Many parents still concerned about communication
By Dee Longfellow
For the Elmhurst Independent
In a release sent from District 205 on the morning after its January 12th Board meeting, the administration released three statements about topics discussed that evening: 1) the transfer of special needs students from Field School to Emerson; 2) the issue of making announcements for AS.IS, the LGBT organization at York; and 3) the District Management Council.
The meeting lasted almost four and one-half hours, the longest ever in recent history, demonstrating the compassion and concern of parents and other residents within the boundaries of School District 205. Elaboration on the meeting will be published in the next print edition of the Independent, but meanwhile, we present the statements issued by District 205 in their entirety.
It should also be noted that the Field School parents who are concerned about the transfer of the special needs students to Emerson have started another petition.
A full story about the District 205 Board meeting will be published in the January 21st print edition of the Elmhurst Independent.
Superintendent’s Report To The Board Of Education
On The As.Is Announcements At York High School
At its December 15 meeting, the Board heard extensive public comment about the daily announcements to students by the York High School student group AS.IS. I will give you a brief history of what happened before the Board meeting and a summary of what has been, and is, happening since the Board meeting. It is important to recognize at the outset that I support AS.IS and value its contributions to a healthy culture at York. It is critical that all students and employees are valued and respected. This principle has guided me from the outset and will continue to do so.
On October 15, a parent contacted me with concerns about the appropriateness of the daily announcements at York by AS.IS. AS.IS was participating in the announcements as part of recognition of October as LGBT month. The parent’s concerns were reasonably and respectfully expressed. I advised the parent that I did not necessarily agree with the substance of her concerns, but that I would review the announcements and have the York High School Principal, Diana Smith, contact her.
Between October 8 and 16, five announcements were made on behalf of AS.IS. The parent contacted me again after the sixth announcement on October 20 with concerns that the announcement was inappropriate and that she had not heard from Ms. Smith. At that point, I reviewed the announcement and advised Ms. Smith that the AS.IS announcements should be stopped. Ms. Smith communicated to me her agreement with this action and took steps to have the remaining AS.IS announcements withdrawn. This subject did not come to my attention again until later in November when the club advisor asked for clarification on why the AS.IS announcements had been stopped.
Since the December 15 Board meeting, I have met with Ms. Smith and the Assistant Principal in charge of announcements learn more about the process and what communications had taken place with AS.IS after the October 20 announcement. I learned that detailed communication had not taken place with AS.IS and that there was an informal process for review of announcement. We discussed developing formal guidelines for announcements, which are now in draft form and which we expect to finalize shortly.
I was extremely troubled by the fact that the students perceived that their club was somehow less important than other students or organizations on campus. I met with the AS.IS president and the club’s advisors last Thursday, and I assured them that this is not the case. We also productively discussed my concerns and their viewpoints regarding the announcements. I believe that any communication issues and/or other misunderstandings about what transpired and why have been sufficiently resolved. Once the guidelines are completed, AS.IS will proceed with the remaining announcements that had been planned, revised as necessary to meet the guidelines. Also, I will be attending an AS.IS club meeting very soon.
Going forward, we expect the guidelines to be applied to announcements by AS.IS and all other student groups in a fair and uniform matter. I believe we will emerge from this difficult process with guidelines for student announcements which will serve York and our school community well. In closing, I must reiterate that for my entire career, I have advocated for ALL students. In all of my communication with the high school administration, the parent who expressed concern, community members who have questioned the decision, and again this past week with the AS.IS representatives, I have stated that I support a culture of tolerance that respects diversity and each individual equally.
District 205 Board Statement
Regarding the Transfer of Special Needs Students from Field to Emerson School
District 205’s Field Elementary School hosts two specialized instructional classrooms for students with special needs in the areas of intellectual disability, developmental delay, autism and other health impairments. One classroom is for students in kindergarten through 2nd grade, and the second classroom is for students in grades 3 through 5. Enrollment ranges from 8 to 10 students in each classroom, both of which are served by two teachers, nine educational assistants and other specialized professionals and support staff as needed. Six of the 18 students currently in the classrooms are drawn from the Field School attendance area, with the rest from the Emerson, Fischer and Lincoln Schools. The students are integrated into the activities of the general student population at Field for at least a portion of the school day as specified in the students’ individualized education plans.
In early November of 2015, the Superintendent approved moving the two instructional classrooms from Field School to Emerson School beginning at the start of the 2016-2017 school term in August of 2016. The current teachers in the instructional classrooms will make the move with the students, and it is expected that most of the non teaching and professional support staff workers will do so as well. Parents of the affected students were notified by a letter dated November 20, 2015. The letter was sealed and sent home with the students, which the District recognizes in hindsight was not the best way to communicate this news to parents and for which the District apologizes.
