The Nov. 4 election is months away but the debates are already starting to heat up about whether to unify elementary and high school districts into K-12 districts. Statewide, voters in 76 school districts would consider eliminating those districts and creating 27 new K-12 districts instead. More than 300,000 students are served by the existing districts now, some of which are more than 100 years old. Proponents say that redistricting would save administration costs and that money would go back into the classroom. Opponents say that there are many unanswered questions such as how equalizing between elementary and high school teacher salaries be paid for and whether unifying districts would improve academic performance.
At a community forum last week at ASU West, more than 200 people gathered to hear from panelists about the pros and cons of combining Glendale Union, Glendale Elementary and Washington Elementary into one K-12 district with more than 50,000 students.
Coming up soon will be forums about Phoenix Union High School District which would be combined with its 13 feeder elementary school districts to create a new K-12 district with more than 116,000 students.
Tempe Union, Kyrene Elementary and Tempe Elementary also would be combined into one district.
In the Southwest Valley, there would be three new districts created from 14 existing ones. Buckeye Union, Agua Fria Union and Tolleson Union each would be combined with elementary districts to create three new K-12 districts.
Read more details here http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2008/04/27/2...
What do you think about redistricting? Are you in favor or opposed? Why?
Lori Baker is mom to two daughters, 21 and 23 years old. She is
editor for the Valley and State section's Education and Environment pages in the Arizona Republic.
I think it's a step in the
I think it's a step in the right direction, but I'd like to see smaller K-12 districts -- tens of thousands of kids is too big.
In my perfect world, districts would be small enough that the superintendent and school board members knew the names and faces of every teacher. Schools would be small enough that principals knew the names and faces of every student.
When that happens, there is more investment from the top down, and more participation by parents and the rest of the community.
For example, when I went to my 20th high school reunion, we got pictures taken -- based on our elementary school. Yup. Seven elementary schools fed into to two junior highs which fed into one high school. Even with attrition, I graduated with about 30 other kids with whom I had gone to kindergarten. In fact, in the photo, I'm standing next to Cindy, who lived next door to me; our Moms walked us to the first day of kindergarten together. Her Mom scared me to death, because she told us to be good so that we wouldn't be sent to the principal's office. To be fair, though, her Mom stills scares me; she was the junior high home ec teacher from hades. But I digress.
It's easy to have community involvement in a system like that. People -- even people without children at home -- can get behind "their" elementary school, "their" middle school, and "their" high school. They know which football team to root for, which yearbook or school paper to buy advertising in, and which fundraisers to support.
I can't begin to talk about how that's good for kids. Spending 13 formative years with the same peers fosters acceptance and tolerance. Having teachers who know about you before you even walk into the classroom makes transitions so much easier.
It's really good for teachers. Not only do they not have to spend time figuring out the kids in their classroom, discipline becomes pretty darn easy. Think about it. If you see your identity in your school as the ID number on your student ID card, you're apt to behave differently than if your identity is first name, middle name, last name -- and the teacher knows both your history and several ways to contact your parents.
I think it's also good for the neighborhood. Kids trying to sell ads for the school newspaper aren't going to be happy with a classmate who tags the store. If everybody knows your name, you'd be pretty stupid to get seen doing something you ought not do.
Compare this to NCLB. NCLB -- like big school districts -- deals in numbers, and not in children. It looks outside the system to resolve problems. Once I got my driver's license, I was able to devote two high school class periods to volunteering in my 3rd-grade teacher's classroom -- for credit. That's how we kept kids from getting left behind.
High school kids wore their letter jackets, homecoming queen tiaras, and cheerleading uniforms to elementary and junior high assemblies to talk about all the reasons it's stupid to smoke, drink, use drugs, or (insert unhealthy behavior here).
For me, the key to fixing education woes is to create an environment in which everyone belongs, everyone has a name, and everyone sees him/herself as a part of the community. Let the bean counters worry about how to fund teacher salaries, or how to share big-ticket expenses like football fields with other districts. That has absolutely no impact on what is happening, right now, in our classrooms.
Finally, even though my magic wand is broken, and I can't create my perfect world, K-12 districting is so, so much better than the current system. As teachers, we'd like to think that a child leaving the third grade is ready to make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. We know, though, that despite standardized tests, that's not always the case -- especially with boys, who have very likely grown several inches and gained several pounds over the past year and are probably really, really hungry. Passing kids across different school districts means that they show up without any history.
I'm, frankly, pretty discouraged, though. You post. I respond. It goes away.
I am in Tempe District 3 and
I am in Tempe District 3 and am in favor of the Kyrene, Tempe Union High School and Tempe District 3 joining forces. The reason? A calendar that is in alignment for one. Meaning, same start dates, ending dates, breaks etc.
I am not in favor of splitting these 3 districts into 2 because it comes down to the have and the have nots. South Tempe (Kyrene and Tempe Union) does not want our poor students bringing down their test scores.
We shall see what happens, but the whole system needs to be redone. Our children do not get what they need because of administration costs and a whole host of other cost factors. They will talk it to death and nothing will be done. Sorry for the negative statement, but it does get to be disheartening.
KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.