Beware the Ide(a)s of March

After our recent posts chastising Geneva School District administrators, the Board of Education, and the Finger Lakes Times for the ‘Information Blackout’ surrounding the proposed elementary school realignment proposal, we are happy to report that there has been and will be a flurry of public attention and discussion around this issue in the remaining weeks of March.

On March 16th at 7pm, the School Board held a meeting to receive an update on the proposal. It was a work session format, setting up interaction between the Board and the Superintendent’s make-shift realignment committee, heavily loaded with pro-realignment district employees. This meeting was open to the public and held in the High School library.

The following night, March 17th, a meeting to update the public on the reconfiguration proposal was held at 7pm. There will be a second meeting on the topic Wednesday, March 25th also at 7pm. These meetings are in the High School Auditorium.

Still left unanswered are the nitty-gritty details of the plan. Specifically, how might class sizes be affected by the realignment? At the last public hearing, Dr. Young said that research on class size had convinced him that elementary classes should aim for 17 students or less (the current average at North Street school). But recent figures obtained by the local paper show that one teacher and one assistant per elementary grade would be cut. Strangely, following this past Monday’s meeting the paper reported that the realignment would save teaching jobs. What’s up with that? With the same number of students and fewer teachers, there is no way that class sizes could do anything but increase.

With regards to transportation, are staggered start times the key to cost savings? If so, why can’t that be implemented under the current system regardless of realignment? Are there actual ridership statistics that can be distributed instead of hastily drawn route maps?

Then there are the facilities questions: How much will it cost to provide Head Start and Kindergarten classrooms with the individual restrooms that they need within the West Street facility? How much will upgrades to parking lots at West Street cost, and have permits already been obtained for an expanded lot on Optical Street? Which playground equipment will need to be removed to make room for age-appropriate offerings?

If all of these questions can be answered satisfactorily, then the questions of logistics remain. Where, when, and how exactly is this transition going to happen? Dr. Young’s statement that the first three days of September have been “set aside for the move” seems quite ambitious, and this is another area where parents and the community at large might offer some help.