Reasons to Oppose WGS

1. Larger class sizes. This cannot be disputed. Valley and North Fayette will have a combined enrollment of about 1250 students. While the elementaries will currently be separated, the middle school and high school will be housed together.

               Oelwein CSD by comparison has a student body of 1280 students. If you want to know what kind of class sizes your children will face, look no further than Oelwein. Oelwein is the 88^th largest district as far as enrollment in Iowa out of 352 districts. North Fayette Valley would become the 90^th largest district in the state. We would be larger than Allamakee Schools (1207 students), Algona (1199 students), Hampton-Dumont (1199 students), Iowa Falls (1087 students), New Hampton (1003 students), Aplington Parkersburg (842 students) and the list goes on. (Source; CLICK HERE).

               Starmont and Postville each have about 600 children. Central has about 400 children (same as Valley). This is my biggest beef with this Whole Grade Sharing. This isn’t a case of 2 schools with 250 kids making a school of 500. 1250 kids is a very large school, much larger than I care to send my children to – and this is the biggest reason that I open enrolled my children out. My daughter Jenna is in the 5^th grade this year, and next year she will be in middle school. Next year she would be thrown in with all of those extra kids. This is why this will be the last year my children attend Valley.

              
          Bigger is not better. We’re educating children, not raising hogs.

 

2. Increased bus times. Again, this cannot be disputed. Children from Alpha, Hawkeye, and Fayette will have it the worst. It takes about 40 minutes to drive from Alpha to the Elgin campus by car. Add in all the extra time that taking a bus involves, and you can see how your child from Alpha can expect to spend 2+ hours per day on a bus. Why don’t they put teachers on those buses so that the kids can have some education time while they ride around the countryside?

3. Geographic Location. This goes hand in hand with #2. Those of you who live in Elgin or Clermont will really notice the difference. No longer will you be able to enjoy a < 3 minute trip out to the school for your High Schoolers. Now you will have to drive about 15 minutes.

               No longer will you have one stop shopping for school conferences if you have multiple children in school. If you need to pick your kids up from school early for any reason, you have to go to two separate schools now. This convenience that you have enjoyed all these years will be lost.

               For those of us from Wadena, it’s much worse. The High School campus in West Union is just about 15 miles away (vs. 11 for the Valley campus). North’s High School is on the opposite side of West Union, so it takes a few minutes to drive through town. By contrast, the Starmont campus is 11 miles away, and there’s only one stop sign between here and there. Central is about the same distance as West Union, but with Central, Postville, or Starmont, you get the convenience of one stop shopping.

               Even the Iowa School Board Association mentions that geography should play a role in where your children are educated. This is the same association that our WGS friends keep mentioning while pushing this WGS arrangement. CLICK HERE to read the statement. 

4. Whole Grade Sharing leads to Consolidation. Those who are for WGS will tell you that this is speculative, but it’s really not. They know that if you knew what was to come next, that you would fight like hell against this plan. Don’t take my word that WGS leads to consolidation. I have created a post where I am working on putting up all the instances I can find where school administrators and others have been honest about the real purpose of WGS. CLICK HERE to read it. If this were a case of two small schools coming together to make a normal sized school, it may be different. However, we’re talking about taking two average sized schools and making a very large school. In fact, we’ll be one of the largest schools in this part of the state. Large schools may offer more class variety – but they also have a lot of problems that are inherent with schools of a large size. First, you lose true local control. You have fewer people representing a much larger area. In large schools, parents generally have to form organizations in order to get recognition from their school board. Cedar Rapids right now is losing children in droves to the smaller surrounding schools, and a lot of it has to do with personal attention. I grew up in Walker, which is just north of Cedar Rapids. I know people who live down there and I know what problems they are facing.

               Once consolidation comes, our Elgin campus will be in jeopardy. This is for reasons that also cannot really be disputed. Imagine a consolidated school district for one moment. There will be somewhere between 7 to 9 school board members. No longer are we separate schools, but one. Look at the Iowa School Boundary map by CLICKING HERE. Do you see how Valley and North Fayette mirror each other? Imagine that as one district. Where do you think the center of that district will be? If you guessed West Union, you win a cigar!

               Almost every school that I can think of tries to create a central campus for financial reasons. North Linn just finally completed creating one central campus by placing their elementary schools out at the Middle and High School. They moved the Middle School out there back in the mid 1990’s. Before that, North Linn had 4 school buildings. Now they have one large one. Walker and Coggon (where the two elementary buildings were located) now each have an empty school building to deal with like we have here in Wadena.

