Parents upset about lack of notice on Franklin boundary changes

Parent anger over District 200’s lack of communication on Franklin Middle School boundary changes was further kindled when the District revealed, at its January 18 parent meeting to discuss the changes, that it made a conscious decision not to tell many affected families about the meeting.  Last week the District announced a plan to split Washington Elementary’s attendance area.  All Washington students now attend Franklin.  The District wants to send about 90 of them (including students already at Franklin) to Monroe for middle school next year, while their remaining classmates will continue to attend Franklin. 

In response to questioning from Franklin parent Alby Zander, District Assistant Superintendent Dr. Robert Rammer confirmed that the District only contacted parents with children being moved next year.  It did not notify other Washington Elementary school families who live in the affected area and whose children will be included in the boundary change in future years.  That answer did not satisfy Mr. Zander, who said, “Every Washington parent deserves to know.”  According to the District web site, even those parents who were told of the meeting had less than a week’s warning; notices were not mailed until late last week. 

At the January 11 Board meeting, District staff had indicated that a final decision must be made by the March 14 board meeting.  That is a very quick timetable for a boundary change, and District staff did not explain why the process did not begin earlier, at least as soon as enrollment figures for the current year were known.  According to District Superintendent Dr. Brian Harris, “we monitor enrollment on a continuous basis,” and “the [overcrowding] issue was identified a year ago.”  In response to a question from parent Tigi Dixon, Dr. Rammer stated that “we’ve been watching for two years.”  Parent Peter Rochford stated that “we would feel much better if we were involved in the process from the beginning.”

Parent Brian Wells contrasted the process this time with the last remap in 2008, when Lowell Elementary boundaries were changed.  At that time, the administration met with affected Lowell parents prior to bringing a boundary recommendation to the Board, and multiple options were discussed.  Although Dr. Harris stated that “no decisions have been made” on the Franklin boundaries, he also admitted that the Board and the public have been given only one option to consider.  In response to a question why parents weren’t involved, Dr. Rammer said that “this [meeting] is the involvement.”

According to Dr. Rammer, Franklin is the only District 200 middle school with increasing enrollment, and the District waited to see if the issue was an anomaly.  Now, he said, “Franklin needs an immediate reduction.”  As an example of overcrowding, Franklin principal Dave Bendis said he has moved computers to the library learning center and converted conference rooms to open up instructional space.  He also said six classes meet in the auditorium where the meeting was held, although he acknowledged that some of those classes are in fact drama classes.

But some parents weren’t buying the District’s enrollment numbers and planning process.  Mr. Rochford suggested that the District has caused the problem by having four elementary schools (Hawthorne, Longfellow, Lowell and Washington) feed into Franklin, the smallest building among the four District middle schools.  Each other middle school has only three elementary schools feeding it.  According to Mr. Zander, even if the proposed changes are made, Franklin would remain nearly 50 students over its stated capacity of 702 students in three years, due to increasing enrollment at elementary schools other than Washington, whereas Monroe would still be under capacity.  Thus, the boundary change would not solve the problem.

About 130 people attended the meeting, including about a dozen children.  Current Franklin seventh grader Jake McCarrell received a round of applause after he spoke, stating that he “loves the school [Franklin]” and would like to stay there with his friends and teachers.  Mr. McCarrell echoed the sentiments of four other Franklin students who spoke at the January 11 Board meeting.  Several parents also expressed their concerns about students having to attend three different schools in three years (for current 7th graders - two middle schools and high school), with the accompanying social disruptions for adolescents, if the boundary change plan is adopted.

The District 200 School Board may discuss the boundary issue at its January 25 meeting (at the School Service Center, 130 W. Park) and its February 8 regular meeting (at Monroe Middle School).  Both meetings start at 7:30 p.m.  Meanwhile, concerned parents have created an on-line petition, and formed “CUSD Families for School Communities” which can be contacted at d200families4schoolcommunities@gmail.com.  The petition advocates that "Minority groups SHOULD NOT be created by segregating students from their established social networks; children should move with their school peers as they make the critical transitions from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school; and that any changes to school boundaries and elementary/ middle/ high school progressions should only be made after in-depth study, open communications and community involvement."