EG Patrons Comment on Whole Grade Sharing

ACADEMICS, MUSIC SHARED; SEPARATE EG, J-S SPORTS

Parents, teachers and district residents got a first-hand look at the proposed whole grade sharing arrangement between East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school districts at a public hearing held at the East Greene school board meeting Wednesday, June 8, in the high school band room in Grand Junction.

The public hearing is part of process of moving toward a whole grade sharing (WGS) arrangement between the two districts. The WGS plan calls for East Greene to send its 7th through 12th grade students to Jefferson-Scranton and for Jefferson-Scranton to send its 5th and 6th grade students to East Greene. Each district will maintain its own kindergarten through 4th grade school.

The WGS agreement would take effect for the 2012-13 school year and be effective for two years. Each district is eligible for additional state funding by participating in the sharing arrangement. No further additional funds are available past the two years, but additional funding would be available should the two districts agree to reorganize into one school district.

WGS approval needs only the approval of each school board, while reorganization would require an election within each district, and both districts must approve.

East Greene Superintendent Mike Harter outlined the sharing proposal at the start of the hearing to 35 people assembled in the band room. The hearing would normally have been held in the gym but it was being used for a district-wide “garage sale” planned for the following three days.

Essentially, East Greene junior and senior high students will attend classes in Jefferson-Scranton but remain “East Greene students.” Seventh and eighth graders from EG will attend classes at the J-S Middle School at 203 West Harrison Street in Jefferson and EG high school students (9-12) will attend classes at J-S High School on the south edge of Jefferson. EG high school students are already attending some classes at J-S and have been shuttling back and forth between the two high school buildings for several years.

As part of the proposed two-way sharing, J-S will send all its 5th and 6th grade students to the Grand Junction building.

This past school year, EG and J-S shared two extracurricular activities—vocal music and wrestling. Next year, that will be expanded to include instrumental music. That will continue when WGS goes into effect the following year (2012-13), but the two districts will continue to operate separate athletic programs.

That component sparked some comments at the hearing, with several questioning why the WGS agreement does not include high school and middle school sports.

Other activities at the high school level will be shared however, such as the yearbook, prom and graduation ceremonies. Homecoming—which traditionally is centered around football in the fall—will be held separately by each district.

The two students will be presented diplomas at the same commencement but each graduating class will maintain its own class rankings.

Several teachers in attendance questioned how evaluations are to be handled as the language in the overview shared at the hearing indicates they will be evaluated “by the building principal of the building in which the teacher spends most of their day” but the “ultimate responsibility for the evaluation of the employees shall remain with the employing district.”

Harter noted that “each district will maintain its own master contract and negotiation” with its respective teachers’ association. Beyond that, if there is reorganization, “the master contract of the larger district is in effect.”

There were questions and comments on transportation between and within the two districts, and some grumbling about how decisions regarding weather and roads in one district might not impact the other and how starting would times each day be aligned between the two districts. Harter pointed out that the two districts have been coordinating weather-related school closures for several years.

Tim Bardole, EG board member and former board president, noted that high school students from EG have been traveling back and forth to Jefferson every period of the day for the last few years—some at two different times of the day—so this would actually streamline the travel with all the students headed to Jefferson at the same time, and subsequently returning at the same time.

Not addressed at the meeting was the use of the Rippey building, which is currently the K-5 building for East Greene, as the 6-12 students attend classes in Grand Junction. A consultant hired by both districts presented his recommendation in April that showed how combining the high school students from both districts in the Jefferson buildings at putting all 5th and 6th graders in Grand Junction would leave the district with an abundance of available classroom space in five attendance centers for the needs of 1,300 students.

He recommended the Grand Junction building handle EG’s kindergarten through fourth grades along with the two districts fifth and sixth grades, and the Rippey building be “phased out.”

But it was not clear from his “on paper” calculation if the Grand Junction building could handle all the 5th and 6th graders from both districts (212) plus the students at the elementary in grades K-4 (approximately 90 students).

That would put about more than 300 students in a building that presently is housing 152.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: It was good input from a cross-section of school district residents at the public hearing. The WGS plan itself looks solid. And the decision to keep sports separate from WGS will serve as a good transition. It will also help sort out the future needs of the school buildings and the infrastructure. This might be a good compromise as far as use of the two school buildings. Keeping sports at East Greene like volleyball and basketball for at least two more years and baseball at the Rippey diamond gives support to fully using the Rippey building—the gym for high school athletics and the classrooms for elementary grades. Essentially, the same format in use this school year and next.

Then, as WGS gets underway, the two districts can bet a better handle on how to use facilities together in the years ahead if it looks like reorganization is on the horizon.

Plus, putting 300+ students in one building seems like a tight fit. Perhaps the consultant was thinking more down the line that if enrollment continued to decline, then perhaps the use of the Rippey building would be phased out.