Ive been asked directly, several times, my position on the closing of Orchard View. Here it is: I see tremendous value in Orchard View. Ive heard passionate, articulate testimony of success from students whose lives have been dramatically positively impacted by the school. I recently had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful teacher who teaches there and his testimony was incredibly moving as well. One of the issues which I consider paramount in this election is transparency. As I said last night at the Meet the Candidates event, I do not think it is appropriate for the district and the board to make decisions in isolation without a genuine broad based analysis of the financial condition of the district. I think it is unrealistic to discuss a school closing apart from redistricting, extra curricular activities, teacher contracts, tax increases, etc. Each of these decisions have substantial impact on the overall financial condition of the district and to discuss and certainly to decide any of them in a vacuum is irresponsible. For all of the time Ive spent at board meetings this year, I honestly do not believe that the public and likely the board themselves have sufficient information to be making such impactful decisions. I believe there is much more significant research and dialogue necessary before we can even begin to make meaningful long term decisions. That said, the district has a $212M budget and is $117M in the red. Some difficult decisions will have to be made and I cannot say that the closing of OV would be exclusively beyond consideration. HOWEVER, I would not allow OV to represent the sacrificial lamb. The board recently voted not to close Vassar Road school. And a contract with the teachers is said to be close. As I said, we cannot make these decisions in isolation. And we cannot make them for the sake of political gain. We must make the decisions for the best of the community in the light of the broad perspective of the community. The reason Vassar Road was not closed this year was not necessarily because it was determined to be a fiscally sound decision, but because the evidence for justifying the closing was insufficient. We must apply that same criteria to any decision regarding any school closing or redistricting or any such decisions we consider: we must be able to support the decision with meaningful, tangible evidence, dialogue and consideration. I do not believe the board has given sufficient consideration to the concern of closing OV and to the prospective alternative arrangements for the students (or staff) and I would not consider closing it until we had.
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 00:28:11 +0000
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