Wednesday, August 26, 2009
AMHERST - About a third of all elementary school placements will change in the fall of 2010 as the closing of Mark's Meadow School causes the district lines to be redrawn.
The Amherst School Committee is scheduled to vote on a new map, showing which areas go to which schools, at its Oct. 27 meeting. There was much public comment on the redistricting last spring, and the committee hopes to provide affected parents with another chance to react.
"We went through a lot of emotion and energy, but that doesn't mean it's over," said Chairman Andy Churchill at Tuesday's meeting. "It doesn't mean we've reached the easy part. We've reached the hard part."
All students attending Mark's Meadow this year will be assigned to a new school next year. In addition, the administration will try to even out the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches. Crocker Farm School has had higher percentages than the other schools.
Administrators are trying to keep single-family neighborhoods and apartment complexes together so that friends can still attend the same schools. The other factor is the number of available rooms in each building.
Two maps have been proposed. In one, students living in North Amherst would attend Fort River School, while in the other map those living west of Leverett Road and Henry Street in North Amherst would go to Wildwood. One map has the Amherst Woods neighborhood attending Crocker Farm, the other Fort River.
Committee member Catherine Sanderson said it's important to give the community an opportunity to comment before the new map comes up for a vote, perhaps in forums at each school. "We owe it to the community to make sure we're doing that," she said.
Member Irv Rhodes agreed. "I'd hate to see a plan hit us for a vote without the community having an opportunity to have input into it," he said.
The School Committee is due to review the issue at its Sept. 22 meeting. Sanderson said she'd like to hear specific concerns - such as time on a bus and neighborhoods staying together - rather than just complaints that parents don't want their children to change schools.
The committee organizing the redistricting is facilitated by administrator Kathryn Mazur and includes School Committee members Rhodes and Steve Rivkin, Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez and administrator Maria Geryk. Parents can address comments to Mazur at mazurk@arps.org.
Parent Brett McDowell said he hoped the committee's deliberations could be public. Rhodes agreed, but Rivkin said it would be unfair to give an advantage to people who could come to the meetings.
The redistricting is a separate issue from whether sixth-graders will attend the Regional Middle School in the future, Rodriguez said.
The administrators need to show the proposed map to the community and get comments and then "tweak" the plan, he said. But the School Committee's vote should be final, he said.
"I don't want it to be drawn out," Rodriguez said. "If one community protests, and you move a line here, another will protest. That could take forever."
38 comments:
"The Amherst School Committee is scheduled to vote on a new map, showing which areas go to which schools, at its Oct. 27 meeting. There was much public comment on the redistricting last spring, and the committee hopes to provide affected parents with another chance to react."
Very good.
"Two maps have been proposed. In one, students living in North Amherst would attend Fort River School, while in the other map those living west of Leverett Road and Henry Street in North Amherst would go to Wildwood. One map has the Amherst Woods neighborhood attending Crocker Farm, the other Fort River."
Is the committee - Kathryn Mazur, Irv Rhodes, Steve Rivkin, Alberto Rodriguez and Maria Geryk - proposing two maps for a reason? If so, what is accomplished by framing this decision?
"Parent Brett McDowell said he hoped the committee's deliberations could be public. Rhodes agreed, but Rivkin said it would be unfair to give an advantage to people who could come to the meetings."
I'm not sure I understand Steve's objection. Is it more fair if all of the public are not allowed to attend or if only those who have a scheduling conflict cannot attend? Either way, the committee should try to answer all of the questions and respond to all of the suggestions made by the families who attend Amherst schools, whether in person or submitted in writing.
Are the map(s) available for review now or does the committee want to share them in the context of a presentation? Perhaps the map(s) could be published on-line and comments could be solicited so that committee members could consider them and later provide feedback.
My response:
Tom G - good questions/observations!
1. There are two maps RIGHT NOW that were proposed in the spring (one earlier, then another one later after some revision). The new committee is going to focus on creating ONE map, which is what will go forward to the community.