Initial consideration of the move began in July of 2014. At a well-attended Field PTA meeting in April, 2015, called to address the concerns of Field parents over inadequate space, former Superintendent David Pruneau advised that consideration needed to be given to moving the instructional classrooms before changing attendance boundaries to address expanding enrollment and space needs at Field. This was followed by dozens of meetings and communications both with the parents concerned about inadequate facilities at Field and with the parents of the special needs students in the instructional classrooms. The most recent meeting was held last night with families impacted by the move. Of the 18 impacted families invited to the meeting, one family from Emerson with a K-2 student attended and six families from Field with grade 3-5 students attended.
The primary reason for the move is to address the facilities at Field School which are inadequate to meet the instructional needs of all students at Field, both immediately and as projected. While Field is not technically at its maximum classroom capacity of 460 students, it exceeds its functional capacity in terms of classroom size, availability, the design and location of the media center, areas for instructional programming and areas for the provision of auxiliary services. For example:
- music classes were held last school year in the corner of the lunchroom in the morning and then moved to a kindergarten classroom in the afternoon;
- band and orchestra classes are held in the teachers’ lounge and a kindergarten classroom, which will not be available in the 2016-17 school year;
- two special education teachers, a reading teacher, an ELL assistant and a reading assistant share a single classroom with five dividers and service approximately 60 students in that classroom each day;
- an ELL teacher, a TBE teacher and a Spanish teacher share a single classroom;
- a Spanish teacher rotates among classrooms with a cart for necessary teaching materials.
All of this will be exacerbated with the influx of students expected from a new residential development in the Field attendance area and the expansion of ELL programming.
In comparison, Emerson School has a maximum capacity of 560 students and a functional capacity much larger than at Field. The current enrollment at Emerson is 459 students and at no time in the next five years is the enrollment expected to surpass 471 students. Significantly, Emerson has none of the functional shortfalls of Field.
In deciding that the move should take place at the start of the 2016-2017 school term, the administration considered the number of students, their ages and their home schools in determining that this was the best time to make the transition. The administration also considered a phased transition approach in which some students would remain at Field School while others would transfer to Emerson. This would require hiring an additional teacher at a potential expense of approximately $80,000 per year, and could require hiring additional support staff, which is contrary to expectations articulated by the Board with respect to hiring additional staff. Operating two programs at a reduced scale in each building would also diminish the value of the program to its participants in the host schools from an instructional standpoint. The previous administration recognized that the functional capacity problems of Field School could be resolved through changes in attendance boundaries, but both the former administration and the current administration view that option as even more disruptive and difficult to manage than moving the two instructional classrooms.
The administration recognizes the uncertainties and anxiety raised by the prospect of movement of the programs to Emerson. We are confident, however, that through the cooperation of the parents, teachers and administrators involved in the program, both at Field and at Emerson, the transition will be successful, with little to no adverse impact on the educational progression of the students in the program. The administration will provide the support services necessary to help the parents and students through the transition process. This will include very close monitoring of the progress and success of the students in meeting the goals of their individualized educational programs.
Statement by District 205 Board Of Education President Shannon Ebner
Regarding The District Management Council (DMC)
At the Board’s December 15 meeting, I made a statement regarding the work in District 205 by the District Management Council (“DMC”). My December 15 statement was posted on the Board Highlights portion of the District’s website (www.elmhurst205.org/BOE_highlights).
Communications directed to the Board, and more generally within the school community, since the Board’s December 15 meeting indicate a continued misunderstanding of District 205’s relationship with DMC and its work for the District. I will not repeat my December 15 statement, but I will address what I believe to be the most significant concerns which continue to circulate:
1. For years, the Board has heard from parents about the sufficiency of the academic programming at our middle schools, and student achievement data shows we are not meeting the needs of all students. If we want to make changes for the 2016-17 school year, we needed to start the process in September, 2015. Discussions about programming, curriculum and instructional delivery at our middle schools have been going on for over a decade among teachers, administrators, parents and the Board of Education. Multiple committees have been established and pilot programs pursued at individual schools, but success across all three middle schools has not been consistent. In the recent negotiations with the Elmhurst Teachers’ Council, it was agreed to establish a Middle School Task Force to again examine these issues. In an effort to supplement and assist the work of the Task Force, the Board engaged the services of DMC.
DMC was founded in 2004 to help address the most pressing and important management challenges facing American educators. The CEO of the Council is affiliated with Harvard University, and DMC has been selected for educational projects by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. DMC partners with public school district leaders to improve student outcomes, operational efficiency, and resource allocation. Its membership network includes more than 125 school districts of all sizes across 34 states, representing over 3.5 million students. Indian Prairie Unit School District 204 (Naperville area), School District U-46 (Elgin area) and Rockford School District 205 are some of the larger Illinois school districts which are members of DMC.