               East Buchanan has had a central campus for some time. Before I started kindergarten, I believe they were still using the Aurora building. I went to school there back when they held K-3 in Quasqueton (Quasky). They used to send 5-12 up to Winthrop. Everything is up at Winthrop now.

               Let’s not forget. When Valley started, they used the Clermont school for some time. I wasn’t around then, but I believe they used the Elgin building as well. Did they use Wadena? No matter whether they did or not, eventually, we moved to a central campus. It’s how it works. It saves money and decreases busing expenses. You won’t be shipping kids from the western fringes of the district to the eastern fringe. Everyone will just go to the center. Think of why most county seats are generally placed towards the center of each county. The same holds true with schools.

               There is no reason to believe that once consolidation comes that there won’t be a push for a Central Campus. The new school will cover a vast territory, and as such, will have tremendous transportation expenses. They will also have a very large tax base at their disposal. It’s doesn’t take someone being very creative to see the handwriting on the wall. After consolidation, we won't have the votes on the board to save our Elgin campus should they decide to close it and build a new school in West Union. It'll be all over but the crying. 

               Yes, maybe it is slightly speculative to say that this will all happen, but consider this. If you smoke cigarettes, you’re told that you’re probably going to get cancer and die. Is it true that everyone who smokes will end up with cancer? No. But we still warn people, don’t we? We even put Surgeon General’s warnings on packs of cigarettes. There’s even been a push to put photos on packs of cigarettes to help drive home the point. Maybe that’s what’s needed here?

 

               There are many other reasons to oppose WGS. As you can see, it’s not about prejudice or fear. Well, maybe fear, but only fear in the sense that those who support WGS may actually succeed in dooming our current school towards closure. Using the word “fear” to label your opponents is a powerful tool. My grandfather went to Germany and fought against a bunch of people who accused the Jews of being fearful of change. Just remember, not all change is good. Not all fear is bad. 

               Finally, the question has to be asked – when will we be satisfied? How big is big enough? Where does consolidation stop? Will school expansion only be limited by how far we can bus our children in a day? When the Elgin, Clermont, and Wadena schools consolidated, I don’t believe they ever imagined that this day would have come. The very same arguments are being made today that were being made back then. What’s next? In 50 more years will we go to a county wide school system? After that, will we go to a college system where we have about 20 campuses in the state where we ship our kids? Since those back 50 years ago probably would have laughed if you would have suggested this was going to happen, I have to ask these questions today. When will it stop? Again, this is about educating children, not raising hogs or cattle. Evidence suggests that smaller may very well be better when it comes to education. One thing is for certain. Once we lose our school – there is no getting it back. Just because you see everyone jumping off the bridge doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to do. Use your brain. Think about the consequences of our actions. Do we really want to risk losing our school? I say we learn to live within our means and continue being one of the best small schools in the entire state of Iowa.

                                                                                                                                                      -Eric

Powder Puff Blue

            It appears that the colors were decided on for the new school. If you listen to Al Knox, Duane Willhite, Mark Howard, and Cathy Molumby – we’re still the same school. Funny how if we’re the same school that the colors, name, fight song, and many other aspects have changed. Are you sure we’re still the same school?

            Anyhow, I’m being sarcastic. The colors chosen for the new school are Black, Columbia Blue, and Silver. I didn’t know what Columbia Blue was. It also says that Columbia Blue is Pantone Columbia Blue 3 (Pantone 292). I looked it up. I can describe it much better for you. It is powder puff blue. It’s close to the color that the UIU Peacocks use. You can see the color if you click on this link; CLICK HERE.

            They’re looking for a new logo. When I think of a TigerHawk, I think of the Iowa Hawkeye TigerHawk that graces the sides of the football helmets. I know some schools in Iowa also use this logo, although they probably have special permission to do so. Hayden Fry designed that TigerHawk. I’m not being a smartass, but it’ll be interesting to see what people come up with. I remember at North Linn when they added the tufts to the ears of the Lynx. That didn’t go over well! I see they have the tufts now, but the logo looks much better than the one they presented in high school. I do sincerely hope that they two schools come up with a neat logo. I’ll still fondly remember our Valley Tiger, and fight to bring it back by trying to bring our school back.