2. Steve's point was that if some people attend the meetings, those people will then try to influence where the lins are drawn -- and that isn't fair to those who can't attend the meetings. He believes, and I agree with him, that broad comments should be taken from the community (e.g., kids from neighborhoods should stay together, short bus times are good, etc.), but that parents should not influence specifically where lines are drawn to ensure their child being at a particular school. In addition, as one who has attended the meetings, there is a fair amount of confidential info discussed in terms of where kids on free/reduced lunch live, and that strikes me as not something that is appropriate to discuss in an open setting. I certainly believe Steve thinks the community needs to see and respond to the proposed map (and give feedback on criteria prior to its development), which should be able to happen through email anytime and through public comment at the appropriate meetings/forums at which the new proposed map is shown.
3. The map has NOT yet been drawn -- I think it will be drawn in early to mid October, and at that time, it will be published on line and presented at meetings for comments, and then potentially revisions could occur.
Catherine,
If the "map" isn't going to be available until early or MID October and the "The Amherst School Committee is scheduled to vote on a new map, showing which areas go to which schools, at its Oct. 27 meeting." That doesn't really leave much time for community input, does it?
Why does yet a third map need to be drawn? Were the two existing maps unacceptable? Who is drawing the maps? I think an important issue is walkability, which wasn't on your list. What difference would it make if kids that already have to ride the bus because of distance would have 2 more minutes on the bus? For example, Amherst Woods is too far for kids to walk to any of the schools (or so it seems to me). A bus ride would probably increase by a couple of minutes if those kids went to Crocker Farm. In contrast, some kids that could walk to their present school may end up HAVING to take a bus to their school if the redistricting doesn't take walkability into account.
Another factor should be minimal disruption, that is, moving the fewest number of kids while reaching the overall goals.
My responses:
Abbie - the timing does seem tight to me -- I'm not sure we are going to be able to vote in October. I think that will depend on when the map gets produced so that community discussion can happen, and how much (if any) tweaking needs to occur. But I think it is at least possible that the vote on the map will take place in November instead.
Unfortunately both maps have problems. There are many, but briefly, the first map isn't as equitable as would be desired (the split between two of the schools is already approaching 10%!) and the second map dramatically under-enrolls CF (leaving 2 or 3 classrooms totally empty), while pushing the other two schools to close to 500. So, the maps do need to be tweaked -- in addition, neither map has been run with transportation models (e.g., how exactly would the buses transport kids and how long would the bus rides be). Doug Slaughter (IT guy) and Peter Crouse (transportation guy) are working on the logistics of the maps using district data on enrollments and bus routes.
I agree that walkability is a factor -- and given that walkability is highly correlated with distance from school, I think it is highly, highly unlikely that any kids who could walk to a school will be bused to a different school. But that is also tricky -- I certainly know of Amherst Woods kids (where I live) who bike to Fort River (on the side walks on Route 9), but couldn't do so to Crocker Farm, for example. So, it just gets complicated! But I will throw walkability into the mix -- makes sense.
Anonymous 2:52 - I agree with this ... will also suggest it gets added.
Administrators are trying to keep single-family neighborhoods and apartment complexes together so that friends can still attend the same schools
Ummm....
You simply *can't* do that and also have economic diversity. Bluntly, there are only two groups of people living in those apartment complexes - UMass students and families with Section 8 Vouchers. Both are low income and hence their children will be considered low income.
This was simple economics, it was cheaper for families to buy a house (often in Belchertown, etc) than to rent an apartment in Amherst. It got so bad that about '03 or so, HUD agreed to pay 120% of fair market value for Sect 8 rents, I think they still are.
So unless you had a subsidy or unless you were a student, it made sense to buy a house. And thus you have the poor kids in the complexes and the rich kids in the houses.
I have no experience with the elementary schools, but I believe ideally our schools should reflect our town. In other words, each school should be as diverse as our town is. There shouldn't be a school for the 'rich' and another for the 'poor'. I think the main goal of this redistricting process should be achieving socio-economical balance among the 3 schools.
My responses:
Ed - sorry -- should have been clearer about that. Particular apartment complexes are being kept together, like particular neighborhoods. So, kids in the Boulders would be kept together, and kids in the Brook would be kept together, and kids in Amherst Woods would be kept together, and kids in Echo Hill would be kept together. But that doesn't mean that kids in the Brook and the Boulders would be sent to the same school OR that kids in Amherst Woods and Echo Hill will be sent to the same school.
