Reply about busing from Cathy Molumby

               A week or two ago, I put a letter in the Elgin Echo where I asked about those who are open enrolling their kids from Valley to North Fayette. Valley “closed” it’s borders to outside buses. Schools who do this are advised to close their borders to discourage people from open enrolling out. There is this belief that if only they can keep people in the school, they will see that it isn’t “so bad” and they will then choose to remain.

               Since we will be having buses coming back and forth from North Fayette already, I wondered if those families would be allowed to use the bus as opposed to those of us who are open enrolling out and have to take our kids to school at a greatly added expense.

               Mrs. Molumby e-mailed me her response and CC’d it to Duane Willhite at North Fayette. I appreciate Mrs. Molumby sending the message to me and I will post it here for the rest of you. Below is her response, copy and pasted.

                                                                                                                                       -Eric 

Hello, Mr. Durnan,

I thought I would let you know some of the information that you were wondering about as referenced in your letter to the editor in last week's newspaper.

The Board's decision to keep the borders of the Valley district closed at the February board meeting includes all districts.  In fact, as part of the Iowa code guidance regarding Open Enrollment in Chapter 17, specifically 381--17.9(282) Transportation, it specifically outlines that, "Bus routes transporting pupils for the purpose of whole-grade sharing shall not be used to transport open enrollment pupils for the portin of the route that is within the resident district unless the boards of directors of the resident and receiving districts have both taken action to approve such an arrangement."  Hence, the Valley Board's vote to sustain closed borders remain in place even in the whole grade sharing arrangement.

Just wanted to provide you information you questioned in the newspaper.  You can gain information by contacting the school offices as well.

Sincerely,

--
Cathy Molumby, Superintendent

Valley Community School

23493 Canoe Road

Elgin, Iowa 52141

Ph: 563-426-5501 

“The success of change is largely determined by your attitude about change.”  ~David Cottrell "Monday Morning Mentoring"

"The pessimist complains about the wind.  The optimist expects it to change.  The leader adjusts the sails."  ~ John Maxwell

From my daughter......

               My #2 daughter informed my wife this morning that kids in her school think that I am “bad mouthing” North Fayette. North Fayette is a fine school, but when I compare it to Valley, which I am able to do because I have kids in both schools, I can honestly say that I prefer Valley. One of the things that I prefer about Valley over North Fayette is its size. To me, smaller is better. You must remember, I choose to live in Wadena, one of the smallest towns in this area. I like smaller towns, and smaller schools. I’ve had my belly full of being around big towns (Cedar Rapids) and I moved to this area specifically so I could raise my family in a small community, and have them attend a small school. I view WGS as a threat to my ability to have my children attend a small school.

               It wouldn’t matter to me which school Valley chose to WGS with. I would oppose them all as I am opposed to WGS no matter what. WGS is a tool that is used to consolidate schools. I think I’ve proven that on this website as I have cited many instances where other school administrators have gone so far as to admit as much. We were told that WGS was put in place to expand educational opportunity when the real reason was to prepare both schools for consolidation. I find the process entirely dishonest, and it has been my plan to expose the truth about WGS. You don’t have to take my word for it. Read those articles that I have linked to in the section called Whole Grade Sharing leads to Consolidation.

               As far as complaining about how North Fayette buses their kids around, I stand by that statement. I have never seen a school so content to bus kids all over the county. Don’t get mad at me because I see no benefit of a child spending up to 2 hours per day or more on a bus. I don’t use the school as a babysitter. I like having my kids home if they aren’t in school, not riding around in a bus.

               I also like having all of my children under one roof. No matter whom Valley would have Whole Grade Shared with, I would have lost that. By taking my kids to Starmont, I will once again have all of my children under one roof. It’s too bad that I can’t get that at Valley (NFV) any longer.

                I do not want to have my children attend a large school. I like the personal attention that comes along with a smaller school. I have experience with larger schools. It’s not for me. Some will like the new larger feel to North Fayette Valley. I for one, will not be a part of it. That is why I am now forced to send my kids to Starmont if I wish for them to continue their education with the same level of personal attention that they currently receive.

               WGS is the new reality. It is my hope that we can put a stop to this process before we end up consolidated. However, if the people of both North Fayette and Valley choose to continue down this path, knowing full well that it will lead to consolidation, and accept everything that comes along with it, then I accept that. I will strongly disagree though.

               I am probably one of Valley’s biggest supporters. I want to see Valley remain an independent school. I want to do everything possible to see it remain one of the best small schools in the state of Iowa. I want to see jobs remain at Valley. I want to see our school building remain open, and properly maintained. I want to see Clermont and Elgin benefit from having the school there between the towns. Think of the economic benefit the school provides to those communities. I want our school district to keep local control, so that our tax dollars stay here at Valley. You don’t do those things by entering into a Whole Grade Sharing agreement, knowing full well that it will eventually close your school.

               The proponents of WGS are either ignorant as to what their plan will bring, or they truly feel there is no other choice other than set Valley on course towards eventual closure. When I say there won’t be a Valley to hurt, I mean it. By Whole Grade Sharing, we are guaranteeing that our school will eventually be closed. I can’t stand that. It would be different if we were truly in trouble, but we weren’t!

