At a time when LPS claims to want to get parents involved, well it kind of boggles my mind that they would choose to isolate the parents of the smallest children they serve. I'm talking about the Kindergarten Konsolidation Krisis (remember I'm a poet at heart, I have a license).
Granted we have a space problem. Someone is going to have to be moved, that;s just the facts. Wouldn't it make more sense to move kids at the other end of the elementary spectrum, I'm talking fifth graders We could open up probably the same number of classrooms by moving less people. (there's a transportation savings right there). Plus, the parent-teacher interaction is more important, vital even with kindergarten students versus the older kids. Not to mention the older kids would transition better to a pre-middle school than the little ones would to a remote location.
Putting older kids there would also help generate excitement about wanting to go to LVTI for high school thus alleviating potential future overcrowding at CLASSICAL and ENGLISH.
So, as a fifth grade teacher I would have to move my classroom that I have been in for years? Is there a guarantee that I will be teaching the same students that I would've had in my school? No matter how you slice it moving any classrooms down to 90 Commercial St. is a bad idea. I will not give up my classroom and my students.
ReplyDeleteI will agree moving any KIDS down there is a less than palatable idea. One other idea would be to open Commercial Street up as a new school altogether. We could name it after ME.
DeleteI think most would agree that having any students go to school on Commercial Street is not a perfect solution. However, over-crowding is a major issue at most of our schools and something needs to be done. I think it is better to have kindergarten students attend school on Commercial Street than it is to move 5th grade students out of their school. I think it would be too isolating for the 5th graders and they would no longer be a part of the school setting they are used to. I think it is a better environment for kindergarten students because they are starting off new and they will be with hundreds of their peers. Of course, this could cause a burden for some parents who have other children in grades 1-5 who will now be going to 2 separate schools. As with anything new, there are issues that still need to be ironed out, like transportation, and their are no perfect solutions.
ReplyDeleteIt makes no sense to move 5th graders, in my opinion. Let's face the facts though, given the space that LPS has then someone has to move. The move of least impact is the kindergarten kids. They could stay together by the building that they are moved in from for kindergarten and then go back as a group to where they would have been for 1st grade. If I understood the plan correctly, the parents with older children shouldn't be impacted since they will drop off all of the kids at the school and pick them back up there at the end of the day.
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