            You can read about the contest by clicking this link; CLICK HERE.

 

                                                                                                                                    -Eric

Mr. Knox's Echo Letter and My Responses

               Mr. Knox from Clermont recently had an article in both the Elgin Echo and West Union paper. He went so many directions in his letter that I couldn’t possibly afford to cover all the insinuations and jabs that he took upon those of us who oppose WGS. I actually get charged for the letters I put in the Echo.

               Below is a copy of his letter. His words are in blue. I add my commentary in red. I know several of you live outside of this are and are watching all of this from afar, so I will also put a scan of his letter from the Echo up for you to see the original by CLICKING HERE. 

                                                                                                                                       -Eric 

To the editor:

To the parents, students and other members of the Valley community:

            As a parent, we are faced with many decisions regarding what is best for our kids. Sometimes our decisions make the kids happy. Often, they do not. And sometimes, we are so convinced that we know what is best for our kids that we miss the obvious best choice due to our own prejudices and fears. (I am not prejudiced. I have children who attend North Fayette. I am informed. I am only afraid that people like you will succeed in killing our school off) It is these decisions that come back to haunt us as our kids go through life. (So will closing our school) Parents of Valley students have told me they are having many discussions with their kids about the North Fayette Valley Whole-Grade Sharing Agreement. (Same here, but obviously not the same ones as you)They have asked me what I think about it. As a former student, bus driver, teacher and board member, as a current resident of the Valley CSD, and as a grandparent of a youngster entering Valley Preschool; I am pleased to be able to share some thoughts. (Enlighten us!)

            To the parents and to the kids who are discussing where to attend school next year, I ask you to consider the following:

            Valley CSD and the North Fayette CSD are schools with excellent academic reputations. (True)  It was the desire of the boards of these two school districts to not let the academic programs of these two fine schools decline due to budget shortfalls. The financial problems resulted from decreasing enrollment and inadequate state funding. (Enrollment isn’t all that much different than before. The budget problems face all schools. They are working in Des Moines on this issue. The problem is a short term problem, but we’re making a long term decision – one that jeopardizes the independent nature of our school. The proponents of WGS are doing so because they want to – no other reason. Neither Valley nor North Fayette were in any real trouble or danger.) The decision to explore WGS was based on the desire to maintain academic excellence for the students. (Valley had no problem with academic excellence. From the Valley website: “Data analyzed between 2004 and 2007 regarding freshman attending the three State Universities indicated Valley’s graduates had an average Grade Point Average of 3.24, hence ranking Valley Community High School as 13th high school in the state of Iowa of high student achievement.” CLICK HERE to see the web capture with this part highlighted. See comment above. They decided to WGS because they wanted to, not because there were any real problems. Remember, Mark Howard called the move “proactive”). The 160 members of the community who participated in the process produced a comprehensive document allowing the two schools to maintain an excellent educational program for the students. (Who picked these 160? Who were they? I never heard about it.)

            There were no ulterior motives or secret discussions involved in any of the decisions made by the two school boards. Both boards have members who have students in school who will be impacted by WGS. Both boards have members who love their respective schools and communities. They love their kids and grandchildren. There is no reason to think that any one of these fine people would support any decision that would be bad for their kids or grandkids. (It doesn’t mean that they always make the correct decision.)

            Determining where to send your kids to school is a huge decision. This is probably the single most important decision you will make as a parent, other than matters of health. To make this decision based on athletics or your own personal fears or prejudices (Again with the “fears and prejudice” B.S.) may mean that you are missing the obvious best choice for your child. (Who says that North Fayette Valley is the best choice for my kid – you? I say the best for my kid is a smaller school with smaller class sizes) This is that moment in your life as a parent that you have to step back and put away your own fears and prejudices for the good of your children. (Why doesn’t Mr. Knox step back and let those of us who actually have kids in school make this decision? He had his time. He got to raise his kids how he saw fit. I am doing the same). It is inconceivable to me that a parent would send their student to another school without first knowing exactly what the educational program was in that school. (We toured the other schools and spent a lot of time before making our decision. The other schools have fine programs as well. Yet, Mr. Knox would have you trust him and his friends for making the correct choice for your kids). The reality is that North Fayette Valley will offer an excellent educational program in outstanding facilities. This is about as good as it gets in northeast Iowa. Take a hard look around. Think about your kids' education first and only. (That’s why I’m leaving Valley) Make the decision based on what is best for their educational future. (Postville, Starmont, and Central are wonderful schools.) Very few of our kids will have their future lives determined by how many minutes they play in a high school athletic contest. (An obvious jab at Mr. Orr).

