All about the kids????

[Suzie Dean]

This letter was given to Grant kindergarten parents today.

Dear Grant Kindergarten Parents,

Many of you have expressed concern about the size of our kindergarten classes. As some of you have noted, the kindergarten classes at McKinley are much smaller. This letter is to see whether or not there is any interest of Grant kindergarten parents and students in moving to the smaller McKinley classes. This move would be for one year only. Your child would return to Grant for first grade.

The two teachers at McKinley are both very experienced. One is Mr. Fred DiFilippo, who teaches both a morning and an afternoon session. The other is Miss Georgine Session, who some of you may know from Madison School. She teaches in the morning only. There are openings in both the morning and afternoon classes.

We recognize that this would be a significant change for your kindergarten student.However, he or she would then spend the rest of the school year in a much smaller class. Since many kindergarten parents are already driving their children to school, this might not be a hardship.

If you are interested taking advantage of this opportunity, please notify the Grant office no later than this Friday, September 28. The move to McKinley could happen some time next week. This is only for those of you who might be interested. Let us assure you that no one will be transferred unless it is by parent choice.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Mark Gleichauf, Principal

Jan Soeder, Assistant Superintendent-Elementary

In my opinion and that of a couple other neighbors this is an unacceptable solution!!

Lakewood city schools are supposed to be community schools, when you ask a child to move out of their neighborhood school they are no longer a part of a community school.

These five year old children have been in school for four weeks and have formed friendships and other bonds within their school, in order to get rid of over crowding the district is asking parents to take their children away from their friends for one year only only to take them away again at the beginning of a new school year. This cannot be good for the emotional development of the kids. After the one year of kindergarten the kids will no longer be allowed to remain at McKinley.

In a press release the district touted fiscal responsibility for the reason that they were able to have all day kindergarten, now they are stating that they can not afford to form another class at Grant. What happen to fiscal responsibility?

What about siblings? Many kindergartners have siblings, some have multiple siblings at their school and the district is asking families to have their children at multiple elementary schools. How is that equate to community schools?

Today it was raining and only seven parents out of 27 drove. That means that the vast majority of children in the AM class walk. We have a very large walking population at Grant.

With special ed children included in the number crunching we would have to have 8 students leave from the morning and 6 from the afternoon to have the numbers, that the district recommends at 22 to 1. Moving the students to McKinley would only increase their numbers. I would have to wonder how those parents would feel going from small classes to large classes.

So in reality what are we doing...moving the problem from one school to another?

Don't the parents that pay taxes and chose to send their children to their home school deserve the same education and class sizes of other kindergartners district wide. All we are asking is for the district to do the right thing by creating a third class. There is an open kindergarten classroom...so space isn't an issue.

Please support the students and families at Grant Elementary by calling Dr.Estrop and ask for the creation of a third class at Grant. The students shouldn't wait any longer.

[Suzie Dean]

129 observers have read this post...yet not one person has made a comment or posted a thought.

This just proves to me the kind of support that we have in this community.

[Mary Breiner]

It sounds like the staff at Grant and McKinley schools are making an effort to answer the complaints of large classroom size. They aren't forcing anyone to move and it is totally on a volunteer basis. I don't know when they had all their numbers, but I do know that there are (believe it or not) people who wait until the first day of school to enroll their children. It doesn't seem feasable in this day of NCLB among other things, to just create another class when there is space at McKinley.
FWIW
I would highly reccommend Mr. DiFillipo. My older children had him for first grade at Taft and he is a great teacher.

Mary

[Kate McCarthy]

129 observers have read this post...yet not one person has made a comment or posted a thought.

This just proves to me the kind of support that we have in this community.

Geez. My husband and I were planning on sending off a letter to the BOE tomorrow. We support the schools and think another kindergarten class should be added to Grant asap.

Please don't view the lack of posts as lack of interest. Views are important. I'm appalled by the BOE's solution to the over crowded kindergarten classes.

Good luck!