FC - I agree completely with this as a goal, and I believe this will be the primary focus of the redistricting (and just trying to accomplish this over-arching goal WHILE balancing things like keeping neighborhoods/apartment complexes together, minimizing bus times, allowing kids to walk when possible, minimizing the number of kids who are impacted, etc.).
Of course you might not want all the children from Boulders (or "Gunpoint" (Southpoint) or Mill Valley) in the same school - you likely will get requests from parents and/or police to move a child for some very legitimate reasons.
Amherst may be a small town, but it has big city problems down to South Amherst. It is as bad as the worst part of Boston.
When Holyoke Police Chief Scott cleaned up Holyoke a decade ago, he pushed all the drug stuff right up 116 to South Amherst....
Ed- Scott made no bones about his intention of driving some of the drug trade up here and to Northampton.
Catherine- Again I ask- will the new plan take into account the proposed low income housing projects on Longmeadow Drive which has many apts. specifically slated for families with children and the one proposed on Olympia Dr>?
I am a bit appalled by some of the stereotypes I'm hearing here. There is NO way that any place in Amherst is "as bad as the worst part of Boston." That's ridiculous. Yes, there are problems in certain areas, but "Boston," we are not.
Most importantly, we're not talking about drug dealers/users, we're talking about CHILDREN. ALL children deserve a prime education, regardless of who their parents/guardians are or what they do.
Let's not allow children to suffer because of adult behavior.
Ed- Scott made no bones about his intention of driving some of the drug trade up here and to Northampton.
And my point is that he DID it, too. And that people who worry about beer and drunken UMass students ought to wake up and realize the real threat to them and their children...
Where was Charlie Scherpa? Where were the Amherst Selectboardsmen?
Why weren't there any cooperative regional efforts to contain and destroy rather than to just drive?
AND WHAT IS GOING TO BE DONE NOW?
I am a bit appalled by some of the stereotypes I'm hearing here. There is NO way that any place in Amherst is "as bad as the worst part of Boston." That's ridiculous. Yes, there are problems in certain areas, but "Boston," we are not.
Actually, we are worse off. Three reasons:
First, you have to talk relative to the total sample population. There are many more people in Boston so drug offenders per thousand residents can be lower and yet still have more drugs.
Second, places like Roxbury are prepared to deal with the problems. Lots of lights, cameras, locked doors and the like - as opposed to stuck-in-the-seventies Amherst complete with the falling down silo that Boulders is not allowed to remove.
Third, if a Boston cop runs into trouble, there are probably 50 cops (BPD, Staties, FBI, etc.) who can be there in 3 minutes and help.
If an Amherst cop runs into trouble, the town only has 3-5 officers on duty at night. In a dire situation (all other 911 calls ignored in both town and on campus) he could maybe get a dozen cops in *ten* minutes, maybe closer to 20 for the Staties out of Northampton to get here.
But that is IT. Next backup is the Westfield and then Pittsfield MSP barracks and even at 100-110 MPH it takes a while to get here.
So the Amherst police tread carefully in South Amherst....
Most importantly, we're not talking about drug dealers/users, we're talking about CHILDREN. ALL children deserve a prime education, regardless of who their parents/guardians are or what they do.
Which, in an earlier age, led to children being taken from their parents and being housed/educated in state institutions.
Let's not allow children to suffer because of adult behavior.
Where do you draw the line between what is good for the parent and what is good for the child? There are a lot of children who would be better off if the state took them away from their parents and put them into foster care.
One can be "appalled" if one wants.
But there are high crime areas in Amherst.
And there are places where parents don't feel safe letting their kids out to play.
That fact is not a "stereotype"; it's a reality that needs to be grappled with in considering the well-being of all the people in the Town.
Rich Morse
Time for a wake-up call, Amherst. Ten years ago my son was held-up at gunpoint right outside the Bangs Center. The robber took all of about $10 or $20 from him (I don't remember the exact amount). This was money I had given my son so he could sign up for an art class that was to be held after school.
Classmates of my son were friends of the robber...and my son lived in fear of being attacked by these classmates until the day he finally graduated from high school. This because I insisted that we report the crime to the police.
Amherst is NOT the small-town oasis that some in this town would like to think it is.
Posted anonymously to protect my son's identity.
I'm not at all saying Amherst is an "oasis." I am saying, though, that's it's not Gotham.
