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Board to meet with them Tuesday to discuss plan to redistribute students among schools
By Gina Mace
Special to the Beacon Journal
Published on Sunday, May 03, 2009
CUYAHOGA FALLS: A proposal to redistrict elementary schools has upset some Cuyahoga Falls parents.
Nearly a dozen parents of Gordon DeWitt Elementary School students met Thursday to discuss the change that would send 63 of the school's 515 pupils more than two miles away to Preston Elementary.
They plan to air their concerns at a meeting with the Falls Board of Education at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the administration offices attached to the high school.
The board is expected to vote on the proposal during its regular meeting May 18.
DeWitt has the biggest population of the district's six primary schools. Silver Lake, at 248, has the smallest number of students and the smallest classes.
On Thursday, the parents talked with school board member Kelly Patterson and Councilwoman Mary Ellen Pyke, whose Ward 2 includes DeWitt.
Kimberly Reed, who lives on Merline Street and walks her children to school, said she's taking the move personally.
''Why our neighborhood? Why us?'' she asked. ''We know we don't live in the most glamorous neighborhood. Property values have already gone to pot. What happens when we lose our neighborhood school?''
The district map was redrawn in 2005 to accommodate students from Newberry School, which closed to address district finances.
The new boundaries are designed to relieve crowding at Price and DeWitt schools; increase enrollment at Preston and Silver Lake schools; and create classroom space in case a bill mandating all-day kindergarten passes in Columbus, district officials said.
If the school board passes the redistricting plan, students living south of Francis Avenue would move from DeWitt to Preston, which is on Tallmadge Road east of the Broad Boulevard railroad tracks. Also transferring to Preston would be students living west of Merline Street between Francis and Grant avenues.
Some parents are worried that property values will decrease when their neighborhood school goes from a few blocks away to more than two miles.
Pyke said that although the district would provide busing, students involved in after-school programs might have to walk home.
''They would have to cross the railroad tracks and expressway entrance and exit ramps to walk home,'' Pyke said.
She offered to sponsor a resolution against redistricting if the parents would support it.
Patterson told the parents she knows how they feel. It was the closing of Sill Middle School and Newberry Elementary that motivated her to run for the school board.
''My son's school was ripped out from under him four years ago,'' she said.
Patterson said the district could save money by closing Silver Lake Elementary, which gets nearly half its students through open enrollment.
''It's a costly building and politically touchy,'' Patterson said. ''The perception is it makes more money for the district and passes levies. But Cuyahoga Falls passes levies, too.''
Three of the five school board members are Silver Lake residents.
Patterson said the cost per pupil at Silver Lake is as much as 52 percent more than any other Falls primary school.
''They try to claim it's because of salaries,'' Patterson said. ''If it was, you should be offended, because that means most of our experience is in that school.''
Silver Lake would see enrollment increase by about 35 students as a result of redistricting.
The boundaries of Price Elementary also would be redrawn. Students who live on the north side of Munroe Falls Avenue, from the CSX Railroad tracks to the Cuyahoga Falls-Munroe Falls border, would transfer to Silver Lake.
Although she is not in favor of redrawing school boundaries, Patterson said that something will have to be done to relieve crowding at DeWitt and Price and save money for the district.
CUYAHOGA FALLS: A proposal to redistrict elementary schools has upset some Cuyahoga Falls parents.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 08:28 AM, 05/03/2009
Again? Didn't they just do that? What kind of circus are you people running?
Why don't you contact Mendenhall and recall the school board?
akron, oh
Posted 08:51 AM, 05/03/2009
Set 'em straight Edward!
Stow, OH
Posted 09:26 AM, 05/03/2009
Kids adjust to such changes way better than the adults.
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 10:01 AM, 05/03/2009
One of the reasons I bought my house was b/c my son would go to DeWitt in two years. Now he will have to travel two miles instead of 6 blocks. That is insane.
Posted 10:03 AM, 05/03/2009
Siver Lake is a old school but it goes with the deal of having Silver Lake in the District
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 10:12 AM, 05/03/2009
I would think Cuyahoga Falls parents would be thrilled to send their kids to the Silver Lake school. Silver Lake is full of the richer and finer parents & kids compared to Cuyahoga Falls. It would be a step up in their education. My God, don't these Cuyahoga Parents have something better to do?
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 11:04 AM, 05/03/2009
OMG....You seriously need to get a life.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 11:04 AM, 05/03/2009
I believe we need to have our childrens' best interests at heart. If school redistricting is necessary to provide a better learning environment for our children, then all options should be considered with an open mind. However, it seems apparent that a certain school board member is adament about shutting down Silver Lake Elementary. I (along with many other parents of Silver Lake Elementary students) do not understand her relentless motivation to close this school. Especially given the comment made by this board member in the above article. She told the parents she knows how they feel. It was the closing of Sill Middle School and Newberry Elementary that motivated her to run for the school board. She states, "My son's school was ripped out from under him four years ago". In my opinion, if she understands how it felt for her son to have his school "ripped out from under him", how does she think it will affect the students of Silver Lake Elementary if their school is ripped out from under them?