            Open-enrolling your kids to any neighboring school guarantees where they will be going to school for one year. The neighboring schools have the same financial problems as North Fayette and Valley and will make the same decisions regarding WGS within the next two or three years. (Who told you this? I spoke to both Central and Starmont. Elkader has looked at WGS, but told me that they are trying everything else first in order to preserve their independent school district. Starmont isn’t even close to entering into a WGS agreement. Did you speak to the superintendents of these schools like I did?) Consider sending your child to Guttenberg, Garnavillo or Oelwein. Does that make sense as a parent?(Neither does West Union. It’s further away from Wadena than Starmont by about 5 miles) With the North Fayette Valley WGS agreement, you know where your kids will attend school for the next three years. That is a very big deal. (My decision is long term unless we can save Valley).

            And I struggle to understand why a parent would send their Valley student to a neighboring school because "they won't know anyone at North." (I know plenty about North) The reality is that their friends will be at North Fayette Valley with them and the K-8 students will be at the same Valley school they already know but with some new friends. lt is all good if they stay at NFV.(Mr. Knox’s opinion. My kids will be just fine at Starmont as well) Sending them to another school does nothing to guarantee that they will have friends and/or not face bullying and other problems. (My kids already have friends who attend both Central and Starmont. This will not be a problem) Sending them to NFV assures they will be with the large majority of their friends. 

            And finally, I am confused when a parent talks about how much they love the Valley school and how good it has been for them and their kids and then decide to open-enroll their kids to another school. This act takes money out of the Valley School and makes the effort to keep Valley Community School District open that much more difficult keep preschool through eighth grade at the Valley facility. (What about those kids open enrolling to North Fayette Elementary? Valley should have taken this into consideration when they entered into a whole grade sharing agreement. If they had polled the parents, they would have seen this coming, but alas, the parents were never polled!) I see a stronger Valley Community School District. (There will be no Valley. Only on our tax bills will we see the name Valley. It’ll be North Fayette Valley. Our children won’t graduate from Valley. They’ll spend four years in West Union and their photos will hang there. Whole Grade Sharing guarantees that Valley will one day no longer exist) I don't see how taking kids and dollars away from what you love is any type of solution. (Nor is putting Valley in the position of consolidation) I would ask that you think about your true reasons for open-enrolling your kids to another district. It is not about loving Valley. (Correct. It is about keeping my kids in smaller class sizes, under one roof, and closer to home than West Union.)

            The Valley Community School District is a very good school that faced a difficult decision. The Valley board made the decision that provides the best educational opportunity for the students. (That can be argued) Take the time to look at the current program offerings at North and at Valley. The North Fayette Valley WGS agreement gives the students excellent choices to prepare for their future. As a parent, the educational opportunity should be the basis of your choice of a school for your kids.

            Parents, grandparents and other good folks of the Valley community need to step up and speak out for what is best for kids. (And many of them are saying to keep our school!) It is time to set aside our frustrations, upsets, fears and prejudices and support what is truly best for our kids. (And many of us believe it’s keeping our school!) We need to take a deep breath and rationally discuss the true choices based on educational opportunities that are in front of our kids. The large majority of us believe that the NFV WGS agreement is the best solution for the kids and our communities. (I wouldn’t call it a majority. There are a lot of people believe that this is the wrong move as well.) We are a good and strong community. We will do-what is right, just as we have through the 5o+ years since Clermont, Elgin and Wadena all had independent school districts. (School board elections are next fall. I look forward to them.)

And we will do it together! (No, we won’t.) 

Thank you,

Allen Knox

Clermont

 

Valley Fight Song - Band-O-Rama 2/21/2013

            Growing up at both East Buchanan and North Linn, I never got into school songs or pep rallies. I used to be the smartass kid sitting up in the bleachers making fun of the people getting all worked up over something so silly as a school song. Well, maybe it’s age, maybe something else, but I feel different about it now. I’ve never felt so strongly about a school. I never attended Valley, but many in my family did. I know many people who have gone to Valley and it’s a wonderful school. I was very happy thinking that my children would graduate from Valley. I really was content.

