Well I just finished watching the Common Council workshop on the School District's facilities plan. Some thoughts.
Could McHugh be any more rude (well of course he could and has been but nonetheless I don't think that is how you treat people who have come to provide you with information).
As a parent I'm a little insulted to think that people actually believe the only consideration a parent would have about a school is how close it is to my home... really if that were the only consideration shouldn't we have a school located within a mile of every home? What about the condition of the building... you really think people looking to buy homes in our city check out some of these schools and say oh, yeah, I'll buy there because the school is close, mind you the school floods when it rains, they have plastic gutters screwed to the walls to hold books because there is no storage but that is exactly what I'm looking for in a school for my child.
Some of the schools that will be closed are less than a mile from the school students will be sent to. I don't think you can use the "we are losing our neighborhood school" argument when, say, Smith school is a mere .6 of a mile from Jefferson. If you look at all the schools that are slated to be closed, for schools in the city limits, the school that students would be sent to is located no more than 1.9 miles away and as close as .6 miles. People looking to move into our community have no "ties" to a school so are unlikely to care if their child goes to Smith or Jefferson though I would imagine if a prospective family toured each building and made a decision on the building alone, they would choose the newest school.
The fact is, what is referred to as "growth on the West side" it was pointed out tonight is really just a shifting of people from other parts of the city to the West side. Is that in the best interest of our city. Will keeping substandard school buildings in the "central city" really encourage people to buy homes there, or would closing a substandard school and upgrading the school those children would go to be more appealing to prospective home buyers?
Pretty sad that some council members failed to understand the economics of keeping "failing" buildings open so "everyone" is happy. Doing that off the top throws out the $1.5M per year saved in operating costs... it also means spending dollars on buildings that an architect said he wouldn't recommend spending more money on. If you take out completely the $29M in functional issues and just address deferred maintenance you are looking at $10M in a referendum and all you've done is put a bandage on a gaping wound that needs surgery.
Let's go back to the $29M on functional issues, supposedly the community won't spend the money on this, how sad that supposedly the community doesn't believe our children all deserve to have similar experiences in school that it is OK for some to learn with constant distractions from other classes due to an open concept, or that some students never get to do a "clay" unit in Art because there is no kiln in the gym where Art class is held, or students wear coats in class because it is too cold without them, and I could go on about more inequities but I won't.
Everyone wants to know about Plan B --- while there is no specific Plan, I can tell you whatever it might be it will be ugly. Given the declining enrollment and the unlikelihood that the state will change the school funding formula, the cuts will be deep and they will affect students. Keeping all our schools and spending money to maintain them, will mean cutting millions each year. I predict class sizes will rise and the non-core subjects like Art, Music and Phy-Ed will be scaled back and cut in some instances. If things go on long enough, probably even the "sacred cow" athletics will be affected.
I just don't see any "Plan B" being something that will attract a lot of families to Oshkosh... why is it only Oshkosh and Neenah are declining enrollment districts in the Fox Valley? Perhaps in Oshkosh's case simply having an abundance of elementary schools isn't enough to draw families in. Let's face it, they weren't coming to the district in the 5 years prior to discussions of these scenarios. Our enrollment has been declining for a number of years. Could it be because other districts have more to offer people? Maybe it is because those districts don't operate on the "we're getting by" philosophy. Maybe the other Fox Valley school districts believe in providing quality facilities. My daughter played high school basketball this year and I attended games in every high school in our conference and every one of the facilities was superior to West's main gym. I'd be willing to bet none of those schools had bleachers built in 1960.
As time goes by I fear that once again this district will do little to nothing to address the inequities that exist. Sadly, the only place I find solace is in the fact that in 5 years I will no longer have children in the district.