I am a Cuyahoga Falls resident. We live approximately 1 mile from Silver Lake Elementary and about 1/2 mile from Lincoln Elementary. Our daughter attends Silver Lake Elementary under open-enrollment. It is a wonderful school and I believe it would be a great loss to Cuyahoga Falls and Silver Lake to ever close that school. Redistricting sounds like a good solution, but it needs to be considered carefully, and the boundaries need to be selected wisely. For the parents who are concerned about their children living a further distance from school, I recommend open enrolling their child in the school of their choice. It is something they would have to do every year, but it is worth it to have peace of mind knowing that their child is attending the school they want them to attend.
Stow, OH
Posted 11:34 AM, 05/03/2009
Mr. Grump: People our age should realize that having money and being a "finer" person are not related. You know better than to assume that moneyed people are automatically better than those from humbler circumstances.
Orrville, Oh
Posted 02:54 PM, 05/03/2009
Complying with Supreme Court resolution funding schools with property tax on state appraised value of The American Dream UNCONSTITUTIONAL four times!
Demand EVERY every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church markets the cost in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service. Of EVERY parent, Fathers disqualified for affirmative action with white skin, Union workers, consumers, taxpayers, and America’s grandchildren’s children. Fund EVERY school with money derived from wages or independent business profit.
Would make education in the USA and EVERY school AFFORDABLE!
Cuyahoga Falls, Oh
Posted 03:42 PM, 05/03/2009
What is this board thinking? To relocate 63 children ages 6 to 11 years old that live as close as 4 blocks from their school to a school 2 miles away that crosses entrance and exit ramps for route 8 and a set of railroad tracks where a teenager was recently killed when she thought it was safe to cross?? Not to mention the lack of money for crossing guards and busing being cut! I have seen the maps, pre and post proposed redistricting, and topographically, it makes absolutely no sense for this section of Cuyahoga Falls to have been selected.
Financially, keeping open the most costly school where half of the kids in the entire school, Silver lake, are open enrolled, which Cuyahoga falls loses money on supporting kids outside of our district, and where there is a much lower student to teacher ratio than any of the other Cuyahoga falls elementary schools, seems, frankly, ridiculous. Obviously higher test scores are attributed to education, not being “richer or finer”. And, three school board members being from Silverlake, on a panel of 5…Wow, is it he good of the few, at the sacrifice of the many?? It is not clear who came up with the redistricting plans, but it is quite clear that incompetence played a huge role. Shrinking state support and shrinking property values are the main contributors to our lack of school funds. Redistricting is a stopgap, small minded solution to a huge problem. It is both a temporary and transient fix, a finger in the dam. Get some guts, and give the people of Cuyahoga Falls some ideas, and Choice for God’s sake. This is a democracy, and 5 people voting on behalf of over 50,000 residents of this city, without dialogue or support of their constituents reeks of dictatorship.
If the board can’t find the answer, redistricting is not it, then find someone who has the experience to help the Cuyahoga Falls school system. Get an expert; don’t shovel kids to and fro trying to keep the status quo obviously, it’s not working.
Posted 08:08 PM, 05/03/2009
Old Man: It's quite obvious you have nothing better to do than to sit behind a computer all day and trash other peoples' comments. You really need to get a life ... maybe as a WalMart Greeter? I think you could fill that roll quite nicely. Clean up your own backyard before you worry about someone else's!
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 08:07 AM, 05/04/2009
Why not just move the open enrolled kids from Dewitt over to Price? I currently live in the Dewitt area. My kids went there and I understand why the parents don't want their kids to go to a different elementry school. I understand why the board members who live in Silverlake want to keep that school open. They (the board) need to remember why they want their kids to stay in Silverlake elementry. It is the same reason why the parents of Dewitt want to keep their kids at Dewitt.
There has to be another solution then to just arbitrarily move kids around. This board cannot be this naive to think there would not be a fight, especially with the fight they had with the communities where Sill and Newberry are.
The board members were voted in and they can be voted out. If they do this without looking at viable alternatives, they can and will be voted out. There are more voters in Cuyahoga Falls then there are in Silverlake.
This is a real bad idea especially with the levy that will be voted on next year. There are more students living in Cuyahoga Falls then the 248 students attending Silverlake. They have to consider all the students in the district not just the Silverlake kids. I understand why they want to keep Silverlake open. There has to be another solution other then closing one school or moving students from another. Move the open enrolled kids out of Dewitt to Preston. Let the kids living in the Dewitt area stay at Dewitt.
By the way ALL of the elementry schools in the Falls are good. The teachers are all good in every building. There is not one school better in the district then another. Just because one has a certain zip code DOES NOT make it a better school then the rest of the district!
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 08:11 AM, 05/06/2009
why dont they get rid of silver lake?
