Reply to APS Elementary Location Working Group 4/12

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]re Campbell and expeditionary learning:

[b]The concept of expeditionary learning is not tied to the nature center and wetlands.  Campbell uses these resources well in their program, but if the school has to move, they can develop new expeditions and projects.  [/b]

On Montessori numbers:

The application numbers for this year assume Montessori will still be at Drew for 2018-2019 school year, correct?  I'm not sure those can be used as a proxy for when the school is at a more accessible location, as it will be at Henry.    Also, I thought the assumption was that most of the Montessori program came out of the pre-school program- do they have to apply for K?  Or do they just move up?[/quote]

Again, as applied at Campbell, the Nature Center and Wetlands have been made integral to the instructional model. You think the teachers should have to recreate nearly every expedition and re-do the entire EL curriculum so that a few more students can [b]maybe[/b] walk (or really be driven) to school? Where do you think the kids can easily do their EL learning at another site not ajoinjng a Nature Center? And the grounds, which the kids themselves have built and cared for, should be abandoned to students who likely won't be able to utilize or care for them? For what? I need a better reason than, "because they could." Many kids in the walk zone are already Campbell students. So what would this change gain the system? That is what has not been answered. [/quote]

Campbell meets none of the four considerations for option site suitability.  Step one was to ID suitable option sites, and the sites most suitable are ASFS, ATS, Carlin Springs, Claremont, and Nottingham (in addition to Henry).  Others met maybe half the criteria or just one, but Campbell met none. Maybe in a later step the board will take on special considerations, or decide that moving Campbell isn’t worth it. What I can tell you is lots of people are attached to their neighborhood schools and don’t want them switched to option.  Lots of people are attached to their kds’ option schools and don’t want them moved.  But changes are coming regardless of how “beloved” (to use a Nottingham parent’s argument) the schools are.[/quote]

Their original criteria to ID which schools were better as options/neighborhood is flawed, and not because the school is beloved or because people are attached to it. They are only using [b]ONE criteria.[/b] One that rules out all the others from even being considered. If they were building all the schools new and starting from scratch, would it make some sense? Maybe, but I am still not understanding how this school can be a neighborhood school for over 650 kids. Where do the excess 200 kids get bused to? Or are they going to be in permanent trailers? This is all a ridiculous exercise if they can't even grow the EL program to over 600. Why move them out of a smaller school to a larger school if the demand for the program is closer to the current site's size? [/quote]

Which criterium?[/quote]

Lol. Number of potential walkers/buses. It's technically criteria because it touches on both efficiency and proximity, but those are really the same thing. Everything is based on that. They didn't even get the preferred size correct. In their previous documents they called for Campbell to increase to 600 or something, I assume based on perceived demand/wait list data, not 750, so that's an error. If they're actually targeting 750, this precludes Campbell. If they're not targeting 750 and just made an error, it does not. [/quote]

The four considerations are walkers, potential for growth, geography, and buses.  [/quote]

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