RE: 20/20 Vision Plan
1. At the meeting yesterday in Blanchard some of the key points to remember are:
· When emailing board members, use “SAVE BLANCHARD ELEMENTARY” as your subject line as a lot of our emails will go unopened. But our sentiment can be conveyed with this simple subject line message.
· DO NOT speak negatively about: other schools (PROMOTE YOUR SCHOOL!), the school board members, or the superintendent
· The school board members DID NOT come up with this plan; they were presented with this plan and now are in the position of being forced to vote YES, NO, or YES BUT PHASE IN OVER TIME.
· It has not been widely reported, but Mooringsport & Timmons are slotted to close in 2013-2014.
2. The online petition is great BUT I need all 1005+ (to date) people to write a personal letter to the 12 members of the Executive Committee of the Caddo Parish School Board as well! I have provided all their contact info at bottom of this blog entry: HOME, OFFICE & EMAIL addresses. As Laurie Bigelow said recently on FB, "Emails are great, but 1005+ letters in their mailbox is very hard to ignore!! Board members must hear a resounding NO from our community! ".
3. I only have 243 FB friends so I need EVERYONE to PLEASE REPOST THIS TO YOUR STATUS!!! (repost the petition, my blog, your thoughts, just SOMETHING!!!! PLEASE!)
4. PLEASE SIGN ONLINE PETITION:
Here are some of my personal thoughts on the issue at hand:
As I understand it, the issue at hand is a budget issue. The board is under this assumption that there is an abundance of space at DBMS. But unfortunately, just because you have space does not mean that you can just place 500+ children in an empty space and voila, problem solved!
· Where has all the money from the BOATS gone over the last 15 years that was PROMISED to better our educational system?
· Why did the 20/20 Vision Community present a “10 year plan” with NO mention of immediate school closure several months ago? Why was community involvement requested if we were not presented with ACCURATE information by which to respond?
· How can DBMS accommodate 525+ students with less than 5 months to make required renovations/additions?
· How will the elementary children (pre-K thru 5th) be separated from the middle school children (6th – 8th)?
· How is the consolidation to be accomplished? Temporary buildings (T-buildings)? Overcrowded classrooms? Partitions in gyms?
o Will T buildings be ready for classroom instruction by August 2011 if ordered March 2011?
o If DBMS partitions the gymnasium and uses it for classrooms, where will the students take physical education? Please take note of extreme temperatures during Louisiana spring & summer months, so assuming using “outdoors” as an option may not work.
o How will the merge affect the classroom census for both our students and DBMS students if the middle school has to combine classes to share classroom space? It was noted this week that only 11 classrooms are readily available at DBMS while 33 are needed for the transition.
o Are the restroom facilities accommodating to 4 year olds and 500+ extra students each day?
o Is the cafeteria able to accommodate 4 year olds and 500+ extra students each day?
o Is there enough parking for the teachers/staff for 500+ students?
· When and where will playground equipment be placed for recess time for elementary students (pre-K thru 5th)?
· Why did tax payers invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to install central air and heating less than a year ago for a school that will close August 2011?
· Why a new roof was installed March 6, 2011 that is proposed to close August 2011 and never reopen? I personally saw this roof being installed on Sunday (I assume overtime was being paid).
· With Blanchard being the fastest growing community in Caddo Parish (41.7% increase since the 2000 census), why was Blanchard Elementary School chosen to consolidate? If it is growing and you consolidate these schools, how long do you think it will be before it is at full capacity and over? The addition of I-49 North is only going to add to this rapid growth! We are not a low performing school; in fact our scores continually show improvement!
I also see that Herndon Magnet School is proposed for consolidation. Why take the ONLY magnet school north of town and combine it with 4 other schools, and make it k-12; along with an alternativew school? You would seriously consider taking a very high performing magnet school and combining it with an alternative school? You are going to force parents to find other alternatives for educating their children, whether that be to send them to a private school, home school, or even possibly move to Bossier Parish? I am not interested in any of the above, but as a parent I will do what it takes for my child to get the education that he/she needs, and not have to worry about overcrowding or safety issues.
EMAIL addresses: deadline 3/24/2011 @ 2pm
wburton@caddo.k12.la.us; chooks@caddo.k12.la.us; lpriest@caddo.k12.la.us; brachal@caddo.k12.la.us; garmstrong@caddo.k12.la.us; jagreen@caddo.k12.la.us; cmcrawley@aol.com; mtrammel@caddo.k12.la.us; bcrawford@caddo.k12.la.us; lramsey@caddo.k12.la.us; dbell@caddo.k12.la.us; sriall@caddo.k12.la.us
OFFICE ADDRESS: mail by 3/21/2011
CADDO PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
PO BOX 32000
SHREVEPORT, LA 71130
HOME ADDRESS: mail by 3/21/2011
STEVE RIALL
8033 OLD M’SPORT ROAD
SHREVEPORT, LA 71107
JASMINE GREEN
PO BOX 78624
SHREVEPORT, LA 71137
WILLIE BURTON
417 INDIAN TRAIL
SHREVEPORT, LA 71107
CHARLOTTE CRAWLEY
4741 THORNHILL
SHREVEPORT, LA 71106
CURTIS HOOKS
3309 SUN VALLEY CT
SHREVEPORT, LA 71109
MARY TRAMMEL
229 E 75TH ST
SHREVEPORT, LA 71106
LILLIAN PRIEST
2613 PARHAM DR
SHREVEPORT, LA 71109
BONITA CRAWFORD
295 PATTON AVE
SHREVEPORT, LA 71105
BARRY F. RACHAL
3560 YOUREE DR
SHREVEPORT, LA 71105
LARRY RAMSEY
9006 MARLOW DR
SHREVEPORT, LA 71118
GINGER ARMSTRONG
9800 CHASE WAY
SHREVEPORT, LA 71118
DOTTIE BELL
7881 JEFFERSON PAIGE RD
SHREVEPORT, LA 71119
PLEASE SIGN ONLINE PETITION: deadline 3/18/2011
