At the March 8th school board meeting, 3 people from the Redistricting Committee presented a powerpoint of the process at this point and summary of comments. The presentation can be viewed HERE. There were 392 anonymous and 613 comments with contact information. The number 1 comment was to maintain neighborhoods (286). Second was minimal attendance changes (264). Third was transportation at 147 comments and socioeconomic received 134 comments. The rest were miscellaneous comments.
There were some questions about a transition plan and staff stated that the leadership team is working on that similar to what the district does for the elementary to 6th grade center transition.
On Tuesday, March 13, 2012 the Redistricting Committee meets Renner Elementary, 7401 NW Barry Rd., Kansas City, MO 64152, 4:30 to 6 p.m. The redistricting committee will review new scenarios with proposed changes based upon public feedback and the public is welcome to observe the meeting.
The committee will submit their preferred map to the Chair the next day and then the operations staff and First Student (bus provider) will make some street level only changes based on route optimization.
On Monday, March 26, 2012 the Redistricting Committee will present the final recommendation to the public and on Thursday, March 29, 2012 the redistricting committee will present a final recommendation to the Board of Education which the Board, at this time, plans to adopt.
The Board then asked the three committee members a series of questions.
At the end of the meeting during the open public comment period, a number of parents addressed the Board. A contingent of parents from Southeast and Line Creek spoke about the proposed scenarios which have Southeast, Chinn, and Line Creek at over 35% free and reduced lunch while the western schools are substantially lower.
After the last person appeared to speak, I used this time to speak up in my displeasure with the map. The District has a huge perception problem with Southeast and it is not good for the district. The southeastern part of the District has a large number of post-WWII housing stock and the only thing helping regenerate those older neighborhoods is the strong performance and reputation of Park Hill. If the perception problem of Southeast gets larger and spreads to Line Creek or Chinn, it's only a matter of time before people begin to bypass Park Hill and move into Platte County R-3 district which impacts the property value of every home within the District.
I feel strongly that this is a once in a decade opportunity to strengthen the district and why I have submitted some suggested changes to the map to eliminate splitting the KCMO neighborhoods, reduce the number of kids changing, and balance the socio-economics of the district.
Please feel free to attend the meeting this Tuesday at Renner.
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