The five-city meeting in Tower Wednesday night brought representatives of Ely, Babbitt, Tower, Cook, and Orr together to talk about ways to cooperate to maintain quality education in the communities.
At least two representatives from each city were present and thanks to the excellent work of Nancy Larson as facilitator, it was a productive meeting that developed several alternatives to explore. The cities of Tower, Ely, and Orr all committed to continuing the exploration process, while representatives from Cook and Babbitt were taking the matter back to their full city councils before making a final decision on future participation.
The city representatives agreed that they all share the desire to maintain a community school and they all understood that the future of their schools was in jeopardy. Ideas to be explored include the possible creation of a new school district, involving the five cities and surrounding areas, a consortium of charter schools, or a mix of traditional public and charter schools, similar to the model used in Cook County.
The individual mayors and councils will be selecting community representatives over the next few weeks to serve on a leadership committee that will explore the various possibilities and make recommendations for possible action in the future.
There were few specifics tonight, mostly just broad outlines which the leadership committee will have to flesh out over the comings weeks. We'll have more on this story in this Saturday's Timberjay and as the story develops.
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Have a read on the following site:
http://voteyesfordistrict2142bondrefplan.blogspot.com/
It has educational content in regards to the referendum and other viewpoints concerning the state of our educational system.
Educate yourself as it will be worth the time come the referendum vote in December. We don’t have the option to make a poorly thought out decision as it will seriously harm our area long term.
I have educated myself. I know that whether the vote passes or not on December 8th my children lose their school. I know that on December 9th I will no longer have a local education choice for my children the way the ISD 2142 plan stands now. I will work on a plan B to hopefully find an alternative that will be educationally and socially acceptable for my children. I have looked at the alternatives, vote yes and lose a school ASAP or vote NO and keep working with other areas to FIND a solution that INCLUDES all areas.
Its a no brainer for me. Vote No and work together. A better choice is out there. Lets work together and find it.
American students spend less time per day on vital subjects, like math, science, and reading than their foreign counterparts, according to David Gartner, co-director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution.
The emphasis on buildings while ignoring the essentials needed for learning will not improve the test scores of those children. The students who have left the district will not return to a district because it has a new school building. Ask them and they will say they left the district because they were not getting needed skills in the basic studies from ISD 2142.
The money spent on Johnson Controls, lost dollars because of poor test results and non-contracts, could have purchased many new computers, special classes for the gifted and children caught in the "middle."
Nothing can replace the time and money spent . Why continue on a lost path?