Save The Date:
October 10th, 2013
Jane Addams Pinehurst Meeting
So we just posted about the community meetings coming up on the Pinehurst/AS-1 K-8 program but I also wanted to make sure everybody knew about another upcoming Pinehurst Community Council meeting on the Jane Addams project.
There was a meeting at Jane Addams a while ago to discuss the plans for the new building and program at the Pinehurst location. (See the presentation here.) It wasn’t as well attended by Pinehurst people as I’d like (partly due to the location I think) so I wanted to do something more close to home. I don’t have the exact time or location yet but we’re planning on October 10th.
I’ve got both the School District (project management/architect side of things) and the PTSA confirmed so far. I want to focus on letting people know more about what’s been going on, what’s planned, and how we can get more involved as a community. Personally, I think it will be especially important to start focusing on sidewalks and safe routes to the school well in advance so it can become part of the larger plan.
The presentation linked to concerns the Jane Addams K-8 program that potentially would move to the site, not the Jane Addams Comprehensive Middle School planned to begin in the 2014-15 school year, in case anyone was wondering. The new middle school program would start in the Jane Addams K-8’s current location, on 34th Ave NE.
I see that it says in the design meeting’s presentation that were held over the summer break to ‘engage with stakeholders.’ I know, I know, Pinehurst K-8 (also known as Alternative School #1) may not seem like a ‘stakeholder’ per se, but if the district is planning to displace over 150 students and an entire school community, I would think they’d have some consideration.
I realize Jane Addams K-8 is excited for this new space and whatnot, but I gotta say it is disheartening to see designs being plopped over top of the current school that houses a great program. It’s too bad the board and district don’t care and have already, even though they keep telling everyone ‘No Decision Has Been Made,’ made the decision to close the Pinehurst K-8 (aka AS#1) school and program.
The fight goes on…
Danny
FYI: There is a public hearing tonight at Pinehurst K-8 (aka AS#1.) It starts at 7pm and hopefully the superintendent will attend this time and some actual answers will materialize from nothing. Please attend and make sure your voice is heard.
Thanks,
Danny Littlejohn
Pinehurst K-8 (aka AS#1) parent
I attended the Pinehurst K-8 (aka AS#1) public hearing last night.
It was just that, a public hearing for public testimony. No more real information was gleaned from it other than how important the school is to the community of people who send their kids there.
One testimony of note was School Board Director Peaslee waited patiently and testified last with no time limit and put on record that the options of temporarily locating at the Decautur bldg while waiting for a permanent co-location with Thornton Creek are absolutely viable solutions. She also stated that it doesn’t make sense to close a program due to low enrollment while there are waiting lists and empty buildings in the district. She also stated that she had a conversation with Thornton Creek’s principal John Miner who told her Pinehurst must be saved and is on board with the co-locating option.
The district attendees were:
Mr. Banda
Ms. Whitworth
I think Mr. Paperman
A court reporter
Mr. Redman
and of course the district lawyer Mr. English to be sure it was done by the letter of the law.
Danny
The co-location at Thornton Creek would be an option since the Decatur building will be available once the new building is completed, but that is a long way out. I would be curious to know where most of the families that currently attend AS#1 live. It could possibly be a long commute to the Decatur site. The other thing is there is increasing pressure by the district for alternative schools to conform to district policies which in turn is making them a lot less alternative. Teachers at the alternative schools have chosen to teach in those schools because they have been allowed the freedom to be creative in their approach rather than having to follow the script which many traditional schools are forced to follow. Not only is the AS#1 program, but all the alternative schools are threatened. The kids that go to these schools tend not to do as well in traditional school setting and are often not “testers.” Also alternative teachers do not teach to the test, but they will be forced to if the test scores are now tied to their evaluations. The district expects those students to do well on standardized tests and I believe if the alternative schools don’t show better results on standardized tests, they are not going to survive no matter where they are located.