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23 comments:
Perhaps the reason we have declining enrollment is that our administration is filled with a bunch of idiots. I myself once taught in this district and can say the decision to take a job in Ripon was one of the best moves I have ever made. I have several friend that have also moved to neighboring districts and couldn't be happier. It's not that any district won't have some problems... It's just most districts do not have the kind of oppressive administration you find here in Oshkosh. My only concern is that my kids have had to endure under this lunacy. Luckily my last will make it out in three weeks.
Your kids didn't have to "endure under this lunacy." As a teacher and parent surely you are aware of open enrollment. If things are so bad here why, as a responsible parent, didn't you send them somewhere else? You could have enrolled them in Ripon and you all could've carpooled.
That is what I did...
I have kids that start the "virtual academy" out of Appleton next school year. Enough of the screwing around.
Hey Thiel, one of your anonyouses said if someone doesn't like the schools, take their kids out. If our buildings are so substandard across the district, why don't you move to one of the districts that don't jsut get by. I bet they would welcome you and your taxdollars with open arms.
"The fact is, what is referred to as "growth on the West side" it was pointed out tonight is really just a shifting of people from other parts of the city to the West side." Pointed out by who, Heilmann? There's an authority on real estate. I watched the workshop too and heard no one but the OASD try to claim only people from one side of town are moving to another side of town. Most real experts like Dennis Schwab and Jackson Kinney talked of people from outside of Oshkosh being diswaded by the idiotic boundary plan for OASD's growth area.
As a parent, I am insulted that you insist on dismissing the schools and children outside the city limits. Our tax dollars help support this district to include your kids. Our schools are no where near 1.6 miles form another school. Our children matter to. Your continuing to dismiss groups you clearly don't like or don't care about is ignorant and elitist. Shame on you.
Anonymous 6:09am asks:"If our buildings are so substandard across the district, why don't you move to one of the districts that don't jsut get by."
I have been fortunate enough that for most of their school career they have been in buildings that are not substandard. Even the old Jefferson building was superior to an Oaklawn or Lakeside.
Anonymous 6:09am also said:
"The fact is, what is referred to as "growth on the West side" it was pointed out tonight is really just a shifting of people from other parts of the city to the West side." Pointed out by who, Heilmann?
Well, yes Dr. Heilmann pointed it out and I did not hear the DEMOGRAPHER state that the comment was not accurate, nor did Mr. Schwalb. The fact that the district continues to have declining enrollment, to me is factual proof that it isn't "growth" but rather shifting. I have not seen any data that shows the population of Oshkosh is increasing to the same extent that new houses are going up.
Finally Anonymous 6:09am said "As a parent, I am insulted that you insist on dismissing the schools and children outside the city limits."
I suggest you look at the TITLE of this thread --- I was addressing just the city schools because this thread is about the Oshkosh Common Council, which only encompasses the City of Oshkosh.
Way to go Teresa. These people think they're so smart, always thinking they're going to trap you with your own words. They're not smart enough to even understand your words much less use them against you. But if we plot their scores using a Bell curve, I'd give them a B for effort.
It was interesting to hear Dr. H explain the lack of seats available at Oakwood and Traeger as the reason he would bus students near Traeger to the North side. Does he think we are stupid? How about a simple shif of the boundaries? As The West side grows towards Omro will we send all those kids to the north side also? No, you shift the boundaries.
Well the first school with available seats is Read... so I guess you could shift everyone on the West side to different schools to make room for those who move into a new development but why? Why cause that much disruption when instead you just let people know up front, you buy here, your kids go to Read, Merrill, North!
So, as the city grows West, we will be bussing ALL the students from near Omro and west of Traeger to the north side? We would have to as you stated the West side schools are all full.
You would build a new school when the growth is such that a school of 400+ elementary students is needed. This community doens't believe in the "build it and they will come philosophy" so until there are enough students to build a new school you bus students or you shift boundaries, you don't build and hope.
We buildt Traeger and they sure came.
Traeger was nearly full the day it opened!
Teresa I agree with you that Dennis McHugh is a rude SOB. Every now and again he has a good idea but he is such a grumpy old man and doesn't even know how to ask a question or present his thoughts without making everything seem like an indictment of who he's talking to. I've never seen such a sanctimonius ass be wrong so many times. He permanently has egg on his snarled face.