[Mona Ewing]

PLEASE tell me that there are parents out there who feel that this so-called "solution" is absolutely unacceptable?! Is the district in that much financial trouble that we can not provide equal, adequate and “reasonableâ€Â￾ education for ALL of our young children? No matter where they live? That the solution is to move 5 YEAR OLD CHILDREN out of their environment and away from their friends and siblings (instead of hiring a ½ day K teacher) for a smaller class size, is an acceptable request for families? Then tell them they HAVE TO RETURN after that year? Are they serious???? , What is this district coming to? Those of you who say, "there were 25-30 kids in classes when I was going to school, what’s the big deal" need to remember (or need to be aware that), over and over again, we as a community, who attended the meetings, were told that the new buildings and the closing of Franklin would EVENLY disperse students throughout the district and lower class sizes to recommended ratio of 22:1 for Kindergarten, a ratio larger than what the teachers and the public (87%) supported in the 50 year committee report of 15-20:1 for K-3. Furthermore, in a district whose goal is to raise test scores and improve academic achievement, class size should be of the UTMOST importance in a district that is in “continuous improvementâ€Â￾ status. If I recall, when I brought this issue up at the last board meeting (9/10/07) they were looking at the issue of high KINDERGARTEN numbers and moving children to another school was not mentioned, but possible aides or teachers were. What… are we going to then blame the parents for the large class sizes when they choose not to move their child to McKinley? Will they say, “That’s your choice!â€Â￾ Taking the responsibility off of the administration and putting it on the parents? An administration that, in May, stated in a news release that due “to the District’s ability to manage it’s budgetâ€Â￾ they were able to offer full day Kindergarten at the two new schools, which now have THREE teachers each, while Grant has only ONE teacher teaching two classes of 27/28 KINDERGARTNERS!!!!!!! It is absurd to think the district and the board could even think that this would be a “viable optionâ€Â￾ (board member Ed Favre’s response to a Grant parent). Children WANT/NEED to be with their siblings, children WANT/NEED stability, children SHOULD/ NEED to be where their parents CHOOSE for them to be, and be offered an equal educational and SOCIAL experience in their NEIGHBORHOOD school, the same that is offered in someone else’s NEIGHBORHOOD school. What happens next year when they open Horace Mann and Emerson as elementary schools? Will there be empty classrooms there as well? Not enough money to hire enough teachers and support staff? Full day kindergarten at these schools (which have been designed to accommodate for full day) when we can’t even afford another teacher at Grant for ½ day kindergarten? Who is the administration accountable to? We, as a community, need to support these children and their families and ask that Dr. Estrop and the board of education add a second teacher to Grant school! Is it fair, to that teacher at Grant, to teach 9-12 more children [/b](per class) than other kindergarten classes? I thought the district’s goal was to MINIMIZE transition? Is it MINIMIZING transition to disrupt, not only those children and families at Grant, but to disrupt those children, teachers and families at McKinley as well?

Sure, it would be easier to sit back and let the “districtâ€Â￾ do as they see fit, but over the last two years, I am appalled at, and frankly tired of, the lack of compassion and consideration for the children and families who are being affected TODAY by all these “transitionsâ€Â￾. All for the benefit of those who will come after us? I’m starting to feel like it WILL be “Lakewood’s Time!â€Â￾ (sometime in the future, after our children have “helpedâ€Â￾ work out the kinks; after our families have made all the transitions) I often wonder if the Board and the administration had little kids right now, going through these changes, if they would be “OKâ€Â￾ with what is being expected of our children and our families. Do they remember what it’s like to have a 5 year old?

We need to care more! Not just take for granted that people “higherâ€Â￾ than us know what is BEST for OUR children.

PLEASE speak up! There is a board meeting scheduled for Monday, October 1, 2007 in the board auditorium at 7:00pm.
(Call to make sure of time and location!)

[Christina McCallum]

As the parent of a Grant Elementary kindergartener, my husband and I are recipients of the letter posted above. My husband and I do not intend to move our son to McKinley for a variety of reasons.

I hate to think that the lack of response to this initial post is because people do not care. If people didn't care, none of the bond issues would have passed, we wouldn't have the new buildings and coming remodeled buildings. And Lakewood would not have the fantastic record of operating levy passage that it has.

No offense to Jim, Dan et al, but I'm not sure the Observation Deck is the place to affect change here. Maybe people are reacting, but are responding by calling the Board of Ed office and/or a School Board member to air their concerns. Maybe people are having personal conversations to resolve the issue.

Parents at Grant are not pleased about the classroom situation or this proposal. But we are talking and writing directly to the people who will ultimately make the decision regarding the classroom(s) and will continue to do so.

