Oh! Another Crazy School Closing Plan!

Starr: Close Stark, move Toquam there By Donna Porstner, Stamford Advocate, 04/25/2008
STAMFORD - Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr last night proposed closing Julia A. Stark Elementary and moving Toquam Magnet Elementary's teachers and students into the Glenbrook Road building.

Stark should close before any other school because it is traditionally the lowest performing and the district will soon be required to make changes to comply with federal No Child Left Behind legislation, he said at last night's Board of Education Redistricting Committee meeting.

By being proactive with changes at Stark, Starr said, "We clearly get ahead with the state, showing them we are serious about accountability."

It's only a matter of time before changes must be made at Stark, because state sanctions are increasing, he said,

The Redistricting Committee erred in deciding not to consider performance in deciding which school to close, Starr said.

"It doesn't pass the smell test that we'd be closing a great school - Toquam," Starr said.

Toquam students are among the district's highest achievers on state tests.

Members recently narrowed their list of potential schools to be shuttered to two - Toquam and Rogers Magnet School - largely based on the size of the student body and number of students walking to school.

With its planned redistricting, the school board is trying to balance the student population in each building based on economic background.

At the same time, board members are planning to close a building to save about $5 million. They are trying to increase the number of students walking to school in the process to reduce transportation costs.

Moving Toquam students and teachers, and its popular Bank Street program, to the Stark building would create five magnet schools in 2009, giving parents more choice in where children attend school, Starr said.

Some or all Stark students could be allowed to stay until they graduate, the superintendent said, though he would prefer to immediately close Stark and redistribute its students and staff to other buildings.

The number of buses would not increase, but bus rides would be longer for some children under his plan.

It was the second time in recent weeks the committee was thrown a curve ball.

Members were preparing to close Toquam until last month, when Mayor Dannel Malloy, a nonvoting school board member, convinced them to consider closing Rogers and moving those students to the new interdistrict magnet school when it opens on the Clairol property in 2009.

Starr acknowledged he is coming late to the game with the Stark plan. The committee has been working on a redistricting plan for 14 months.

"I wish I thought of it two months ago," Starr said.

Redistricting Committee Chairwoman Susan Nabel said she was "totally nonplussed" by the Stark plan.

Malloy said it makes no sense to fight the Rogers plan when parents support it - especially when the Rogers' building needs the most repairs.

If Rogers were moved to the new environmental-science magnet, Starr said the district could create a preference zone that includes students now assigned to Rogers, but cannot assign students directly to the new magnet school. They would be given preference but would have to apply, he said.

They could stay until the sixth grade, when some would have to move to other middle schools, because the district needs the seats for students from other districts, he said. Since it is an interdistrict school funded by the state, at least 25 percent of students must come from other towns.

Malloy said the Rogers students should be allowed to stay through eighth grade because about 14 percent of the pupils leave in any given year and there would be enough room.

Even if Stamford residents constituted more than 75 percent of students, the state would not pull funding for the school, he said. Malloy said there are interdistrict schools that have been open for eight years that don't have the required numbers of out-of-towners and still get state funding.

School board member Monica Hoherchak said she's concerned that under the mayor's plan, the district would lose about 200 seats for Rogers' International Baccalaureate program. After all current Rogers students graduate, there would be 336 students in the IB program in kindergarten through fifth grade, down from 530 today.

Malloy warned members not to muddy the redistricting decision, which he said should be focused on integrating school buildings based on family income, with discussions about the academic programs that would be offered.

"It sounds like policy and curriculum to me, more than redistricting," Malloy said.

Starr said he would post detailed information about the possible scenarios on the Board of Education's Web site at www.stamfordpublicschools.org. Parents will be invited to comment on the proposals during a public hearing May 5 at Cloonan Middle School.

Nabel said board members are going in circles and need to reach a decision.

"We need to move. We need to make a choice here," she said. "Parents are waiting for us to finish what we started." Click here to read more.

Portable Classrooms are Gross

My opinion: I doubt these double-wide trailers are as nice as the Board of Ed member and school facilities managers say there are.

