The unintended consequences of forcing schools to share the same building - The Washington Post

The unintended consequences of forcing schools to share the same building - The Washington Post

The unintended consequences of forcing schools to share the same building

A growing number of schools across the country share buildings and other facilities with other schools, a practice called “co-location.” Although on the surface it seems to make sense to give empty space in a public school building to, say, a charter school without a brick-and-mortar home, there are a variety of issues that make this a far more problematic “solution” than it seems.

In this post, academics Kathy Schultz, Wagma Mommandi and Melia Repko-Erwin of the University of Colorado at Boulder look at those unintended consequences, which affect teachers, students and entire communities.

Schultz is dean of the school of education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her new book is “Distrust and Educational Change.” Mommandi and Repko-Erwin are doctoral students at the school.

By Kathy Schultz, Wagma Mommandi and Melia Repko-Erwin

When teachers and students started the 2019-20 school year, most returned to their own school buildings — though many found themselves sharing their facilities with one or more schools. It’s a phenomenon known as “co-location,” and it has become an increasingly common practice, especially in urban school districts. But while the decision to co-locate schools may seem like an obvious solution when one school is in need of space and another has extra, the unintended consequences of this decision can lead to distrust between students, teachers and administrators.

An all-too common scenario occurs when district leaders decide to house two distinct schools within a single building because an existing school has extra space and a newly approved school is in need of space. Some link this seemingly paradoxical issue of having too much and too little space to the proliferation of school choice and changing urban demographics; for instance, in 2000, California voters approved Proposition 39, which stated that available or “unused” space in district school CONTINUE READING: The unintended consequences of forcing schools to share the same building - The Washington Post

Distrust and Educational Change: Overcoming Barriers to Just and Lasting Reform: Katherine Schultz: 9781682532973: Amazon.com: Books - https://www.amazon.com/Distrust-Educational-Change-Overcoming-Barriers/dp/1682532976