[Mona Ewing]

Okay Mary,
Then why do you suppose they didn’t send letters to Hayes families asking them to move their children to another neighborhood school because of high student to teacher ratios? Why were the families from Lincoln not sent a letter to move their 3rd graders to another school for ONE YEAR last year when numbers increased? Would that have been acceptable? Madison Elementary 3 years ago had high numbers in kindergarten and those parents weren’t asked to uproot their children and disperse to other schools. Why? Because it is ridiculus! Uprooting children and yes, FORCING them to return after their kindergarten year, in my opinion, is not an adequate response “to answer the complaints of large classroom sizesâ€Â￾! They need to HIRE A TEACHER!!!!! Just as they have done in the past to correct the problem.

[Mona Ewing]

Just some FYI

Fifty Year Committee Report 2003; Executive Summary
(available on Lakewood City Schools website)

p.7 “The elementary school template used a student : teacher ratio of 22:1 for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten and a 24:1 ratio for grades 1-5. The middle school template and high school template used a 25:1 ratio. These ratios provided for reasonable design flexibility given the projected continuation of declining enrollments.â€Â￾

p.8 “Further, it should be noted that the 22:1 and 24:1 student : teacher ratios used in the templates are not consistent with the input gathered by the committee for the K-3 grade levels. Indeed, the teachers desired ‘smaller’ class sizes; the community overwhelmingly supported (87%) class size of 15-20 in the November forum, and the educational literature abounds with studies indicating the benefits of reduced class sizes in the K-3 grades. In Particular, the Tennessee STAR experiment clearly showed that the benefit of small class size (13-17) occurred not only in those grades but lasted throughout the students’ entire educational career.â€Â￾

Dr. Estrop boasts the district's "average" kindergarten student to teacher ratio of 22:1 but "averages" don't equate to human experience. It SOUNDS great and may look great on paper, but tell that to the teacher with a class of 28 as opposed to a teacher of a class of 16. And, quite frankly, McKinley's numbers are CLOSER to what the teachers and the community wanted in the first place, as noted above.

[Phil Florian]

I think people have a hard time posting and responding not because, as implied by some, they don't care but because this is a) a hot topic and b) if it goes like other education threads, it usually ends poorly.

Also, the letter, though an upsetting solution, isn't THE solution, simply a possible one. I read it and all I see is an money-tight organization trying to see if there is any interest in moving their kids for a year. While it might seem bad on the surface, is it really? We did it and our daughter, now in third, is fine (she did St. James full day kindergarten, now is at Hayes). For the McKinley kids, we aren't even talking a full day. We are talking 2.5 hours a day. If kids are that structured in life that a change from 2.5 hours a day with one set of kids to a full day with another then they probably have more issues than just a changed school. Kids move schools all the time at a variety of grades, some due to military parents, some due to business transfers and even in our own school districts plenty of parents accept, nay pursue!, opportunities to pull their kids out of one school setting to place them in not only a separate class but a separate school and program (Discovery kids, of course). Kids move. It isn't a big deal considering they have 12 more years, at least two more changes in programs and many opportunities to lose and gain new friends through class changes, school changes, moving, etc.

But the most important thing in the letter is suggesting one alternative. It didn't say "This is it. Do it." It says, quite clearly, "is anyone interested?" From what I have heard, only one family has agreed. So they will probably go to the next solution which is simply hire a teacher.

The district has changed significantly. They had gotten rid of an entire school, move district lines and made plans based on what they think will happen in the school district. I hear our enrollment is actually up! There are a lot of families moving into Lakewood lately and guess what I hear...many of them have kids of Kindergarten age.

So yeah, it is tough times. Tough choices and for those of us with kids in the school right now and we will have to work through it. My daughter has been in three schools in 4 years, one due to a change by our choice and two due to construction. Tough? Yeah. Something to deal with? Yup. And I agree, I hope that my second child, due to enter school in a few years, will have a more stable school.

So while I bet most people on the site agree that this wasn't the best solution, I would also bet with a lot of the budget hawks on here (they know who they are) they might be thinking...hmmm...we have teachers with small classrooms and some with giant classrooms. They would no doubt complain that the Lakewood Schools are "throwing money" at a problem rather than bucking up and balancing the schools out. Both hawks and concerned parents are right and it is simply a matter of working positively with the schools to work it out.

