Orem Consolidation Plan

I have been trying to collect my thoughts about the school board meeting on last Tuesday, particularly the public comments made about the Orem consolidation plan. First off, let’s get some facts straight:

Hillcrest has not been sold.  The district had a market analysis done on the property, but it has not been put on the market.

The district would tear down Geneva and keep it as green space.  If the district needed that property in the future, it would have property inside the city instead of having to build on the outskirts.  The property would be kept for a future project.

Now that we have the cleared up, let me share my reaction to the public comment about the Orem consolidation plan.

Here are the things I agree with:

1.        Community involvement and accurate information was lacking.  This is an issue that I think the district needs to work on.  I understand that they don’t want to release information until they have a solid plan and solid answers.  The district doesn’t want to be responding with I Don’t Knows when asked questions.  But I think there is an underlying underestimation of parents.  Too often there is a fear that parents will freak out, so the information is withheld until the very end and then parents do freak out when the timeframe is so tight, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.  We experienced this with the proposed 6^th and 7^th grade school (Springside).  We were presented a plan 2 weeks before a major holiday.  The school was already on a quick build schedule and the proposal felt like it came out of nowhere with no parental input.  I think the board needs to involve parents earlier in the process and make space and time for parental suggestions to be included in their plans. The board has been looking at the declining Orem enrollment for years, but this was the first plan that had been presented.  The timeline from the proposal to a vote was a month.

2.       The surveys from the district can feel like a push poll.  Questions are worded in such a way that it is hard to express a dissenting opinion.  While I know that open-ended questions are harder to code, the district should send out surveys with open-ended questions.  And we need to remove assumptions.  There was a poll sent out where a question was asked if parents were happy with the amount of technology available in their school.  The assumption was that if you were unhappy, it was because there was not enough technology.  But many parents responded to that question in a negative manner because they felt there was TOO much technology.  Those responses were incorrectly coded due to an assumption.  We need to work on this.

Here are the things I disagree with:

1.       To paint the district personnel or the board as bullies is outrageous.  Of course, these people dedicate considerable time and effort to make the best decisions for their students.  I know each and every board member and most of the district personnel.  While we may disagree on the best way to get there, every single one of them wants the best for our students.  And to sink to name-calling and actual booing of comments that disagreed with one opinion was juvenile.  I was embarrassed that our district was treated in such a fashion.  To those board members and district personnel, I apologize for what occurred.  I did not support it and I am sorry that you were subjected to it.

2.       Threatening to leave the district because the board doesn’t do what you want is basically the adult version of I am taking my ball and going home.  This ultimatum seems to be driven largely by emotion from parents.  But the consolidation plan is based on factual information like seismic issues, aging buildings, and declining student enrollment, not to mention the financial burden it creates to keep such small schools open.  It also creates a burden for teachers when it comes to differentiation when they don’t have a PLC team to work with.  It costs about $780,000 a year to keep an elementary school open each year-things like a principal, secretary, media specialist, custodial staff, nutrition services, not to mention things like maintenance and utilities.  Those costs are somewhat fixed, regardless if you have 300 students or 1,000.  To keep schools that small in Orem, those schools would be subsidized from other areas, particularly high growth areas where overcrowded schools are already a problem.  To take from those students in overcrowded schools to fund small schools seems to be lacking in equity.

So, now I want to hear from you.  What are your thoughts about the Orem consolidation plan?