2. Last fall, the District became a member of DMC at a cost of $3,500 annually and entered into a $225,000 three-year contract with DMC to conduct a study of middle school programming, staffing and scheduling practices and to assist with the implementation of any changes that might result from the recommendations. The net cost of the contract is $214,500 because three years of annual membership fees are included in the contract price.
3. Neither our new Superintendent, Dr. Moyer, nor other staff members, have any financial interest in, or receive any personal benefit from, the District’s membership in DMC or its work as a consultant in District 205. Suggestions to the contrary are simply not true. The Board urges those who are alleging, or are repeating, allegations to the effect that “kickbacks” are involved are urged to carefully evaluate whether they actually know such statements to be true and recognize the damage speculative statements cause both the District and its employees personally.
4. The search firm (BWP) engaged by the Board to assist in the selection of our new superintendent and the new principal at York High School has no known connection to DMC. The District has received verification from senior leadership at both BWP and DMC that no connection exists.
5. The District’s engagement of DMC is for professional services which are not required to be bid under Illinois law. When DMC was engaged last fall, the quality of the firm and the value to be received by the District for the work performed was carefully considered by the Board. The work to be performed by DMC could not have been performed efficiently and effectively by the District’s current staff, given its current size and workload, without hiring additional staff at a long-term cost greater than what will be paid to DMC.
Professional services is an area in which bidding is almost never used. The procurement is sometimes done by requests for proposals, but it is also very common to procure professional services through a “sole source” process. The reasons why this is done usually have to do with timing, the uniqueness of the services needed, the unique qualities of the specific professional firm, and the importance of the specific relationship established between the firm and the client. In those professional service contexts, those recommending a contract have an obligation to provide assurances of both quality and cost competitiveness through other means, such as market data. This was done with DMC. The Board recognizes the importance of utilizing procurement processes that demonstrate that tax dollars are being spent wisely and effectively for the education of our children. But the Board also recognizes the limitations of using a bid process in addressing professional service needs.
6. There is no agenda by the Board or the administration to use DMC to increase class sizes or to reduce special education services. Dr. Moyer’s presentations and statements on these topics have been that the District should staff to its existing class size targets, not raise class sizes or reduce special education services. The Board has no plans to raise existing class size targets or to alter its commitment to meet the needs of our students with disabilities.
7. DMC has been engaged only to assist the District in assessing our middle school programs. DMC has not been engaged, and has no authority to examine, any other aspect of District 205 programs. The DMC work, as approved by the Board, is designated to help strengthen the District’s three middle schools in five areas:
- Codify the school’s priorities and theory of serving students;
- Review each school’s program offering, use of time and schedules;
- Review supports and services for struggling and gifted students;
- Review the cost-effectiveness of staffing patterns and practices;
- Create and help implement a phase-over-time plan for continuous improvement.
8. In the current challenging financial climate for District 205 and most other Illinois school districts, the Board supports the DMC concept of Academic Return on Investment. The Board would be engaged in an ongoing analysis of its allocation of resources to ensure support of the District’s academic priorities and provide for long-term sustainability of its budget, regardless of its current decision to utilize DMC’s services for the middle school study. The goal is to strengthen programming and preserve opportunities for students. Utilizing the concept of Academic Return on Investment will actually prevent or minimize the need for future budget reductions that could adversely impact students.
9. Collaboratively with the Elmhurst Teachers’ Council, a Middle School Task Force has been formed to receive, evaluate and make recommendations regarding the middle school programs, including the work of DMC. The 25-member Task Force is composed of 18 teachers representing a cross-section of our middle schools and chosen through an Elmhurst Teachers’ Council’s process. The Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendent for Student Services, the Assistant Superintendent for Personnel, and the three middle school principals also serve as members of the Task Force. Neither the Board nor the administration had a role in selecting the teachers who serve on the Task Force. The Task Force will receive and evaluate DMC’s report and make recommendations to assist the Board in its assessment of the DMC report and the needs of the middle schools.
10. Focus group interviews representing a variety of constituents, including parents, were conducted by DMC in November. A Time Student analysis of all three middle schools by DMC took place last week, and DMC’s analysis of schedules and achievement data is ongoing. The Middle School Task Force will meet three times to study best practices for improving student achievement during the months of January and February. Teachers are an important part of this project and have a significant role in determining the needs at our middle schools. The Board values their contributions and dedication to the middle school study, and looks forward to working collaboratively with teachers and administrators to provide the best educational setting for our middle school students.
11. The Board expects transparency in this process, with ample opportunity for the school community to review and provide input on the work of DMC and the Middle School Task Force before any final action is taken by the Board of Education.
