Mobile Classroom Units are NOT a FINAL answer, but they can and should be part of the answer, AND they can and should put off ANY redistricting for at least the upcoming 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 School years. If utilized properly, the $3 Mil for the MCRs would cover the cost of the 49 MCRs that the UCPS stated it would need as well as cover the cost to operate those MCR over a 3 year period of time as per the data and commentary made by UCPS during their presentation of options at the last meeting. Several options and plans have been or will soon be proposed by the good people of Union County to UCPS and the BOE to help save our schools from massive displacement of children. One of the proposed plans is a combination of options. This plan may not be perfect, it can and should be tweaked if needed. it simply shows options to massive redistricting of our Children are available. The MCRs should be accepted by the BOE, they should be put in place. The redistricting should be called off in its current proposed format. The UCPS and BOE should take the next next two years and continue to develop a plan for long term solutions. However, this gives everyone the proper time needed to do it right. Here is one of the proposals: UCPS Overcrowding Relief Project: A) ALL UCPS that are currently at 110% capacity or more will be CAPPED. B) After Cap is in place for all schools (in part A), All UCPS students currently enrolled and occupying a seat in those schools are to be grandfathered to remain within their current school cluster (ES/MS/HS) and continue to progress through their cluster until graduation from HS. C) After (part A and B) are enacted, affected schools in need of Mobile classrooms to accommodate (part A and B) will add as few Mobile Classrooms as needed to seat current students occupying seats within that school cluster. D) Offer CHOICE of attendance to every UCPS student regardless of school cluster and regardless of their current school capacity. However, ANY student choosing the CHOICE program can and only will be afforded the option of their choice school providing that their school of choice is under 100% capacity. A student cannot choose a CHOICE school that is over 100% capacity or a school currently capped under (part A, B, C). Also, once a student chooses a CHOICE school they in essence give up their seat in their home cluster school and in the event that their CHOICE school later exceeds capacity and becomes capped at 110% then CHOICE students will be the first to be reassigned (under part E) and will return to the original assigned cluster school providing that school is not capped at 110% and a seat is available. if a seat is not available than CHOICE students will be reassigned to the nearest school to their home cluster. By doing so this provides CHOICE within our UCPS structure but will not allow the system to be abused. *** ANY student opting for CHOICE will not be provided transportation by UCPS to and from their school of CHOICE as they are choosing to leave the cluster that transportation for them would have been provided. E) ALL UCPS that fall under (part A, B, C) will have any NEW or prospective students not yet occupying a seat within a UCPS reassigned to the nearest school to their home cluster that is not capped due to being over 110% capacity. These reassignments are temporary and the affected students will be given the CHOICE to return to their home clusters once that school returns below 100% capacity. These affected students are given a CHOICE (part D) to return to their home clusters, but may elect to remain in the school they were reassigned to if they prefer the option to continue in that school. However, in doing so they give up their seat to return to their home cluster at any later date if the choose not to return when given the original option to do so. F) UCPS and BOE will review ALL Schools involved in this program, as well as schools not currently involved in the program (part A, B, C) every three (3) years as an ongoing assessment and will Add/Drop any school from the program as required by using (part A, B) as criteria for being added/dropped from program. ------------------------------------------- The above plan is one that can be implemented as Policy and will remove the need for redistricting of any Current UCPS student. It also puts in place criteria set ahead of time by UCPS for all students/schools within our system and would be an ongoing policy that ebbs and flows with growth and shrinkage of enrollment throughout the coming years. At the same time the UCPS and BOE should always attempt to secure funding for improvement to our current schools, funding for additions if needed to current school (relieve Mobile classrooms) and funding for New schools that may be needed as time goes on. I know funding will not always be available but we should always continue to work towards the renovation and growth of UCPS as needed in advance of the need when at all possible. When a new school is built (if/when needed) than the UCPS and BOE show draw the new schools cluster boundaries and move student population within those boundaries to the new school - while giving those students the CHOICE to stay at their current school providing that school is under 100% capacity as in (part D) of program. The new school would also be used in (part E) of the program to meet the needs of UCPS student enrollment. I know at first glance this seems like a lot of work and too big of a plan to work, but it truly is not. Once in place this system is easy to manage as it keeps current students in place, offers CHOICE to some (would not affect transportation for CHOICE students) and handles the logistic of NEW students in the same manner as handled now with regards to enrollment for new students (just sends them to reassigned school SAME AS redistricting plan for current students). The fact that most of NEW students entering the system reside in communities growing together in subdivision phases the transportation affect will be the same as redistricting but on a smaller scale.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:42:22 +0000
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