Still, we're being side-tracked from the issue of kids being fairly distributed between schools.
ANon 9:33PM
I fail to see how saying that A. Scott wants to move the drug trade north is engaging is stereotyping. I was present at more than one gathering where he made that statement much to the delight of his Holyoke audience.
I think my question about the HAP development is actually pertinent to the discussion of the re-districting maps.
I think people who don't want to talk about it are not living in the present. I moved my kids out of the schools here because of some of this kind of stuff. A lot of Amherst is beautiful and it's still a nice place to live. Parts of it are not and it has to be talked about openly and with no name calling. Okay?
Amherst does indeed have lots of inner-city issues it has been forced to deal with over the years. I was shocked to read that a child was held up at gunpoint at the Bang's Center!! I never heard this and I read the papers daily. This is our town community center where activities and events are held all the time. It is nothing less than an outrage that this sort of thing is happeing here and even worse that it is being swept under the rug!
Rich, You raise some great points--how do we grapple with this?
Catherine--just the mere fact that you state that part of this redistricting plan is to keep neighborhoods and apartment complexes together clouds the whole idea. It already exists that way--the houses go to one school and the apartment complexes go to the others...How is this mapping going to change that? How do you, as a SC member, propose to take the steps in the direction of equalizing the populations in ALL the elementary schools according to where a child lives given that poor kids live in the apartments, as Ed so graciously states? Is walking to school going to be an option for any child and if so which one?
And how as a community member can we deal with and address the drug ridden populations that live here?? You can talk this mapping thing until your blue in the face, but the real issue of equity in education is still there.
Unfortunately, some of the drug problem also involves the children of this community. Perhaps not the elementary school but has anyone ever taken a whiff of the air in some of the buses to the high school? Straight out of gangafest!
Great! Let's put the 6th graders on those buses.
Great! Let's put the 6th graders on those buses.
Does anyone now understand why I think the 6th Grade shouldn't be moved? And we can also include college-level sexuality -- I have watched the high school kids walking out of the high school and college kids walking out of SouthWest and, frankly, the high school kids are far more sexual in dress & behavior.
I really have a developmental issue with 6th Graders in that environment, they are too young...
An example of how bad things are in this town: I have personally seen bullet holes in apartments, I have personally seen grafitti indicating that a gang intends to kill a specific person. I don't even notice the drug debris in the gutter anymore...
Inside of just one year, I personally lost count of the number of sawed-off shotguns recovered in South Amherst. Most (all) found loaded, at least one found in the woods. Now for those of you who aren't gunowners, a sawed-off shotgun doesn't hit a target but takes out an entire wall-sized area, a dirty/rusty gun will often go off with almost just looking at it funny. And with an obstructed barrel might explode as much as discharge.
Weapons found by elementary-school aged children. Found behind the radiator in a hallway, found in the woods, found etc...
This is reality. I heard of one case where the police went to an apartment in South Amherst and told everyone living there that they must move because the police couldn't (and hence wouldn't) protect them from a drug gang.
This is reality, this stuff is happening. And the children in your school system are growing up in this environment. And this is why I sometimes get upset about the "social justice" stuff because if you TRULY believe in social justice then you need to go be doing something about this stuff.
The right of a child to feel safe is perhaps the most important of rights...
Well, I don't have anything scary to say about the rising drug/crime issues in Amherst, sorry. Getting back to the topic...
I don't think we should get too attached to the idea of keeping all of one neighborhood together or all of one apt complex together. I think we should be looking to make each school reflect the town -- which is one-third low income, one-third moderate income, and one-third high income (or whatever the actual percentages are). If you send all of Amh Woods to CF, I'm concerned that it would be half high and half low-income with a small handful of moderate-income families -- which I don't think is a good idea.
Oh yeah, there's a great idea, let's split kids up who live next to each other, just so you can feel warm and fuzzy that the demographics of each school is perfect. Good one...not!
Why not assign the resources to fulfill the needs rather than bus the needs to the resources? Of course that would inconvenience the resources. So, let us inconvenience the needs! Even Boston saw the light (after how many years?).
Ed are u 4 real???
U seem like a joke and are out of reality with many issues concerning Amherst.
