EHK-Exira
Boards receive update on Whole Grade Sharing & reorganization
The Elk
Horn-Kimballton and Exira Boards of Education held a joint meeting Monday
evening, in Elk Horn. Superintendent Dean Schnoes told KJAN News the schools
are on the right path towards consolidation, a path that began last year, when
the districts entered into a Whole Grade Sharing agreement,…..(read full article here from KJAN.com)
Information
presented on Fredericksburg, Sumner school merger
…..The superintendent said historically schools make the move to
consolidation from whole-grade sharing in three or four years…….(read full article here from nhtrib.com)
Woodbury Central Superintendent
Doug Glackin had this to say in a Sioux City Journal article last summer;
“Whole grade sharing is the first
step, you kind of test the waters first,” Glackin said. “But eventually that
leads to consolidation. You have one school board, one administrative staff,
one set of teachers and one school identity.” (read full article here at siouxcityjournal.com)
“To be
perfectly honest we have not merged districts nor are there immediate plans to do so.” (read his letter here)
February
2013 letter from North Fayette Sup’t Duane Willhite
Notice in the
following passage from his letter how he mentions that there are no immediate plans for a merger, but I
guarantee you, he knows it’s in the cards.
Algona, Titonka voters OK Consolidation
Whole Grade Sharing success story!
''The reality is, it's kind of bittersweet,'' said Marty Fonley,
who is the superintendent of both districts. ''It's hard when a community loses
its school. However, the positive is this shows the success of the (Whole Grade) sharing
that's been going on for years.'' (Read full article here at messengernews.net)
'Grade sharing' may be worth investigating
Iowa first began its grade sharing concept
in 1980 between two high schools in north central Iowa. At that time, according
to Clarion-Goldfield Community School District officials, students at Goldfield
Community School in grades 9-12 attended Clarion High School during the morning
and returned to Goldfield for a class and extracurricular activities. By
1993, the Clarion and Goldfield districts merged. Today, Clarion-Goldfield
is currently in another grade sharing agreement, this time with the Dows
Community School. Together the schools serve nearly 1,000 students. (read full article here at aberdeennews.com)
Recommendation
to Tri-Board: Whole-grade sharing
Armstrong-Ringsted, North Kossuth and Sentral school districts
finally learned the professional recommendation: Share.
Jerry McCall of Educational Consulting Services of Omaha, Neb.,
on Wednesday laid out his advice on how the districts can remain viable for the
next decade. In a three-phase program stretching out to 2030, McCall
recommended having a whole-grade sharing plan in place by February 2012.
As for consolidation, McCall mentioned the three districts can
look at that in Phase II, or when the student population drops
below 700. But some internal changes could already begin. McCall said that even
with whole-grade sharing, all three districts could fall under one
superintendent.
"Could we start consolidating services before we actually
consolidate?" asked Armstrong-Ringsted board member Jim Boyer. "We're
still operating three separate budgets."
McCall said that is a possibility, but he prefers to deal with
the general ideas, and leave the business details to the districts. (Read full article here at the esthervilledailynews.com)
Are the proponents of WGS really going to try and continue to tell us that this isn't going to lead to a consolidation? It's about time they become very honest with us and quit being coy about the issue. We have every right to have the truth about their future intentions.
-Eric
-Eric
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