Rep: Take students out of 'substandard' portable classrooms
By Donna Porstner Staff Writer

STAMFORD - The chairwoman of the Board of Representatives' Education Committee says 500 students ought to be removed from "substandard" portable classrooms before the Board of Education closes an elementary school.

"We talk about equity and equality, and if you start with an environment that's not good to learn, you are one step behind," said Rep. Pauline Rauh, D-6.

The Board of Education plans to close an elementary school when the new interdistrict magnet school opens in 2009. Declining enrollment and limited funding have been cited as reasons.

Many of the 28 modular classrooms in city grammar schools do not have running water, making bathroom visits a "field trip" and messes difficult to clean, said Rauh, a former school administrator who represents downtown.

"The life of elementary school children is their hands are being washed all the time," she told three school board members who attended one of her committee's meetings at the Government Center Thursday night.

It was the second time in four months Rauh implored school board members to consider the long-term needs of students in the modular units before closing a building.

"I think you are right when you say we haven't discussed that in-depth, but what's the alternative?" said James Rubino, who chairs the Board of Education's Facilities Committee.

Rauh suggested keeping all 12 elementary schools and dispersing preschool classes run by Childcare Learning Centers Inc. into neighborhood schools
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across the city. The nonprofit company has been discussed as a potential tenant of a school building that would be vacated.

Parents of 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds might be reluctant to send their children across town, so preschool classes in neighborhood schools may be ideal, she said.

Rauh said she fears the Board of Education will close a school only to come back a few years later and seek a large capital appropriation to replace the portables classrooms. The oldest units are 18 years old.

While some portable classrooms had three-to-five-year lifespans when they were purchased, School Facilities Manager Al Barbarotta said the district has extended their useful lives by installing new roofs and making other repairs.

"Most of the teachers like them," Barbarotta said. "We don't get very many complaints about them at my level."

The school board's Redistricting Committee decided in February to continue counting the space provided by modular classrooms as it considers where to send students in years ahead.

Rubino said it wouldn't make sense, financially, to disperse preschool classes throughout the city.

"I think it's economies of scale," he said in an interview after the meeting. "If CLC is looking for a place to house 400 kids, it's more economical to put them all in one place.

CLC runs subsidized preschool and daycare programs for nearly 1,100 children at 17 sites. CLC officials have said they are seeking a central location to consolidate their 15 satellite operations.

Monica Hoherchak, another school board member, said in interview after Thursday's meeting that CLC officials have told them clients don't mind driving to a central campus.

Board of Education President Richard Freedman did not attend the meeting but said in an interview Friday that there is no reason to discontinue using the portables.

"In many cases - if not most cases - they are the nicest classrooms in the building, so this whole issue of equity - it's just not the case," he said.

Demolishing portable classrooms and redistributing those students to other buildings would be more disruptive and unpopular than closing one building, Freedman said.

"It's like any other piece of real estate: If you maintain and keep it in working condition, it should last a long time," he said.

* Click here to read more.

Advocate: School Closing Decision Delayed

Panel votes to close elementary school; decision delayed on which building
By Donna Porstner, Staff Writer --March 20, 2008

STAMFORD - The Board of Education Redistricting Committee last night voted to close an elementary school in 2009 but delayed a decision on which one for at least a month.

The move freezes a controversial plan to close Toquam Magnet Elementary School - at least for now.

The committee has been discussing whether to close Toquam when the new interdistrict magnet school opens in the Cove in 2009.

Board members agreed to the one-month delay to give Mayor Dannel Malloy time to talk to state officials about how the new school may be populated. Members were told the magnet school couldn't have a traditional attendance district, in which children are assigned to a building based on where they live.

Malloy asked members to "pause" so he could have a "broader dialogue" with the state about the new magnet school.

"He's going to be a great advocate," Board of Education Vice Chairman James Rubino said. "He's a man of great influence."

Malloy and board members were vague about what they hope to get from the state.

Members were expected to chose one of four options last night: keeping all schools open, closing Toquam and redistributing those students to their district schools, closing Toquam and moving those students to the new magnet school while retaining the curriculum, or closing Toquam and moving its students to the new school with the new environmentally themed curriculum.Ê

Instead, members voted in favor of closing an elementary school and tabled the three other options.