Saying Amherst has more issues then Boston is a joke. Southpoint & Boulders are like Club Med compared to a real Hood or ghetto. Come on be real stop using scare tactics.
"If an Amherst cop runs into trouble, the town only has 3-5 officers on duty at night. In a dire situation (all other 911 calls ignored in both town and on campus) he could maybe get a dozen cops in *ten* minutes, maybe closer to 20 for the Staties out of Northampton to get here."
Bullshit I was pulled over 2 months ago (black male) rountine traffic stop and next thing I know 4 cruisers rolled up.
So the Amherst police tread carefully in South Amherst....
actually the police are there all the time. They love going there who are u kidding!!
And for all your talk about shotguns in SA. I dont recall hearing about shotgun deaths in Amherst. Please refresh my memory!
IMO u just a ignorant racist stuckup college student who has no life and needs a girlfriend. Am I right?
Learn how to write clearly and effectively and maybe someone will take your opinion seriously.
Ed is a tool...
Wow, you are one angry dude! I am sorry you got pulled over while driving in Amherst. I have experienced what you talk about with my own kids while they were driving with black friends. Their only offense was drinking an orange soda from McDonald's, but a cop can never be too cautious... I studied this phenomonom at UMass and it is called, instead of driving while intoxicated (DUI), the crime is driving while black (DWB). It is a reality, and a scary one at that. But trying to defend South Amherst in your manner isn't helping the overall situation here which is trying to equally distribute the children to the 3 existing elementary schools left in Amherst. This is just the first step in attempting to fix the foolish decision to close Marks Meadow. I am expecting to see many more cean up moves hurting many more people in this town because of the irrational moves the SC is making.
Ed, Where did you get your info on guns found in Amherst, and what do you have against South Amherst? I do agree with your observations about 6th graders mixing with high schoolers. Not a good idea, but the School Committee doesn't seem to pay attention to this.
Smoking pot on the school buses??? Who is in charge of that gig???
Ed are u 4 real???
Ask UM counsel (the man who has to defend the lawsuits I file against UMass)...
Saying Amherst has more issues then Boston is a joke.
Repeat after me: "Per Capita"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_capita
Look at it this way: if, say, 20% of the residents of a small population are into drugs, there will be both a higher percentage of druggies and a lower number of druggies than if, say, 5% of a larger population are into drugs. Simple statistics - Catherine why isn't this concept being taught in high school?
Southpoint & Boulders are like Club Med compared to a real Hood or ghetto.
Real "Hoods" - been there. Ruggles Street MBTA station. Holyoke Flats, Farnum Street (right next to the Holyoke Mall). Parts of Springfield where one report included the notation "man living in dumpster."
My point is this: as a percentage of the population, Amherst is worse. Concentrated bad areas.
Bullshit I was pulled over 2 months ago (black male) rountine traffic stop and next thing I know 4 cruisers rolled up.
As one who once asked the DA to indict Charlie Scherpa for everything including violation of the Geneva Convention, I will never defend the actions of the Amherst Police.
BTW, do you have a clean CORI? That shows up on the computer - maybe it shouldn't - but it does.
actually the police are there all the time. They love going there who are u kidding!!
They may be doing what they do to the UM students at the Hoedown - bring in large numbers of officers to intimidate everyone, which is actually stupid because it destroys community policing.
And for all your talk about shotguns in SA. I dont recall hearing about shotgun deaths in Amherst. Please refresh my memory!
Per Capita. When you have 609K people on less than twice the square miles of Amherst (i.e. Boston) you are going to have a higher cumulative number of anything.
When you only have about 600 Sect 8 Apartments in So Amherst, you have a much lower total number, but a much higher density. Statistics...
IMO u just a ignorant racist stuckup college student who has no life and needs a girlfriend.
Non sequitur ad hominem.
Ed, Where did you get your info on guns found in Amherst
Personal knowledge from a job that both I and my physician are quite glad that I no longer do. Blood pressure up over 200, bad; down where MD says it should be, good....
I wasn't always a UM student, I once was a real person...
Good of the many v. good of each individual - which is more important?
I think we should be looking to make each school reflect the town -- which is one-third low income, one-third moderate income, and one-third high income
I really doubt that we have a third moderate income. And lets define it - I propose those over 200% of the poverty rate and less than six figures of household income, including trust funds, etc.
