[Speed Gibson,
Tuesday January 15, 2008 at 10:19pm]
District 281 - We Have a Decision
Tonight, the Robbinsdale Area School Board elected not to close Northport Elementary or any other school next year (2008-2009). As I understand it, they essentially swapped some cuts from 2009-2010 for the savings closing a school would have generated in 2008-2009. Yes, we'll have to go through all this again a year from now unless more money is found, possibly from another attempt at passing the failed Referendum in some form.
Tonight's action enacted over $5 million in budget cuts. The school closing was only about 10 percent of that, so while the decision was jubilantly received by the 50+ in attendance, the other 90 percent of the cuts remain unchanged and will be painful, district wide.
Last night's straw poll 4-3 result favoring closing Northport changed to the official 5-2 vote against tonight. In the end, I think the Board realized that it just wasn't prepared to properly close Northport. The ripples would seriously affect 2 or 3 nearby elementary schools and drawing new boundaries with the remaining schools clumped to the west would have been challenging.
I also think the Board realized that this is the wrong time to aggravate the already strained feelings across this large district. Robbinsdale residents and leaders are still brooding about the closing of the Robbinsdale High School 25 years ago, for example, even though it now serves as home to the Spanish Immersion program and as a middle school.
What's needed is vision, to take this process beyond a one or two year viewpoint. That was part of the passing resolution, that the "vision" process interrupted by the levy failure be resumed, and drawing on the considerable input received the past few weeks. Remodels and updates will be deferred until this is complete, except for Plymouth Middle School's projects already in progress.
It's been interesting and informative, and the Board made the right decision in my opinion.
Tonight's action enacted over $5 million in budget cuts. The school closing was only about 10 percent of that, so while the decision was jubilantly received by the 50+ in attendance, the other 90 percent of the cuts remain unchanged and will be painful, district wide.
Last night's straw poll 4-3 result favoring closing Northport changed to the official 5-2 vote against tonight. In the end, I think the Board realized that it just wasn't prepared to properly close Northport. The ripples would seriously affect 2 or 3 nearby elementary schools and drawing new boundaries with the remaining schools clumped to the west would have been challenging.
I also think the Board realized that this is the wrong time to aggravate the already strained feelings across this large district. Robbinsdale residents and leaders are still brooding about the closing of the Robbinsdale High School 25 years ago, for example, even though it now serves as home to the Spanish Immersion program and as a middle school.
What's needed is vision, to take this process beyond a one or two year viewpoint. That was part of the passing resolution, that the "vision" process interrupted by the levy failure be resumed, and drawing on the considerable input received the past few weeks. Remodels and updates will be deferred until this is complete, except for Plymouth Middle School's projects already in progress.
It's been interesting and informative, and the Board made the right decision in my opinion.
The Numbers Guy