Ms. Penna - we appreciate your response below, but still have concerns. We've been told that the meetings are to gather suggestions and alternative solutions from the parents, however, we believe that without specific answers to our questions, we do not have the information we need to thoroughly understand the situation and make suggestions. If your intent is to answer our questions at the meetings, then a subsequent set of meetings for ideas and solutions would be warranted.
We have had opportunity to review the information on the School Accountability Report Cards. Though we found a great deal of information about current enrollment levels and disciplinary action on the campuses, we could not find the enrollment data we're looking for.
It's clear that having opened the COHS/EPMS campus and allowing open enrollment has caused an imbalance in your enrollment numbers. What is not clear is how many students are currently attending schools that are not their home school. We'd like to see enrollment numbers for intra-district transfer students currently attending FHS and TJMS as well as COHS and EPMS. We believe that transfers and open enrollment should be stopped and all students should be returned to the school in their home boundaries before boundary changes are made.
Additionally, we have yet to see compelling evidence as to the importance of balancing the enrollment numbers. The biggest questions on everyone's mind are 1) why is the boundary change important (particularly in light of the financial struggles the school district and the community face right now, is this really top priority) and 2) Why now? If this is important, why now and why in such a hurry without allowing ample time for parents to get information, make plans accoringly, etc.
We would greatly appreciate answers to these questions by Monday 12/6. If that's not possible, then we would expect the district to postpone returning to the board with this proposal until parents have been given an opportunity to review all the information and meet again with the district to provide suggestions and alternatives.
Thank you,
EGUSD Parents
- Show quoted text -
On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 2:01 PM, Tina Penna in Secondary Education <CPenna@egusd.net> wrote:
Dear Parents, On behalf of our Board of Education, and our Superintendent, Steven M. Ladd, I am pleased to have the opportunity to respond to your November 18th email. Our Board members and our Superintendent received your questions and comments and appreciate your communication.I am providing links (below) to the School Accountability Report Cards (SARC) for Cosumnes Oaks, Franklin and Laguna Creek high schools. These SARC reports provide a variety of information that I believe you will find helpful.COHS – http://www.egusd.net/schools/sarcs/long/CosumnesOaksLong.pdf FRHS – http://www.egusd.net/schools/sarcs/long/FranklinHSLong.pdf LCHS – http://www.egusd.net/schools/sarcs/long/LagunaCreekLong.pdf With regard to your inquiry regarding the reason for looking at boundary changes, it is due to an imbalance in residing attendance boundary populations at several schools which impact our educational offerings, respectively.The community meetings scheduled for your area are intended to present the district’s boundary proposal, but equally importantly to engage in a conversation with the community and provide information that will address many of your questions. If you have further questions, I would encourage a representative to call me at 686-7719 so that we may speak personally about your questions and concerns. Sincerely,Christina PennaAssociate Superintendent, Secondary Education
fromPollyanna Cooper-LeVangie <pollyannalevangie@hotmail.com>
toegparents@gmail.com
dateSat, Nov 20, 2010 at 2:24 PM
subjectRE: Boundary change questions - plesae reply immediately
mailed-byhotmail.com
hide details Nov 20 (12 days ago)
Dear Parents,
As I am sure you received an email from our Board President, our district administration is researching answers to your questions and as soon as they have a response I'm sure Ms. Amavisca will email you.
Thank you for stating your concerns with the boundary proposal. I'm sorry that you are not happy with this proposal. Change is always difficult, and I appreciate that you are advocating for your children. As a board member I find that my duty is to look out for the welfare of the entire district, not just pockets of children. We have numerous high-functioning schools in our district, and I am proud of all of our schools.
If after you receive a response to your questions you find that you have further questions or concerns, please email me or call me (my home phone number is 684.4768 if you would like to speak to or meet with me in person).
Sincerely,
Pollyanna Cooper-LeVangie
fromJeanette Amavisca <jeanetteforkids@frontiernet.net>
toEGUSD Parents against Re-Districting 2010 <egparents@gmail.com>,
pcox@egusd.net,
pollyannalevangie@hotmail.com,
kiddiekop@aol.com,
bilugg2729@att.net,
cmadisonsr@aol.com,
1ayrowlett@frontiernet.net,
sladd@egusd.net
dateFri, Nov 19, 2010 at 11:25 AM
subjectRE: Boundary change questions - plesae reply immediately
hide details Nov 19 (13 days ago)
Dear Parents: Thank you for your e-mail. The purpose of the planned meetings is to answer the exact questions that you are asking. However, I am going to refer your request to our administration and ask that someone respond prior to the January meeting.
Please be assured that the meetings are just the first step. Our district is not in the habit of making major changes without input from the community. In fact, in the past we have received thoughtful alternatives, from our communities, that have been implemented.
Once again, thank you for your correspondence.
J
Jeanette J. Amavisca, President
Elk Grove Unified School District
Elk Grove, CA 95624
(916) 682-6728
from
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