               Before you start thinking that I’m “bad mouthing” anyone or anything, take the time to actually read through everything here. Really take a look at the section where I show all of those instances where Whole Grade Sharing leads to consolidation. Is this really what you want? While I understand the students not caring as much because of their youth, for those of us parents and taxpayers, it’s really a big deal. Many of these kids will grow up, move on, and eventually decide to not live around here. Sadly, that is the truth about today's rural America. You certainly aren’t going to teach these kids to find the value of living and raising their families in our small rural communities when you keep teaching them that bigger is always better. 

                                                                                                                                       -Eric

Commenting Here

               If you’re going to comment on this blog, you’re going to have to put your name. Say what you will, but at least I’m not afraid to put my name behind my beliefs. I’ve gotten a couple of blog comments. On one, the commenter put their name, but when it was published, they withdrew it. Then I get this one this morning from someone who instead of putting their name, they put “Person you don’t know”. Would it make a difference if I knew you?

               At least Al Knox isn’t a coward - and I never said he was stupid. We may strongly disagree on the future of our school, but give the guy credit, he puts his money where his mouth is. I’ve met a lot of people who are against WGS, but many of them are like today’s commenter, afraid to have their name out there. I’ll publish opposing comments, but you’re going to put your name behind them or they'll go in the trash can.

               I’ll also address this “person I don’t know’s” comment. Here it is: 

Person you don't know has left a new comment on your post "Don't Lose Hope!":

Sir i understand if you are upset, but that doesn't give you the right to put this blog on the Internet and badmouthed North Fayette schools. In my eyes the reason Vally haf to WGS with us is because Vally were in a lot of debt and needed a a solution. For them North Fayette was there solution because we were interested in WGS with them. They turned to us not because they wanted to, they had to other wise they were gonna have to close there school. So again if you are upset about what is happening then you go to the board meetting and you voice your opinion. I am happy for you that you are concerned for your school, but does that really give you right to do all this and Mak NF look bad, no it does not.

 

               I copy and pasted word for word. I am not making North Fayette look bad. If anyone makes North Fayette look bad, it’s North Fayette. I have children at North Fayette. I have children at Valley. I prefer Valley. I have always felt that Valley gives more personal attention to their children. I guess I’ve always attributed that to Valley having smaller class sizes. That’s something that we will both lose once we WGS. Class sizes will triple for our students, and be half again as large for North Fayette students. Am I not entitled to oppose that? Am I not entitled to complain about how North Fayette buses MY children all over the countryside, and oppose any plan to include the three kids who live with me from being subjected to longer bus times?

               I would also like to dispel this notion of us being in financial trouble. We were not in any danger of closing. Our board president called the move “proactive”. If anyone needed this WGS arrangement, it was North Fayette who had an infrastructure problem. My eldest daughters are currently in North Fayette Middle School. Geeze, you lost the Junior High building there by the court house and ever since, you’ve been shuffling those kids between Fayette and West Union. Why haven't you built a new building? Money. That’s why. By WGS with Valley, North got an instant solution to their infrastructure problem. The problem is, it will lead to consolidation. I’m not opposed to helping someone out, but losing your own school in the process is another matter. Then, once consolidation comes, there will be a greater tax base, and I’m willing to "bet the farm" that a push will be on to build a central campus in West Union. I don’t want to pay for that. I like the building we have right now. I like the smaller class sizes that we currently enjoy. I like having lower taxes than North Fayette. Mine are high enough as it is now! In the end, neither schools needed to WGS. North Fayette needs to build their Middle School and Valley needs to be content being one of the best small schools in Iowa.

               My wife has been to the board meetings. I have spent quite a bit of money opposing WGS. I’m not going to quit opposing it until it’s too late. WGS is the new reality. I’m not oblivious to that fact. I have not been able to find a single school which has come back from WGS. Every school that has ever entered into a WGS agreement has eventually consolidated. I was unable to find out if there are any schools who have been in a perpetual state of WGS, but generally, most schools have consolidated within ten years. Is consolidation what you really want? Does misery really love company?

               One of my biggest beefs is that when WGS was being pushed to both schools, the people were told that the contract was only for 3 years, as if it’s not a permanent solution. Even Duane Willhite put in his letter that there were no immediate plans for consolidation. In other words, the message they were sending to those of us who oppose consolidation - Don't worry. What they weren’t telling anyone publicly was that there was absolutely no intention of us ever going back to 2 separate schools. The purpose of this blog is to tell people the truth. It’s to show them what WGS really is. If after reading this blog, and learning about what WGS really is, you still think this is the right move, then so be it. We’ll have to agree to disagree. Don’t blame me for being upset that we were sold a bill of goods which was terribly misrepresented.

               Next fall there will be another school board election. There will be people at Valley who will run opposed to continuing WGS. If the people of Valley still elect pro WGS after knowing exactly what WGS is going to do to our school, then at least I can live with the fact that the people are getting what they want. We were never asked if WGS was what we wanted. That decision was made by 11 people (7 North Fayette board members and 4 Valley members). The school board election will be people's first chance to vote for their future.

 

                                                                                                                                                      -Eric