Good luck!

Phil

[Mona Ewing]

Phil,
Just an FYI, enrollment in Lakewood City schools in not up. I attended the last board meeting, and Dr. Estrop clearly stated that enrollment is about the same as last year. Even with approx. 700 new students, K-12, who have never been in Lakewood City Schools before. Hmmmm…did that many families move out? If you take a look at the 2006 Interim Review of the 2003 Consensus Facility Plan: Designing Our Next Fifty Years Committee, you will see on p.14, that the updated enrollments for 1991-2006 show that the district is dangerously close to the 6 elementary schools scenario because of DECLINING enrollment. Way lower than what was the “most likelyâ€Â￾ projection. There will be more change, and I just hope they do a better job of informing and transitioning families than they have in the past.

To correct you, the district has gotten rid of a not just "an entire school" but 4 "entire schools". And by closing those 3 elementary schools, we were told, it was supposed to “balance out the schoolsâ€Â￾. Well, that didn’t happen and it is up to the people we “PAYâ€Â￾ to fix the problem, not by placing the burden on the parents and children.

I don’t even know how to respond to your comments that, for a child moving to a new school, “isn’t a big dealâ€Â￾! That is just absurd. Or that just because a child only attends school for 2 ½ hours each day, that forming friendships and relationships with people or to their environment, is somewhat irrelevant because they have “12 more yearsâ€Â￾ to keep doing it?! I don’t think I can even go there.

As for the “change that we are having to work throughâ€Â￾ right now, with a “significantly changing districtâ€Â￾, all I’ve been asking for is to “positivelyâ€Â￾ and “professionallyâ€Â￾ work it out by; having my phone calls returned, having clear and concise information when making decisions for my children, having the district provide an updated, adequate and relevant website, and being supported by the administration and staff. I do not feel like those are unreasonable requests. I should not have to fight for a smaller class size (when we were told that is what the district’s goal was), I should not have to fight to walk my kindergartener to her class (when they encourage parents to get involved), I should not have to fight for a crossing guard because I open enrolled to a school that is closer and safer to walk to from our house, after they tore down my neighborhood school, (when they boast that we are a walking school district) etc. Their actions, at times, go directly against what they “claimâ€Â￾ they want to achieve. I am very discouraged that there are not more people who see or care about this.

Good Luck??? Phil, luck has nothing to do with it, we have to advocate for what is right.

Mona

“A child’s kindergarten and first-grade experiences are critical in the determination of whether that child’s sense of industry and of competence will be stronger than his or her sense of inferiority and helplessness. And how these psychosocial crises are resolved will have significant consequences for the young person’s long-term academic and vocational success. It is of the greatest importance, then, to ensure that the child has positive and successful experiences in kindergarten and first gradeâ€Â￾. –David Elkind

[Bryan Schwegler]

I don't think it's a lack of caring Mona, but rather an understanding that as things are shifting and in transition, there will be growing pains. As the construction continues, boundaries are shifted, and schools consolidated and closed there will be hickups along the way.

Some of these will be good and some will be mistakes. I think everyone just needs some patience and have an openness to change and try new things to see what happens.

I believe the School Board, the teachers, and administrators are truly trying to do what they think is best for the children. In a city of 60,000 people, you will never find 100% agreement. I doubt they're trying to annoy people on purpose…I would actually hate to have their jobs right now.

So in this particular case, I see a school district trying to propose what they think is the best solution to the problems your are bringing forward. Is the best, I couldn't say...maybe it is, maybe it's not. However, I'm not seeing the need for a passionate negative reaction. But I wouldn't read that as a lack of caring.

[Christina McCallum]

Just thought you might like to know that the school district is hiring a teacher to create a third kindergarten class at Grant.

Only one family said they would move their child to McKinley, which would not have made much difference to the classes remaining at Grant.

The job opening is being posted today; the goal is to have a new morning class begin late late next week.

Thanks to everyone for your concern and letters/phone calls, if you made them.

[Justine Cooper]

Thank you Christina for posting the positive news and advocating for this in a proper and positive way! I am sure there are many who dare not post on this subject, who are very happy for the children and the teachers!

[Kate McCarthy]

Thanks for the great news!