"DUMP DENNIS in '08".
Interesting how many of the statements made by the councilors and realtor were acted upon just a few weeks later. Many citizens made the same statements about Casey's Meadow only to be ignored. That plan was a joke. Yet, some of the school administrations backers blindly ran with a plan that anyone with common sense could see was seriously flawed. Thank you connon council for talking some sense into school administration.
You are a real piece of work. You people bitch if you think the school district doesn't listen to you. Then you still bitch when the district actually does listen to people, including some who are experts in their fields.
What you saw 2 weeks ago was called a workshop for a reason. Pity you can't or won't get it. But your attitude and comments just go to show you are unhappy, ungrateful, and unsatisfied no matter what the majority powers that be in our government do.
There is help for your negativity and unhappiness. These dysfunctions can be worked on with any decent therapist in the community. Consult the Yellow Pages under Psychotherapy or Mental Health. If you can't be helped through counseling I'm sure there's a medication you could be prescribed that might help.
While I am there I will make an appointment for you with a counselor for you anger problem. Wow, did you forget you medication today? Per usual, those who disagree are called names. What would your communications consultant say? Be nice, even though you hate people with differing opinions.
What names were called by 5:40? There were none. You should really learn to read before commenting on something.
Anger problem? No anger exhibited by 5:40 either. Just restating the attitude displayed by the earlier commenter from 2:11. If you saw anger, you were obviously interpreting the comments and attitude of 2:11 just as astutely as 5:40 did.
And by the way, it's "your" not "you" as you so frequrntly write.
Thanks for pointing out the typos. When I am in a hurry I sometimes skip a letter. As for name calling. You referred me as unhappy, negative, dysfuntional, a piece of work, ungrateful, and unsatisfied. Oh, and you stated I needed medication and Psychotheropy. Not bad for one post. Amazing work. Do you work in the field of psychology? As for Scenerio 7 or 7a or 7b or whatever the communication guru is spinning it as this week, it still has a long way to go. Now, please call and schedule your appointment. You really do have an anger problem. Life is too short to go on hating. I want my school administration and board to lead our community, not make decisions based on who complains the loudest.
You always seem to be in a hurry because the missing letters are a frequent problem.
As for the "names" you claim you were called, those aren't names; they're personality traits. Since the shoe fits, wear it.
Finally, you state the school district is listening to those who complain the loudest. Not true. You've been complaining pretty loudly and it's been BECAUSE they're not doing what you think is right. Go figure. The district isn't going to be able to please everyone. Get used to it.
Actually I have attended many of the meetings and have not complained at all. I like most of the plan. You sure think you know alot about me and what I think. I am looking for leadership. Our administration has provided little over the past 10 years. That is why we are in the position we are in.
Let's see...you think we need decent leadership and blame the past and present leaderships for the position we're in, while at the same time you say you like most of the plan and haven't complained. Do you actually expect any rational person to believe that crock?
Not complaining at a school board meeting where people can see your face and know you name does not mean you're not complaining. You have done plenty of it on the blogs, today and previously. Look at your earlier comment. I refer you specifically to your calling the earlier plan a joke and your accusations of saying the district's admininstration tucked tail and ran when confronted by experts. You also thanked the city council for "talking some sense" into the district. Subtle perhaps, but complaints nonetheless.
Did you like the first few scenerios? Remember the 9-10, 11-12 scenerio? Do you remember those? The current scenerio is certainly better than the early scenerios. Progress has been made. The frustrating part of this whole process has been the boundary issue as well as the socio-economic piece. Who do you blame for the condition of our schools? How about the disaster we call Sodexho? Have you spoke with anyone in maintenance or the custodial staff? They have a story to tell. With the condition our district is in it is hard to say Dr. H. has been a good leader.
Those sound like complaints to me.
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