First off, I wanted to mention that Charles Cornelius's father passed away today so if you could, please remember them in your prayers as his family deals with their loss this week. Serving on the committee allowed me the opportunity to meet Charles. While we won't be playing 18 holes of golf or hanging out fishing at the lake like old war buddies, he shared a passion about the district and making this area a great place to live and it was truly a pleasure to meet him. There were a lot of other folks who I had the pleasure to meet which made this whole experience very worthwhile.
Tonight's meeting can be summarized in a quote: "that was fun."
The only agenda item was the redistricting proposal for map 3A3. Paul Kelly and Jim Rich with the district went through the map and changes that had been done since it was approved by the commitee. I learned that, thanks to lobbying by the passive agressive and soon to be former Chinn and future Tiffany Ridge principal, the 7 Hills neighborhood was transfered from Southeast to Chinn. Good for them. Nice to see that principal working within the committee process for those folks....
Staff went through a comparison of Liberty, Blue Springs, NKC, and other peer school districts. The general consensus is Park Hill is doing okay because our socio-economic balance isn't as bad as theirs. Nothing hides apathy and complaceny better than pointing out those that are underachieving and setting the bar low. 15 maps were evaluated and the committee thought that 3A3 met the five criteria set by the Board the best. Of course, comparing that to the criteria one has to wonder what type of curve was used. We would have been better served by getting the committee together with crayons and drawing on a poster board because that would have gotten us to the same result.
After the presentation, the Board members went through a series of questions. Todd Fain asked why the Misty Woods area (just north of Route 9 at the Riverside/Parkville boundary) was being driven by both Graden and Southeast to get to English Landing. Response was that could be said about all of English Landing. My comment is that while MW may be geographically within 1 mile of EL, it's at least a 2.5 mile drive around Riss Lake to get there but when measured to the criteria, it appears that all those kids are within a mile of the school.
Todd Fain didn't want to point out exceptions but wanted to be sure that people who were being changed and couldn't comment were not being left. The example was the Riverstone development which was going to TR and switched to Renner. Staff responded that they were being changed from Hawthorn no matter what and so switching at the last minute wasn't that big of a concern.
Fain also pointed out some "pimples" like 7 Hills which would have gone to Southeast but because of the high school boundary would be going to Park Hill HS while their classmates would be going to South. Don't worry about that Todd, the soon to be former Chinn principal took care of that for you. Staff responded that a feeder map was looked at (scenario 6) but discarded.
Boon Lee asked why one side of Riss Lake was being sent to a different school and the response was that the split side was on the other side of the lake was closer to Graden and would have to drive right by it to get to EL.
Boon asked about Embassy Park being split over 3 schools and staff responded that the map was tweaked to prevent that.
Boon then asked why west side of Platte Woods was switching to another school but not staying together as a town. Staff responded that the Renner boundary wouldn't be contiguous if that happenend.
Somne people asked Boon about splitting Riverside with the actual Line Creek and planned construction on the bridge and staff responded that the bridge reconstruction on Vivion Road was temporary and would be worked around.
Boon then asked why the Coves west was not put back together but staff responded that was an oversight and changed.
Then after that, Boon asked a very good question. Why did the committee say the socio-economic (S/E) balance was it's highest priority but the map didn't reflect it. Staff responded that it really wasn't a priority and it would be dangerous to establish a goal. In 2002, the spread was 10% from the mean and that was not used as a target but where we got to. Boon followed up if we were to balance, what would be the ramifications. Staff responded that large neighborhoods would have to be broke up. Picking clusters would increase transportation costs and gives the map a checkerboard look (never mind that we don't care about shipping Coves residents 4 miles or Misty Woods 3).
Boon then went into some detailed questions about criteria and balance. The superintendent then responded that the district had done better than peer schools and will allocate resources in order to address needs. David Cox piped in about the imbalance in S/E and how it was a concern. The superintendent pointed out Southeast and how the school district can deliver.
Fain stated that the 10% from the mean on S/E may have been good in 2002 but should shrink to 5% given the growth in that category. If Graden and Prairie Point which are along the older I-29 corridor were increased and the other 3 schools reduced then that would get 7 of the schools closer to the mean. The superintendent stated that we should split Riss Lake and 1000 Oaks and send them elsewhere. Of course the staff dominated committee which had 4 members living in one of those neighborhoods rejected that option but didn't have a problem splitting Wildwood or the Coves.
The staff and board bantered for a while when Fain asked why we wouldn't use apartment complexes to balance versus single family neighborhoods (who, besides businesses, pay the taxes). Staff responded that there wasn't a lot of conversation about doing that. I need to remind you that the soon to be former Chinn principal was more concerned about splitting a 20 acre apartment complex than splitting two 300+ single family neighborhoods. There are always exceptions to the rule but apartment tenants are mobile and are not invested in the community and schools like single family neighborhoods. Todd Fain understands that but staff doesn't.
I have 4 more pages of notes but don't have the time to write them all up.
During the public comment period, the Mayor of Platte Woods, John Smedley, made a plea to keep their city together.
Some Line Creek PTA folks then expressed their concerns and disappointment and how S/E balance rated high on the public comments but it was being ignored.
After it was all said and done, the general consensus is that there are a couple of board members who don't like the fact that S/E is not better balanced but staff and the staff driven committee, who stated that criteria was its top priority during the process, talked a good game about it but really didn't care. I hope I am wrong, but this is a once in a decade chance to position the district for its future before it jumps the shark. This is why I am just disappointed with the district right now.
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