You MUST have the latter caveat because Amherst has quite a few folk with income low enough on their tax return to get EIC credits but live off trust funds with tax-free Munis and such that aren't calculated in. Child support also needs to be factored in.
Hence, excepting those who bought a house prior to 1990 or so, I am not sure we actually have middle income folk *in* Amherst, and the young family buying a house in ,i1990 now have kids mostly out of the school system some 19 years later...
If you send all of Amh Woods to CF, I'm concerned that it would be half high and half low-income with a small handful of moderate-income families -- which I don't think is a good idea.
I agree - but fear the problem is worse than this. Is there a case to be made for segregation? We are now doing it with gender - someone (Springfield?) is opening up a female-only school this year. Are we creating more problems than we solve by asking the low income parents who care (and there are many) to provide the "stuff" that the kids with family incomes in the $200K-$500K have?
It is a tough call - but the argument for girl's only schools (and I argue more for boy's only schools) does make some sense and they are getting results it appears.
So what is good for the individual clearly is not good for the district, and where does one draw the line??? (Oh, and banning wealth by fiat, uniforms and the like, no, no, no....)
What a mess! How about reversing the vote to close Marks Meadow to give the committee time to understand the consequences of that vote. Did the people who voted yes understand that it is the poor and minority students and families who would be hurt the most?
How about reversing the vote to close Marks Meadow to give the committee time to understand the consequences of that vote.
Mark's Meadow is an expensive white elephant the town is better of without. Further, but for the underlying sex scandal, it would have been closed when UM pulled out of the agreement.
Did the people who voted yes understand that it is the poor and minority students and families who would be hurt the most?
HOW?
My whole point about trust funds (and that would include foreign graduate students with aid from their home countries) is that you simply can't use traditional means of defining poverty in Amherst.
Go through the North Village parking lots and look at the shiny cars if you want to argue poverty.
Most of these "poor" parents are earning $30/hour or more, with benefits, in unionized jobs. Not how I define poverty....
Facts matter...
"Mark's Meadow is an expensive white elephant the town is better of without."
Really Ed? As a former MM student and a proud parent of 2 MM students I can't disagree with you more. But you are set in your ways so there is no point debating you.
As for saying this
Go through the North Village parking lots and look at the shiny cars if you want to argue poverty.
Most of these "poor" parents are earning $30/hour or more, with benefits, in unionized jobs. Not how I define poverty....
I will argue all day. WTF is wrong with you. I live In NV and I don't know 1 person who makes $30 a hr let alone more.
How many grad. students do you know that make $30+ a hr???????
Ed put your money where you fat ass mouth is. For every NV family that makes $30 + an hr you find, I will find 100 NV parents who don't.
As far as "shiny" cars did you check these cars to see if they had NV parking permits? Maybe they were visiting? Of course you are bound to see a few nice cars but most of the people living in NV own NO car and take the PVTA.IDIOT
Hey Ed, if you have some free time my 94 Buick Century is in the 1st parking lot and could use a wash. Can you make my car shiny???
How dare you end your post saying FACTS MATTER
you so called facts are more like fiction.
Is the moon full?
It must be. This blog has taken a turn for the bizarre. Absolutely nothing productive going on here.
For every NV family that makes $30 + an hr you find, I will find 100 NV parents who don't.
The GEO-minimum salary is $19.82/hour although that is like the minimum wage, a lot of people earn a LOT more than that (some $50/hour or more). Then there are the benefits which include not only free personal health insurance and/or really cheap family insurance but also full tuition/fee waiver and virtually free parking on campus.
So when you add this all up, I think that $30/hour is more than a fair estimate.
As far as "shiny" cars did you check these cars to see if they had NV parking permits? Yes.
Ed's point: North Village children and Amherst Woods children (as a group) come from essentially identical Social/Economic backgrounds. Both differ vastly from the children of Southpoint or New Hollister.
Now as to the single mothers who choose to be single mothers and choose to live in North Village and choose to go to school while their children (that they chose to had) are still small -- well it is called "choice." Yes circumstances can be tight, but you still can not compare them to those of South Amherst.
And I am amazed at the number of women who grew up in North Village who come back to raise their children there -- that is not happening at Gunpoint....
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