A great article by Lynn Thompson.Basically, Mercer Island is opening it's enrollment to off-island students to prevent a loss of $500,000 because of their own aging population and therefore declining enrollment.
The prospect of one district actively competing with another for students and the accompanying state funds strikes some school administrators as wrong. Edmonds Superintendent Nick Brossoit said he "wouldn't want to be a part of" a plan that used public money to market one district at the expense of another.
[Translation: We can't compete with anyone and certainly wouldn't want our residents to know they have a choice.]
The Shoreline district, which for years enjoyed an excellent reputation, draws about 700 out-of-district students annually, including about 300 from Seattle and 300 from Edmonds. Mukilteo enrolls 440 out-of-district students, about two-thirds from the much-larger Everett district and one-third from Edmonds. [450 students translates to $2,250,000.00]
Here is a great version of accountability - portability. Why is Nick opposed to giving people a choice? If a better product is being offered by a better organization, why not let students vote with their feet. It seems like a very American and democratic thing to do. If your school district is being mismanaged and scarce resources are being given to friends of management and crooked developers, why not opt for Shoreline, Mukilteo or Mercer Island.
The Edmonds School District has been counting anything and everything that looks and feels like a student for years. They focus on student retention, not because they care about kids and their success, but because of the $5,000.00 of free money that comes from the state. Why not encourage successful school districts to focus on becoming even more successful? Where is the harm in that? Don't we want success?
I have grown tired of my taxes being used to build Nick Brossoit's version of a legacy.
Comment: Thank you to M.D. for providing this information.
10 comments:
It will be a lasting legacy - since the gaping wounds will become permanent scars.
District leadership is an undeniable pond of fecal matter.
Its time for this district leadership to pack their bags and get lost!
Nick is a joker.
Marla is a lier.
Ken is a joke.
It goes on and on.
Porn in our schools, thats really nice Nick.
Useless LARGE bodies!
Nick is opposed to using public funds to advertise the accomplishments of school districts. What about private funds?
I am prepared to match my property tax payments to run ads for any district that knows what they are doing.
I want someone to find out why over 400 kids in our district are going elsewhere for their education. I want those kids back and I want to prevent others from leaving!! Now maybe they're enrolled in programs we don't offer--gifted? non-gifted? special education programs? they've been expelled?--but someone, like an Asst. Sup, should inform us about how we can get back some of those students! Maybe Ken Limon has some extra time and could look into it (when he's not sharing the new Athletic Director spot).
Does anyone know specifically why students leave our district?
Do students transfer here from other districts--like Shoreline and Mulilteo (as mentioned in the article?). There's lots of money at stake here folks! Are we the losers in this money game?
If a student, or their family, believes that educational opportunities are better elsewhere, then by all means they should be able to send their child(ren) anywhere that suits them.
If the millions of wasted dollars were actually spent in the classroom instead of Woodinville vineyards and condos, we might have reason to believe students would prefer to stay here.
Asl Bill McKeighen for the number of students coming into and out of the district - it's in the state reports he receives each month.
If nothing else, there should be copies of all waivers in Jan Beglau (the athletic director) office. Of course, these are only the ones that actually fill out the paperwork. The "illegal" ones just lie when their request gets denied.
Perhaps a more telling picture might be the number of staff members who will not enroll their children into Edmonds Schools. Of all of the staff members at my school, only ONE has a child enrolled in Edmonds.
When the teachers comment that they would not have their own kids here, something is definitely amiss.
Nowhere in the District budget discussions have I heard mention of imminent closing of Woodway Elementary, though this seems to have been in the works for at least all of last year.
While I do not disagree with a decision to close a school serving so few kids, I am concerned about the quiet nature in which it seems to be happening. It would seem that redistribution some students has already been determined.
Does anyone have additional information on this matter?
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