Lessons Learned from Community Conversations

After attending ASD's Community Conversations meeting at Chugiak High on Nov. 12, here are my takeaways.

Format

6 - 6:25 PM Introductions and Presentation on Rightsizing Process (no Q&A)

**This largely mimics what was presented to the school board on 11/4, so it will be repetitive if you've already seen that.

After this presentation you get 10 minutes to walk to your classroom.

You'll get another 15 minute slideshow presentation on your classroom's subtopic, followed by 30 minutes for questions. There are two subtopic rooms:

• Reimagining the Future of Our Elementary Schools

• Elevating Education: Supporting Every Student

After the presentation, various ASD staff members from a variety of departments will mill around the room and you can approach them with your questions and/or feedback. This was challenging because we didn't get to hear the questions other groups were asking, but necessary because there was no way we'd get through all the questions in a large group setting. It was also challenging because not all staff could answer all questions. The first 2 staff I spoke with were unable to answer what I thought was a very basic question (Does the 124 Tudor Montessori students expected to move to Denali include the 60 Montessori students who live in the Tudor school zone?) and referred me to 1 individual, Erik Viste, Senior Director of Elementary Education for the South Anchorage region, who they thought might be able to answer my question. So I wasted a lot of time there. Then I had to wait for Erik to finish his conversation with a single parent who spent 12 minutes talking to him, giving us about 10 minutes to converse before the session ended. We were able to get through 4-5 questions in the time we had left, which was helpful. Those questions and his answers are below.

School Board Members: They are not part of ASD staff answering questions, but rather attending on their own accord to hear community feedback. They WANT to hear from you. In retrospect, I would've spent more my time talking to them and sharing our concerns rather than seeking answers from ASD staff who by and large left us with "This is the plan - and it's up to the school board to decide..." or my favorite line of the night "That would be really good feedback to share with school board members". Dave Donley, Kelly Lessens, and Andy Holleman were in attendance.

Questions Asked & Answered:

• Does the 124 Montessori students transferring to Denali include the Montessori students currently zoned for Tudor?

  • YES, it does.

  • The person we spoke with was unaware that the program included so many neighborhood kids, and said the assumption was that they would want to transfer to Denali to stay at a Montessori school. We shared our concern that this would not be the case and why, which seemed to surprise him. And he promised to take that feedback and concern back to their Operations team.

• Will busing be provided from the Tudor neighborhood to Denali Montessori for those students?

  • No

• What happens if Lake Otis Elementary exceeds program capacity as a result of accepting 179 new students from Tudor, and potentially up to 60 more from Tudor Montessori students who live in the neighborhood? Note: this could be Lake Otis at a student population of 573, with a program cap of 445. That's 128 kids over capacity!

  • Lake Otis would receive temporary buildings (relocatables) to accommodate the need for additional classroom space.

  • Erik Viste spoke to the middle school move as an example, sharing that while some ASD Middle Schools are now overcrowded, the district's logic in allowing them to be is that they know in 3-4 years, as enrollment continues to decline, they will be at or under capacity. And those temporary classrooms will not be necessary.

    • Takeaway: OUR kids will be shoved into overcrowded schools if necessary, because it won't be a problem after they graduate from elementary school (Insert eye roll here).

• Will teachers get to move with their classrooms?

  • Yes and No. Erik clarified that it is the teaching position that will transfer to the receiving school, and our teachers will get first transfer preference. But he clearly outlined that this reallocation of teaching positions is based on the teacher-to-pupil (TPR) ratio at the receiving school.

  • For example, if 75 Tudor Montessori students end up transferring to Denali next year, 3 teaching positions will be reallocated from Tudor Montessori to Denali Montessori (1 for every 25 students). If the other 50 Tudor Montessori students end up transferring to Lake Otis to stay in their neighborhood school, 2 of the Tudor Montessori teaching positions will transfer to Lake Otis as general classroom teacher positions. As annual contracts, long term sub positions would be eliminated unless teaching positions cannot be filled next year to meet the 1 to 25 teacher-to-pupil ratio.

• Does that mean our classroom sizes will be larger, noting that some of our 1-5 grade classrooms have a 20:1 teacher-to-pupil ratio currently?

  • It's possible. Basically at the start of each year we're looking at how best to balance classroom sizes and efficiently allocate teaching positions without exceeding the district's set TPR of 25:1. If you have 60 kids in lower elementary, you have to create 3 classrooms because you can't have 30 in one class. But if we have 50 or 75 kids, they would most likely get split into 2 or 3 classrooms. This is the same way it would be done if Tudor was staying at Tudor.

• Has the district looked at the availability of after school care programs at the receiving schools?

  • No, this plan does not take that into account. It is a concern, and we know that some programs have expanded their offerings, but that is all based on each program independently and their ability to staff them.

• What about other revenue-generating community rentals in the building, like Head Start?

  • We would work with them on finding an alternative site.

• What's the rationale for moving Whaley School in to Tudor?

  • They need a new building. They are (likely) leasing a building now, and a feasibility study on the cost of building them a new one altogether had an exorbitant price tag.

• Could the plan be modified between now and December 17th based on this feedback? Like the concern of overcrowding or losing access to a community school (i.e. repurposing Tudor for a charter program rather than Whaley).

  • Unsure, but it is possible. As it stands today, this is the plan that the school board will be voting on. But we are meeting to discuss any feedback and concerns. I can't say for sure whether that feedback will result in any plan changes.

By and large staff response to our questions was pretty varied. Some were very much reiterating talking points, and at times downright defensive of the recommendations. Some were informative and had answers, some did not and referred us other places. Others were there to simply listen and sympathized. ALL emphasized the need to engage school board members and fill out the survey at www.asdk12.org/rightsize If I was to attend again (unlikely), I would likely focus on advocacy efforts and conversations with school board members. Unless I felt there were other questions not answered that would clarify why this change is going to a positive outcome. At this point, I don't see it, and believe ASD staff is not in a position to alter the plan recommendations. It's going to be up to the board to make this decision.

LASTLY if you do attend be VISIBLE. Wear Tudor spirit wear. Sit together. Be a block. It was really clear who was in the room, and you want it to be. Don't get lost in the crowd.