November 2, 2007

Compromise on POR, boundary realignment does not appease some parents

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

A standing room crowd of perhaps 1,000 people worked their way into the James F. Smith Elementary School gymnasium on Oct. 18 to discuss impacted schools, boundary realignments and strict proof of residence at the monthly Evergreen School District board of trustees meeting.

The meeting was quite emotional. At least 200 people gathered and more than 100 spoke.

The tension throughout the room was palpable.

Many saw the meeting as a continuance from the month before, when a number of parents, many of whom signed a petition asking for stricter proof of residence (POR), importuned the board to meet their requests. They begged the board to find methods to enforce annual strict proof of residence in order eliminate what they contend are large numbers of students attending impacted schools, such as Matsumoto and Carolyn Clark, but actually living outside the school’s neighborhood boundaries.

In the end, the board decided to compromise with a plan suggested by Superintendent Clif Black. His idea is to begin collecting stricter POR at the impacted schools this spring and summer, delaying any boundary readjustments until the fall of 2009.

“Our Board of Trustees clearly heard the concerns of our parent group and they addressed those concerns through our revised boundary realignment work plan. That plan calls for us to delay implementation of the boundary changes by one year and to institute a stricter proof of residence practice for those schools designated as impacted. We will analyze updated enrollment numbers next September prior to instituting any boundary changes,” Black told the Times.

“What we have not done is stop the boundary realignment process. I cannot accept schools with 950 to 1000 children and, just a mile away, schools with 500 to 650 students. All schools should have classroom space for special education, county special needs children, GATE children, before and after school daycare programs and auxiliary rooms for special projects or events.

“We will continue to move forward to make that a reality. Evergreen School Board is trying to find a fair solution to a difficult problem,” he said.

However, the parents’ task force is unhappy with the compromise. “It doesn’t meet a number of items that we are seeking,” said Ganesh Raghavan, one of the early founders of the parent group.

He said the scheme works for Matsumoto and Clark Elementary Schools, but does not institute a strict proof of residency for other schools that may soon be impacted, such as J.F. Smith and Chaboya Middle School. “They are doing an annual strict proof of residence only at impacted schools. Once the boundary realignment is complete they will not need to do a strict POR because the schools will not longer be impacted. We want the proof of residency done every year.”

The parents’ group doesn’t want to see bussing; they want all the children to attend their own neighborhood schools. “We’re not against rezoning, but want to make sure that all the children are allowed to go to their neighborhood school. “

Tension, emotion
The meeting was quite emotional. A line of at least 200 people gathered and more than 100 spoke. Board President Sylvia Alvarez asked them to keep their comments brief, and to come forward with items that were new.

“If we apply strict POR, we can easily eliminate 30 kids,” said one. A number of others claim that the boundary realignment “does not make sense.” Others encouraged annual residence checks to ensure that children attend only their neighborhood schools. A number indicated that none of the other district schools had test scores as high as Matsumoto.

Another brought up concerns about the traffic problems in Evergreen. “Children that go to Matsumoto now are within walking distance. With the boundary realignment, parents will have to drive creating worse traffic jams,” he said.
A number of children also spoke, most discussing how much they loved their school and teachers.

Several parents indicated the importance of children finishing schools where they started.

One new comment came from a woman asking what all the fuss was about. “The curriculum is the same throughout all the district schools. It’s not safe to have overcrowding. This should not be about API scores. All the teachers in this district are great. Our teachers teach because they love it.”

After more than an hour, the board asked that the comment period end, unless there were comments that had not been heard at this or at the September meeting. Several speakers claimed the microphone, but were asked to stop speaking when their comments were no different than those heard previously.

At that point, Black took the floor and explained that he had met with groups from Clark and Matsumoto to find the middle ground and announced his recommendation described above.

The board directed Black to come back with an alternative plan and a method of implementing it for 2009. Beginning in March, kindergarten students will be required to show strict proof. Between June and August, all parents from Matsumoto and Clark will be required to show stricter proof of residency.

“We don’t want to make shifts unless it is absolutely necessary,” said Alvarez. She reiterated that the board has heard the parents’ concerns and is working to meet them. “Matsumoto does not have room for special needs classes or after school activities. We must make such things available to all our students,” she added.

Once the vote was completed and board member Vince Soncayaon explained why he voted for Black’s measure, a majority of the members from the Evergreen Parents Task Force began booing, and loudly expressed their disapproval for Black’s compromise and the vote.

A number of parents, who had sat quietly during the discussion, were quite upset by the outcry. “I am concerned about the lesson that is being taught to our children. Every child is special and the ugliness and lack of civility being shown is detrimental to all our children. If this energy were devoted to improving all our schools, one school having ‘higher’ test scores would not be an issue,” said Evelyn Allen, Clark PTA president and past president of Evergreen School District’s PTA Council.

Another felt that news reports exaggerated the facts. “The board did not, as was reported, reject the parents’ demand for stricter and annual residency verification. In fact, the board agreed to implement yearly checks at all impacted schools, and delayed for a year any plans for redrawing the school boundaries. This is a victory for the Matsumoto parents. It is exactly what they’ve been demanding since the boundary committee began its work to try to find a sensible and fair solution to the overcrowding problem at Matsumoto, Clark and Chaboya. It seems these parents are so caught up in the drama of their battle that they’re not absorbing the plain fact that they’ve won their demands,” Susan Le told the Times.

“Our parents are emotional,” Raghavan said. “They are passionate. And, there are still gaps between the district proposal and our proposal.”

He said the parents’ task force wants more outreach meetings to be set up in February too. The data currently being used is incorrect, he told the Times and the district should wait until the stricter residence guidelines have been implemented to determine the data.

The parents’ group is concerned that new developments, recently discussed at a city council meeting, will affect school populations, Raghavan said. The city will allow a pool totaling 500 new units throughout the Evergreen area. These new developments, however, are to be infill of small private landowners and should not overburden any particular areas.

“All current and new students must provide the same strict POR,” Kathy Gomez, director of educational services told the Times. She explained that over the next few months, she and others will be working on a new boundary alignment. In January, that committee will meet four times with the community to provide input and comments on the proposed and new ideas for alignment.