School Board Highlights
At its January 28 meeting, the Board of Directors elected its officers for 2013. Jackie Pendergrass was reelected as president, Nancy Bernard was reelected as vice president and Doug Eglington was reelected as Legislative Representative.
In a follow-up to the January 14 board meeting, the board discussed Dr. Pierce's proposal for a temporary boundary change between Rosa Parks and Wilder Elementary Schools. This proposal will reduce the population at Rosa Parks to about 700 for the next three years and will keep it from growing to over 1000 students as projected. Deputy Superintendent Janene Fogard, sitting in for Superintendent Traci Pierce, read a statement prepared by Dr. Pierce. In her statement, Dr. Pierce described the process that had been followed to arrive at the recommendation. She noted that the temporary boundary committee reviewed the possibility of sending all of Redmond Ridge East to Wilder. The committee believes that option is not feasible. It would fill and potentially exceed Wilder's total capacity while only offering one all day kindergarten class. If more students come from the new development than anticipated, the district would have to move additional portable classrooms to Wilder, at a cost of $225,000 to move a portable.
During the board discussion, Board Member Siri Bliesner noted that the board needs to look at guiding principles for what is a reasonable capacity for a school - the enrollment range that makes sense. Board Vice President Nancy Bernard noted that the district has to guard against building too much space and leaving classrooms empty. Since populations fluctuate, the district ends up using portables to provide flexibility. Board member Bliesner thanked the community for their input in the process and noted that it is setting the stage for a bigger policy discussion in the future. The board voted unanimously to pass the proposal.
Source: "Connections" LWSD Community Newsletter
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