            My heart has been hurting ever since I heard that we would be losing our high school. I know what’s coming next. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist. Even if I quit writing to this blog, I’m going to keep these posts up just to prove that I’m not a fruitcake when I say that we’re going to lose our school. Someday you'll be able to look at what I write here and see that I wasn't just crying wolf.  

            Already they are changing the name, colors, mascot, fight song, etc. etc. They tell us that we need to think of the two schools as one. This is the last hurrah. Valley has been given a death sentence and upon the completion of the last day of school this spring, Valley will be forever dead. I still think we should fight to bring our school back, but people seem too afraid to speak up and say anything. The people who had this all planned - had it planned well. Hitler would have been proud. It was the perfect blitzkrieg.

            Tonight Valley held its Band-O-Rama. KinDee took video, albeit a bit shaky, of the Valley band kids playing the Valley fight song. I put it here because it too will die at the end of the year.

            The day will come when many of you will miss hearing this song on a Friday night sitting in the cool fall country air between Clermont and Elgin. Is there really a more beautiful place to hold a football game? In its place will be some new, soon to be decided fight song cheering on some TigerHawks, but that old Valley CEW fight song will go the way of the “Rebel Yell”. Soon, it will be forgotten.

 

 

Fight for a victory, Tigers

Fight for the Blue and Scarlet!

Fight, fight, for Valley High

All glory to her name! Rah! Rah! Rah!

Fight, Tigers, Fight for victory

Win, Tigers, win for Valley

Fight, fight for Valley High

Let's fight and win this game!

 

Go! Tigers! Go!

Fight! Tigers! Fight!

Kick 'em high

Block 'em low

Go! Tigers! Go!

 

                                                                                                      -Eric

February 18th Board Meeting and thoughts about it.

               It’s been a few days now, but the board met on February 18^th. There was a lot going on in that meeting, but KinDee said that the peanut gallery only had about 5 to 10 people in it again. Is it any wonder they feel like they can do whatever they want? Such apathy! As was expected, they denied allowing Central or Starmont’s buses into the district. They provided a list of children who were open enrolling out. I noticed about 10 kids open enrolling out to North Fayette. Some of them were elementary kids. I wonder how they are going to handle that? Will they allow those children to ride the bus? Is it okay to allow kids to ride the bus to attend elementary in North Fayette, but not the other schools? When those elementary kids leave for North Fayette, they’re taking money away from Valley just the same as those of us going to Starmont, Postville, or Central. I would sure like an answer on that.

               The name of the school will be North Fayette Valley. They couldn’t wait to start using the new name. If this really was just about using Whole Grade Sharing for a couple of years to get us over a budget crisis, then they wouldn’t change the name, would they? Tim Orr had a good idea on the phone, but KinDee didn’t hear him bring it up at the meeting. Tim suggested to me that Valley ought to keep its name, colors, and mascot and North could do the same. But, this isn’t just about getting us over a budget crisis, is it? It’s about eventual consolidation. Whole Grade Sharing is meant to get people used to the idea of sharing and its purpose is to ease the process of consolidation. We’re back at the boiling the frog scenario. This is why they are so hell bent for leather about getting this new name out there and using it. This is why they keep telling us that we need to think like we’re one school. They’re like a bunch of snake charmers. They’re trying to mesmerize us and get us to fall asleep so we don’t complain while we watch our school dissolve.

               They tried to push through North Fayette colors. That’s one area that some of the board members balked at. Funny how our board members are more worried about school colors than they are about keeping our school. What the hell does it matter at this point? We gave ourselves away to North Fayette. We’re the bride, they’re the groom. We better get used to our new position. They’re bigger than us. They’re higher in the food chain. We gleefully capitulated to them. How can we complain at this point? What the hell did our board expect? We're getting what we asked for whether those board members know it or not.

               I know they decided to have a meeting on the 19^th with the North board members. I haven’t heard what they decided on. Again, does it really matter? It’s not going to be Valley red and blue, is it?

               Yes, we have some challenges ahead of us. There were a lot of people angry over this. Where have they been lately? We won’t get our school back by staying silent. If nobody is at those board meetings, they’ll keep on doing whatever they want to without worry.

               KinDee saw the packet that the board members get. In it, Cathy Molumby lays out the agenda for the night. In it, she makes her recommendations, for or against, and lays out her arguments. You can tell by the tone of what she writes whether or not she thinks something is a good thing or not. KinDee watched the board do everything Cathy recommended, without a second thought. The only dissent came from Tim Orr. We’re in deep trouble if we don’t change things.

