Proposal to move Elkhart junior high students to Mount Pulaski
brings strong response
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[FEB. 2, 2006]
ELKHART -- On Wednesday evening, 130 concerned
citizens packed into the Elkhart Village Hall for what was called a
school board informational meeting. School Superintendent Phil Shelton stood with Dave Meister, president of the school board, and
Scott Doerr, principal of the Elkhart Grade School, to address a
crowd that spilled over into the garage bays. The subject was the
future of junior high classes at Elkhart.
At issue was information that there are currently no students
attending the fourth grade in Elkhart Grade School. This means there
would not be any students attending sixth grade at Elkhart during
the 2007-2008 school year, and this would unbalance their junior
high program. The proposal Shelton and the school board made
Wednesday evening was to move Elkhart's junior high classes to Mount
Pulaski starting in the 2007-08 school year.
Early in the meeting Shelton said that such a move would create appropriate class sizes
at Mount Pulaski of 23-25 students. He claimed that larger class
sizes offered benefits to students, among which were better academic
competition, better socialization, more opportunities for
participation, and overall would help avoid cuts in important
programs and activities.
Point four of the proposal handed out at the meeting: "For junior
high students (sixth, seventh, eighth) it is an important part of
the junior high experience to be in a school setting where the
athletics, cheerleading and other extra activities such as
assemblies, student council and yearbook are a part of the regular
school day."
The crowd expressed statements of disbelief at these claims,
citing that the smaller class sizes at Elkhart had in fact caused
their sons and daughters and grandchildren to excel in classes.
Responding to members of the crowd who said this whole thing came
as a surprise, Shelton suggested that there was no magic number for
minimum class size that prompted this action.
A lively discussion ensued, with questions and comments from the
crowd and answers from Shelton, Meister and Doerr. Shelton calmly
answered questions and fielded comments, appearing to exercise
restraint or control as the situation warranted.
This seemed to be a new issue for most of the citizens who
attended. Shelton said they had been talking in school board
meetings about this very issue for the last five years. Although an
important issue, a member of the audience remarked, it apparently
was not important enough to make its way into the public school
board minutes.
It is coming up now, Shelton said, because we have to give the
village one year's notice for this kind of move.
At no time during the discussion was any favor for the move to
Mount Pulaski expressed by anyone in the crowd. Instead they offered
other suggestions to remedy the problem such as moving grades,
redirecting bus routes, or even busing junior high kids from Mount
Pulaski to Elkhart rather than Elkhart kids to Mount Pulaski.
Shelton answered that all these ideas were on the table, and in
talking they determined that merely moving bus routes around would
not resolve the problem. It would only provide a few more kids for
any given school. And, regarding the suggestion to move Mount
Pulaski junior high students to Elkhart, he simply said there wasn't
a problem in Mount Pulaski.
Shelton said he understood that the real issue here was uprooting
children. He said they wanted to address the problem with the least
amount of change necessary for the smallest number of students. This
was merely the beginning of the process, and he and the school board
were not putting anyone's feelings on the back burner. What they
were seeking was a common-sense solution.
As the crowd struggled to catch on to the common-sense being
presented there, they continued to offer their own suggestions. If
there was going to be one grade without students, they asked, why
not merely eliminate one teacher? Shelton answered that beginning in
junior high, students move from class to class. They have one
teacher for math, another for science and another for English. The
program won't work if they don't have a teacher for English. There
aren't any simplistic answers for this problem.
Asked whether this would mean that the district would save or
spend more money on busing, Shelton answered that the plan to bus
the junior high students to Mount Pulaski would not cost any more
than they were currently spending on busing.
Elkhart citizens asked about children who would be lost in large
classes, with some even saying that small class sizes were their
primary reason for moving to Elkhart. What about special-needs
children or children who were having difficulties and needed extra
attention and extra teacher-time?
Contrary to Shelton's comments, people commented the same as the
National Education Association statistics show, that smaller class
sizes are more effective in helping individual students excel.
Expressing concern, Shelton said that we grow the community one
kid at a time, one household at a time. Adequate planning would be
given to provide for each student's educational needs.
