I’ll tell you what, if the Federal Office of Civil Rights investigates the MDUSD because of parent(s) complaints (as is reported that at least one Glenbrook parent is requesting) that they are targeting low income areas for school closures, Lawrence, Eberhart and the others will wish they only had to deal with a local Grand Jury inquiry by the time its all over.

When OCR comes in they REALLY investigate and they have the resources to do so!
They also tend to stay for years sometimes depending on the severity of the problems.

This could be the reason for this attempt to stop at only 2 schools

Provided the Governor’s Budget proposal is approved and our funding is only reduced by $18.38 per student, staff recommends that we implement the approved facility closures and:

Staff believes the above recommendations will reduce $1.5 million on ongoing expenses

If the above recommendations are approved, does this mean that the board does not need to pick a 3rd school to be closed?

Board member Dennler asked the committee how it was that Silverwood received a “1″ facility rating, when that does not square with what is in plain sight. The answer was that a formula was used as to how much in “improvements” were needed at the campus and how much those improvements would cost per pupil. If they are referring to Measure C improvements, then that would not affect the General Fund, so it should not have been given so much weight.

There was a second criteria used having to do with facilities, that being “improved facilities for students if the school is closed”. Again, Silverwood received few points in this category.

So, just in the example given by Theresa above, Westwood received a total of 30 points related to its facility, whereas Silverwood received a total of 7. There is nothing wrong with Silverwood’s facility. No, most classrooms don’t have air conditioning but neither do many other schools in the district. The district’s website lists Silverwood’s facility condition as good with no repairs needed.

How and when Measure C improvements are done at a site are not under the control of the students, teachers, and parents. Yet, it was apparentely a huge factor in Silverwood being chosen.

The second thing that stood out to me is that from what I observed at both the January 19 meeting and the February 15 meeting, the commitee was not impartial. I saw committee members openly advocate for schools that they have an interest in. One committee member even said that there were schools that should have been considered that “fell off the radar” early in the process and inexplicably never seriously considered.

Third, there has been mention of Westwood being a “Distinguished school” as a reason to avoid closure. It is an acheivement to win that award, however, when compared academically head to head vs. Silverwood, here are the facts:

API SW 828 WW 810
Met 2010 Schoolwide growth target? SW Yes WW Yes
Met all subgroup growth targets? SW Yes WW NO
CST Results, % proficient in Grade 5
Science SW 75% WW 67%
English Language Arts SW 69% WW 66%
Math SW 77% WW 67%
Greatschools.net rating (out of 10) SW 6 WW
Residents compared to capacity SW .78 WW .57, meaning the neighborhood around Silverwood utilizes their school whereas a high percentage of WW students come from outside the WW attendance area.

I poring through the data, it seems the board should consider closing schools that have low site capacity AND are not meeting their academic performance targets. Schools that should have been given more consideration include El Monte, Fair Oaks, and Ygnacio Valley High. There was a proposal made by the district to combine some middle and high school campuses, but was scoffed off the table by the committee because it wasn’t their idea.

Silverwood would be split 4 ways when you consider that the Autism program would be transferred to Wren. Westwood would be somewhat split up as well. Both are utilizing their campuses and both are meeting their overall performance targets.

The board should halt the school closure process and reconsider El Monte, Fair Oaks, and possibly others based on site capacity utilization and academic performance. Silverwood and Westwood are not the best choices for closure based on those criteria.

Closing West Wood would:
* Cause major traffic problems
* Lower property values
* Cause an unmanageable size Jr High
* Cause a hardship on the kids from Glen Brook as it is too far to walk to West Wood and taking mass transit would cost $100 per month and take an hour each way
* The school would lose attendance money, if the student is not checked in by 9am the state doesn’t give the school attendance money. If these kids are taking mass transit (many of them would have to transfer) their arrival times will vary
* Cut off the deaf kids from their mentors at Concord High
* Cost the school district money in retrofits to West Wood as it is not set up for Junior High sized kids
* Any school that takes the deaf kids needs to have carpeted classrooms, acoustical tiles on the ceiling, FM systems (these items are already in place at West Wood
* Neighborhood vandalism, graffiti and break-ins would increase. Grade school kids don’t get into that kind of trouble.

The list goes on but I think you get the point that closing West Wood is a HORRIBLE idea.

Save the future of North Concord.
SAVE WEST WOOD!!!

Yes. Close Wren, Silverwood and Sequoia Middle.