green informed the board.
Green presented initial thoughts to the Board for potential long-range solutions, including a recommendation that they consider an addition to an existing school in 2016. A portion of the district’s bond debt will be fully paid in 2018. Issuing new bonds in 2016 would allow the district to begin paying on the new bonds when old bonds expire without raising taxes.
The existing bond debt will completely expire in 2022, allowing the district to consider larger construction options, such as a new elementary school, without raising property taxes.
Green and several School Board members agreed that an outside consultant is needed during the process of determining the district’s needs, communicating proposed plans to the community and gathering community input.
The School Board also approved the 2014-2015 Official School Calendar, which includes 10 emergency days. The current year calendar allotted seven emergency days. School has been cancelled nine times this academic year, forcing the district to either add two days of student attendance or request for two Act of God days. The district chose to request the Act of God days.