Members of the crowd offered that moving 21 junior high students
from Elkhart to Mount Pulaski might be the beginning of a trend that
would end in the complete shutdown of the Elkhart Grade School. Shelton answered that his current intention and the intention of the
school board is to keep the grade school building open and the unit
school district intact. He recounted a remark he had recently made
that if he had to, he would work until he was 80 to keep the Elkhart
Grade School open.
Shelton was asked about the money-saving side of this equation.
He answered that the current discussions about the money saved with
the move to Mount Pulaski might result in added programs and
offerings at the junior high level, adding that they couldn't
currently make any promises.
Shelton and board president Dave Meister were grilled about what
their promises meant in the future if the district superintendent
changed and the school board changed. Meister responded that no one
can guarantee what future boards or superintendents will do.
Questioned whether the junior high might come back to Elkhart if
after three or five or 10 or 15 years from now, they had enough
students, Shelton responded that once moved, it would be very
difficult to bring it back.
Members of the audience told Shelton and the school board that
they thought this move would put Elkhart's changes to grow at risk.
Losing their junior high would limit who would want to move to
Elkhart.
Developer Rick Kaesebier is currently developing a new
subdivision on the west side of Elkhart, and the village just
finished the infrastructure necessary for that subdivision. Would
the loss of the junior high limit the chances for this subdivision
to attract new residents to Elkhart?
Shelton quietly responded that it was not unusual for a small
community to have a grade school with only kindergarten through
fifth grade. A grade school is easier to maintain with smaller class
sizes.
Transportation for after-school activities was cited as an
important issue, since some junior high students would take part in
after-school activities, keeping them at school past 5:30 p.m. at
times. Shelton answered that they might try some alternative
transportation schemes to lessen the long hours some Elkhart
students would spend at Mount Pulaski, although such schemes are not
currently used at the high school level.
Members of the crowd expressed concern for the loss of teachers
in the community. Shelton remarked that the move to Mount Pulaski
would mean the loss of two full-time teachers rather than all three,
because one teacher would likely move over to Mount Pulaski to share
in the existing program responsibilities.
The audience made a number of other comments that Shelton
acknowledged but gave no response. Among them was a comment that
Mount Pulaski currently lacked enough gym space to host all the
activities of the combined sports teams, especially during the
volleyball season.
When asked how much money the school district gets from the
state, Shelton answered that it is about $450,000-$500,000 per year.
He remarked that this proposal to move the junior high is not
currently prompted by financial issues. The school district is
running in the black. This is not an emergency. He said that
although money is not currently the issue, it is always an issue.
Asked whether the school district would lose important state aid
if children went to school out of the district in reaction to this
move, Shelton answered affirmatively.
A few members of the audience asked if it wasn't currently a
financial emergency, why endanger the growth of the town? Why not
give this problem more time and look for an equitable solution?
Shelton said that this problem first came to his consideration
when the schools were unable to field enough players to form a
volleyball team, a baseball team or host other sports activities.
Although the sports team issues initially grabbed his attention, he
said, the move to Mount Pulaski has nothing to do with sports.
Members of the audience remarked that Elkhart kids will probably
not get to play at Pulaski because of the strong competition for who
gets to play there.
A member of the crowd spoke out about the discrepancy in
standardized test scores. Over the last four to five years, she
said, statistics showed that Elkhart students did better on
standardized tests than Mount Pulaski students. Shelton answered
that this year the gap had been closed and students attending Mount
Pulaski schools were now performing on par with Elkhart students.
The school board of Mount Pulaski Community Unit District 23
would be making the decision about this move by majority rule. The
vote on the junior high move to Mount Pulaski will be taken at
latest in August, with discussions beginning at the next meeting.
The next meeting of the district school board will be Feb. 27 at
7 p.m. at the grade school building in Mount Pulaski, 120 E. Cooke.
If you choose not to attend the meetings, you can submit your
comments to school board members by writing to them. See the
list below.
Shelton closed the meeting with the remark that his goal over the
last nine years was to have good harmony, equal curriculum and equal
improvements in both communities. He felt that he had delivered on
those goals. The process to alleviate this problem was also in
keeping with those goals.
And, finally, Shelton thanked the Kaesebiers for getting the new
subdivision planted.
The meeting broke up slowly after Shelton departed. Small
clusters of citizens formed outside the village hall with comments
ranging from mild disbelief to vows of fighting this move to the
last drop of their blood.
