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