From Concerned Eckstein Parents
Sent to us:
We are writing to urge, implore, BEG you to write to all members of the School Board THIS WEEKEND! The Superintendent and District Staff put their BEX levy proposal before the school board on Wednesday. The proposal includes a new middle school at Wilson-Pacific and repurposing the Jane Addams building for a 1000 seat comprehensive, attendance area middle school.
Urgent Call To Action:
We are writing to urge, implore, BEG you to write to all members of the School Board THIS WEEKEND! The Superintendent and District Staff put their BEX levy proposal before the school board on Wednesday. The proposal includes a new middle school at Wilson-Pacific and repurposing the Jane Addams building for a 1000 seat comprehensive, attendance area middle school. The Board has NOT reached consensus on this topic, and the second middle school at Jane Addams is at risk. PLEASE WRITE TO THE SCHOOL BOARD TODAY—THEY NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU RIGHT AWAY.
Here’s how things stand:
· Eckstein already has some of the WORST OVERCROWDING in the district.
· Eckstein currently has 25% portables, most of which are extremely old.
· Eckstein’s Capacity is 950, they are currently enrolled at 1300.
· NOT putting a comprehensive attendance area middle school at the Jane Addams building would likely cause Eckstein's enrollment to surge over 1500 in two years. By 2017 that number is likely to surge past 2000.
· Jane Addams K-8 has been offered a home at the Pinehurst building, which is slated for expansion.
A key recommendation of this proposal is that two additional comprehensive, attendance area middle schools are needed urgently in the North Region to address current overcrowding and anticipated enrollment demands, particularly for Eckstein and Whitman middle schools. Together, a new Wilson Pacific Middle School and the repurposing of Jane Addams offer some hope of relief from the unacceptable overcrowding at Eckstein.
There is an alternative proposal from the community to grow Jane Addams K-8 to a “mushroom” model, where there are three classes at each of the K-5 grades and five classes at each of the 6-8 grades. This will NOT solve the overcrowding issues at Eckstein or address the predicted enrollment growth in the North East. IT IS NOT A VIABLE SOLUTION.
The School Board needs to hear from our community about what is fair and equitable for our children. Overcrowding—and all the resulting problems it creates—is not conducive to learning.
Share your concerns with your school board members TODAY!