               It’s only going to get worse. Cathy may be on her way out, but her contemporary is on his way in. It’s not official, but they’re pushing very hard for North Fayette’s superintendent, Duane Willhite, to become ours. The board wants to share him. Why would we think that another school district's superintendent would have our best interest at heart when it's in the best interest of that school to consolidate with us? If a superintendent has such pull, it would be in our best interest to hire one who is independent of this entire situation. Think of using a lawyer. Would you want to share the same lawyer with someone you are trying to hammer out an agreement with? You want one who will represent you and your best interests. We need the same here. Duane Willhite pushed for WGS and he knows it will lead to consolidation. Hiring him to represent us is like putting the fox in the henhouse.

               I still think this whole plan was hatched out by Duane and Cathy over a year ago. I cannot prove it, but the process had to start somewhere. Somebody had to come up with the initial idea to pursue this. Nobody seems to want to take credit for it though. I guess we're all supposed to believe that it just came out of thin air. Everything is just too “convenient” in how it all played out. To tell you the truth, if North Fayette hadn’t lost their junior high building next to the courthouse, I don’t think we’d be in this mess. North needed us far more than they are letting on. They needed our building. The students are a plus, and the best part is this – once consolidation comes – their tax base becomes one of the largest in this part of the state. Think of all the land they will be able to tax! This new district will be huge! It’ll be bigger than New Hampton’s! Yes, this whole thing is very insidious.

               No, Duane Willhite certainly is not in the best interest of Valley. His best interest will be for North Fayette and seeing this eventual consolidation through. North Fayette will benefit nearly 100% by the eventual consolidation. The buildings will be in West Union. The jobs will be in West Union. Everything will eventually be in West Union. All we’ll be left with is a crumbling school between Clermont and Elgin, and a whole lot of debt and regret. But by then, it’ll be too late. They'll have gotten everything that they wanted, and we'll have exactly what our apathy deserves - nothing.

 

                                                                                                                                            -Eric

Busing Agreement

            I have spoken to the superintendents from both Central and Starmont many times. I have been mainly focusing on Wadena here when I speak to them. I know of about 6 kids currently open enrolled to Central from here in town. I do not believe those kids will be coming back to Valley. They were open enrolled out long before this Whole Grade Sharing fiasco came down the pike. I don’t know of any children from town here who are open enrolled at Starmont. I know there has been some interest from other families, but how serious they are is something I don’t know at this point.

            Both schools are going to ask our school board for permission to send their buses into our district. Any such agreement by law has to be a reciprocal agreement, meaning we can send our buses into their districts as well. I spoke to my cousin Tim Durnan who lives in the Postville district and sends his kids to Valley about this, and he said that he had to get permission from Postville to allow the Valley bus to come to his home out near Gunder to pick his kids up. I assume this means there is an agreement in place already with the Postville district. I'm not 100% sure though, but based upon the information that Allan Nelson gave me, there must be.

          Allan Nelson, the superintendent from Central told me that he looked into the rules on this and he said that these agreements cannot limit how far buses can go into a district or who they can or cannot pick up. These arrangements are done mainly on a “good faith” agreement. First, it has to be in the “receiving” district's interest to pick the kids up. I highly doubt Starmont would send a bus to the northern edge of Valley’s district to pick up 3 kids. Starmont is only looking at any kids from the Wadena area currently and they said that they really don’t have any plans to go any further north than that. And for the record, Starmont is a much better fit for us than West Union. It’s almost a better fit than our current school in Elgin. It’s about the same distance to both the Elgin and Starmont campus from Wadena. There are less stop signs going to Starmont and you can get there about 5 minutes faster than you can to the Elgin campus. West Union is much further for us. While it may only be about 9 miles for those from Clermont and Elgin, it’s about 16 from the middle of town here to the school building on the northeast edge of West Union. We also have to weave through a few of West Union's streets to get there from here.

            Central on the other hand already enjoys the benefit of about 6 children from our town. The Orr kids who live near our western border. Tim told me that his kids are set to go to Central next year. Central is a better fit for his family. I don’t think Central is going to come too far into our district either. They’re mainly interested in the kids from Wadena who are already open enrolled in their district, and those few families who feel Central would be a better fit for them.

