As parents of EGUSD students and members of the Elk Grove Community, we have a few questions for the Board of Education regarding the proposed boundary changes to be heard at the January 2011 meeting.
1. What is the "purpose" of the boundary change? There is no reference in the undated letter we received as to why this is necessary. In the November 3rd post on the EGUSD Communications page the only reason given is that some high schools are under-enrolled while others are at or slightly over-capacity (Franklin HS by 20 students). That is not a reason, that is just a fact. How does that fact impact the students, the district and the community at large. Is there a significant detriment that would warrant such a drastic move on the part of EGUSD? If so, please explain in full.
2 How many students are currently attending schools outside their home boundaries in the district. How many of those students attend the high schools mentioned as being at capacity? Can you guarantee that all those students will be returned to their "home" boundary schools prior to this boundary change that would uproot so many community members?
3. Why is the district not making a concerted effort to communicate this extremely significant and important change to the parents of the district. With all the communication methods you have at your disposal; Twitter, Facebook, EGUSD News, Phone dialing systems, emailing systems, etc. all of which have been used for multiple other announcements in recent months, why was this not announced via those methods? The only attempt you have made to contact the parents is one undated letter that most of us received yesterday, November 17th. The letter, vague as it is, says that this proposal will be brought before the EGUSD Board of Education in January 2011. Between now and that time, the entire school district will be closed for 3 full weeks. That leaves parents with just 3 weeks to get information, ask questions and express opinions, the latter being the most important. This is appears to be intentional to avoid parents noticing the proposal in time to respond and to deliberately avoid facing the parents and community yourselves.
4. What is the urgency of this change? Why now and why so suddenly? It has taken the district longer to hire a librarian than you are taking to make this change. Can't the proposal be over time to allow parents to have the opportunity to make educated choices and prepare for the change? Perhaps affecting only newly enrolled students to the elementary schools rather than the existing students?
5. Have you taken time to consider what is at stake here? How is this in the best interest of the students and the families for which EGUSD exists and who's purpose is to serve? You have one high school that is slightly over capacity, are you completely unable to resolve that issue internally without re-drawing boundaries? Have you exhausted all other possible options? As far as the other schools near capacity, that is exactly where they are meant to operate. No need for resolution there. Regarding the schools under-capacity, we fail to see the problem.
As for how this will affect the students and the community, here's what we can tell you with certainty. Most every parent chooses to live where they do based on two things; financial capacity and the schools they 'choose' for their children. We say choose, because it is absolutely an intentional choice for most families to live where they do so their children can attend the school of their choice. To change boundaries would force parents to make a change in their living situation. In this economy, with Elk Grove being one of the worst housing crashes on record, most parents do not have the capacity to buy, sell or move at this time, nor will they for quite some time.
There are parents who will have their children split into two different schools which will create a nightmare for getting their children to and from school, Not to mention the devastation the siblings will feel at not being able to attend the same school, root and play for the same teams, know the same children, etc.
This proposal is vehemently opposed by a significant number of parents. We expect full responses to these questions via this email prior to the meetings that are scheduled, as we can only assume that you won't be able to answer these questions spontaneously and will be unable to provide answers prior to the January 2011 meeting.
Sincerely,
EGUSD Parents