Because of declining enrollment and a limited budget, school officials are considering the closure of an elementary school when the new school opens. The school district is expected to lose about 700 students over the next seven years.

Closing a school would save about $5.4 million annually.

Malloy, a non-voting member of the school board, said his first choice would be to keep all schools open.

But board members said adding a 13th elementary school would necessitate cutbacks in other areas.

"I've often heard the schools ought to run in a more business-like fashion," Board of Education President Richard Freedman said. "What business people do is assess risk that could cost you dearly, and paying for a 21st school could cost us dearly."

Parents were stunned Toquam was targeted for closure because it is one of only two public elementary schools in Stamford to meet all federal No Child Left Behind standards this year without requiring remedial action. They launched a "Save Toquam" campaign and put signs with the motto on their cars and all over the city.

With redistricting, the board is trying to alter the attendance districts to ensure all schools have a similar balance of students, factoring in race and family income.

Toquam parents attending last night's meeting said they were relieved the closing has been put on hold.

"I am cautiously optimistic," parent Beth Covino said. "It still feels like limbo."

Redistricting Committee Chairwoman Susan Nabel asked Malloy to report back in four weeks so the committee could decide.

"It isn't in any of our common best interest to keep the tension going," Nabel said.

Toquam parents were thankful Malloy intervened. Had it not been for the mayor, the committee likely would have voted to close Toquam last night, said Astrid Olsen, who has two children at Toquam.

"We probably would have left here even more depressed than we are now," Olsen said.

Copyright © 2008, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Click here to read more.

Stamford Times: Toquam Decision Delayed

BOE halts redistricting; seeks to come up with new plan (Thursday, 4 p.m.)
By A.J. O'CONNELL March 20, 2008

STAMFORD — The board of education halted their redistricting effort and said on Wednesday night that they would reconsider the closing of Toquam Magnet School.

The decision comes after Mayor Dannel Malloy cut funds from his capital budget that would have gone towards the construction of the new intradistrict magnet school. Malloy this month cut $2.8 million from his capital budget for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) for the new Intradistrict Environmental Magnet School, effectively derailing the board of education's plans to open the new magnet school in September of 2009. Malloy said he hoped the cut would stimulate discussion, and cause the board to spend more time developing a comprehensive redistricting plan.

On Wednesday that is exactly what happened.

Malloy, a non-voting member of the board of education, told the board at a redistricting committee meeting that more dialogue with the parents, the state and with the community is needed before the board can decide which school to close.

"Taking up any of the remaining motions would be a mistake at this time," he told the committee.
A motion to keep all the existing schools open while opening the new magnet school already failed 3-1 in committee. Board member Robert King voted in favor of operating 21 schools.

The three motions to which Malloy referred would have closed Toquam Magnet School, and either sent its students back to their districted schools or to the environmental magnet.

Malloy offered to work with the board of education and the state in order to come up with a different redistricting plan.

"While I'm not happy that 13 months after this committee started, we're coming to a halt for a while, I'm happy to have the help in coming up with (a redistricting plan,)" said board member Rosanne McManus.

The decision will push back the magnet lottery, said Superintendent Joshua Starr. The lottery was supposed to occur on Monday, but will instead take place in May.

Redistricting committee chairwoman Susan Nabel said that she will expect a report from Malloy in four weeks, on April 10.

Parents from Toquam Magnet School, who crowded the board room, applauded as the mayor left at 7:30 p.m. to attend another meeting.

"I'm so pleased that the discussion isn't over," said mother Dana Patashnik, whose two sons are in kindergarten and second grade at Toquam.

Other Toquam parents were cautiously optimistic after Wednesday's vote.

"I'm glad they didn't close our school tonight," said Toquam mom Ida Morris, "but they did decide to close one school."

Parents from other schools were equally concerned.

"It leaves the possibility that that other schools may close," said Hart mother Chris Kanaris.

"Anything is possible the way this project has been going," said Jennifer Adams, also a Hart parent. Click here to read more.