            If this Whole Grade Sharing is going to be the cat’s rear end as the proponents say, then why not open up the borders? Shouldn’t families from outside our district see the shining city on the hill that West Union will become when we WGS? Shouldn’t they be flocking to get their kids into our mega school with all of its tremendous opportunities that we’ve been told about? Why keep our borders closed? It’s because they know it’s not the great beacon of light that they’ve promised. Anything so good wouldn’t need all the spit and polish that they’ve been putting on this deal. A lot of people want out, and rightfully so. They’re not going to attract new families to this new district. Who wants to send their kids all the way to West Union to be a part of a school that large? Open up the borders to the buses and let’s find out. You’ll be able to send yours into their districts too. Put your money where your mouth is.

            The Valley board is set to make a decision on this matter soon. I believe it will be on the agenda February 18^th, 2013. I’m willing to bet it’ll be another 4-1 vote. It won’t stop me from open enrolling my children out. It’ll only steel my resolve to see this board voted out in the next two elections. My kids will only return if & when Valley has it's high school back.

                                                                                                                                       Eric
 

                                                                                                            

We’re not alone.

          As I said in my letters directly to the board members, and in the ones I put in the Echo – we are not alone in facing budget shortfalls! However, I spoke to the superintendents of both Central and Starmont and both of them said that while Whole Grade Sharing is an option for them, their boards have decided against it at this point and instead decided to pursue other options. On the KCTN website, we find the following news about how Central plans to handle the situation. Compare it to our approach of shutting our high school down and condemning our school to closure.

                                                                                                            -Eric

 Central Board

By: KCTN News

 Feb 6th, 2013 

The Central School Board Tuesday considered options to balance the school district budget by June 30, 2015. Board members elected to go to single section classrooms in grades 4-7 for the 2013-2014 school year and to start multi-age classrooms for K-5 in the 2014-2015 school year.

Implementing those measures will reduce one middle school and two elementary positions, saving approximately $200,000. There are 471 students currently enrolled at the school.


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Sumner and Fredericksburg officially Merge

       Looking at KCRG tonight, they’re showing the vote for the merger as 728 for and 25 against. This is exactly what Whole Grade Sharing is supposed to lead to. This is Whole Grade Sharing at work. Whole Grade Sharing will lead to consolidation.

Read the story in the Waterloo Courier Here


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Stuff in the Echo

            I got the Echo this evening. I was quite disappointed to see that nobody else has written anything in support of saving our school. With so many telling me that they enjoyed the letters that I put in the paper, I was hoping that others would take the opportunity to add their voice as well. I can’t afford to pay the price to the Echo every time a letter needs put in the paper. I see Molumby and Willhite both had lengthy letters, well over 350 words. Any bets on whether they were charged or not? And for the record, what’s with all the “quotes” that these two use? They cannot write a single article without having quotes from someone in it. Eileen Schlawin’s piece several weeks ago had a quote from Henry Ford. I could care less about the quotes of others. I want to know what these guys have to say about us losing our school!

            What’s their answer about the eventual closure of our building in Elgin in ten years or less? I’ve brought it up twice in the paper. Has anyone else noticed their silence on the issue? What about their answers to local control being lost? Not a peep. What about the eventual merger in the future? Again, barely a word. They just say there are no immediate plans. Their silence on these issues speaks volumes. I’m not just crying wolf here. This is what is coming down the road. If we don’t stop it now, it’ll be too late later. I am of the belief that we have just three years to save this school. If we cannot change the board in three years, our goose will be cooked. If nobody takes the effort to stop these guys, then how can you complain about losing your school?

            They like to talk about the future, but their vision is lacking some very important details. Their future involves a school sitting between Elgin and Clermont in the weeds. Their future involves 1250 students being shipped to West Union for school. Their future involves a property tax base that will stretch from Chickasaw County to Clayton County, from Highway 93 north to about Postville. 49% of my property tax bill is for the school. Our voice will be diminished as we’ll have less say about how our money is spent. In their future, all of our tax money will go to West Union. They’ll be the ones to boast about the new schools, and have all the jobs and benefits that come with it. We’ll just be “tax base” for them.

            Do you know why they don’t want Valley to dissolve? If Valley dissolved, the boundaries would be redrawn and different parts of Valley would go to different districts. Wadena very well may go to Starmont or Central. Areas north of Clermont, and maybe even the town itself might just get sent to Postville. Under this WGS plan, the next step is consolidation. In consolidation, North Fayette gets to inherit the entire prize that Valley is. They get every single ounce of tax base and folks, I’m telling you, that’s exactly what the plan is. It’s doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see it. This plan is very insidious. However, if nobody is willing to stand up and fight for this school, then I guess we deserve to lose it. I know it sounds harsh, but that’s the truth.

            KinDee went to the school board meeting last night. She said that there were maybe 5 people in the peanut gallery at most. 5 people! No wonder these guys think they can do whatever they want.

            For those not from the area, there were only two letters in the open forum in this week’s Echo. One is the letter from Duane Willhite which I have already linked to in the WGS articles section of this blog. I bet he didn’t have to pay to run his letter. The other is from Cathy Molumby and is below. I doubt the Echo charged her either. Again, I’d like to know what the hell the deal is with all these quotes that they use………do they really think it makes them sound smart?????

 

Click here for Molumby’s letter.

Board Meeting Tonight 02/04/2013

          When I spoke to Tim Orr the other day, he said that there was a board meeting at the school tonight. I believe it’s at 7 o’clock. For sure they will be dealing with that new wrestling room and storm shelter. They will also be dealing with reciprocity agreements for allowing busses to cross school boundaries at some point, but he wasn’t sure if that was going to be tonight or at the next regular meeting. I’ll go into that reciprocity agreement more later.
          Tim told me that he was all for this new storm shelter and wrestling room, only if we would have kept our school. However, with this WGS agreement, the odds are that our school building will close in the next ten years as WGS leads to consolidation. He says, “Why spend the money and put us in debt when we’ll be closing the school anyhow?” I’m paraphrasing for him, but I agree with his message. If we’re going to close the school anyhow, why spend money on upgrades?
          I’ll use the example of our school in Wadena again. Look at it. The old part of the building is in rough shape, but it has a nice kitchen area and the gymnasium was in pretty good shape when they closed the school. There it sits rotting. Why spend our tax dollars just so that we can build something that will sit and rot in ten years?

Open Enrollment Ends March 1st!

          Open enrollment ends March 1^st. I’m not going to go into all the reasons why you should open enroll your children out of Valley if you’re able to right now, but if you’re on the fence about it, I highly recommend that you fill out the forms and submit them before the March 1^st deadline. This allows you the option of having your children go elsewhere if you want at a later time. Since so few details have been worked out between North Fayette and Valley at this point, there may be something that you don’t like happen after March 1^st, and if you haven’t submitted an open enrollment application, it’ll be too late to switch. You’ll be stuck at Valley for at least a year. On the other hand, if North and Valley hammer out an agreement that you like, you can always choose to keep your kids at Valley. Just because you file the open enrollment papers doesn’t mean that you HAVE to open enroll them elsewhere. It just opens the door for you and gives you the option should you feel the need arise. I personally think it sends a strong message to the school board and administrators and puts them on notice that they better do what’s in the best interest of your child or else you’re leaving, and taking your tax dollars as well.

            For those who are low income, there is transportation assistance available. Check the appropriate box and send in proof of your income. Generally, if you receive free or reduced lunch, you should qualify for this assistance. Make sure to fill the forms out completely. Make sure you fill out a form for EACH child. You must file the forms with both schools, the one you’re leaving (sending district) and the one you are considering sending your child to (receiving district). You may also choose more than one receiving district and choose which school you want to send your child to later. Currently, my wife and I are considering Central and Starmont for our children. Both are really good schools. Starmont has about 650 students and is about the same distance away as Valley is from us. Central has about 450 students and is about a mile further away than West Union from us. Valley currently has about 440 students and North is in the 800 student range. Our middle and high school kids will be in class sizes approximately the size of those found in the Oelwein School district, which currently has about 1280 students. This is one of the reasons that I’m not in favor of this WGS and eventual consolidation plan.

            Below you will find a link to the open enrollment form that you’ll need to fill out and submit for each of your students. Remember, March 1^st is the deadline. After that, you cannot open enroll out for the next school year. I highly recommend that if you have any doubt – fill out the forms and leave yourself some options. A lot of details have yet to be worked out over this new arrangement. You might not like some of the details and you might just have to live with it if you don’t take this opportunity now.

Click Here for the Open Enrollment Form (You need Adobe Acrobat to open this file)

(If the above file is buggy, try opening it in Firefox. The file is the same one that is found on the Iowa Department of Education website, and has been buggy for me in IE, but works fine in Firefox)