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COMMUNITY FORUM RIVERSIDE MAY 20, 2008 |
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Focused Discussion Area |
Responses/Comments |
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Annual Budget
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What percentage of old buildings vs. new buildings are in the system? |
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Are we reducing teachers? |
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What is the effect on class size? |
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Is lack of books a budget concern? |
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How many voucher students? |
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What are qualifications to receive voucher? |
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Solutions for school funding |
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| Are there still dollars available for warm/safe/dry? | |
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Communication |
Please give parents/community more advanced notice of forums. The meeting at Riverside wasn't announced until Friday, May 16, 2008. More people will participate when they are given more time to make arrangements to attend. |
| Forum format needs to be changed so all participants can participate in all topics. | |
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Facilities Master Plan |
Watterson Lake - Fence around building/issues with bricks; no sidewalks as result. |
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IEP |
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Art interest/issues with class size |
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Are we going to build classrooms? (student/teacher ratio) |
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Why isn’t Special Education considered in the new buildings? (or in particular Single Gender Schools) |
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Why can’t we just refurbish some schools? |
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Why will we pay for the non-resident? |
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We need the format to be more parent friendly |
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Do not feel that the Westside is understood |
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Do not feel that we have schools of choice for the Westside |
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Numbers need to be presented to drive the size of the school |
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We like to see the new west side high school placed in Segment 5 |
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“Keeping the Promise” – Book |
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Renovation vs. New Building |
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John Marshall is a landmark building |
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The west side high schools are too far from each other |
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Feels classes are too large |
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Roof leaks |
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Ceiling tiles falling |
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Where are you going to put all the students Re: Westropp |
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Feels that all Special Ed students have been mixed with the regular classroom setting |
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Children need intensive help |
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What plans do you have for the Special Needs kids? |
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Special Education & Inclusion |
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Are we going to use Toledo Technology Academy & Woodward in Cincinnati as model schools? This will be turned over to the Design Team. |
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Supports the decision to have John Marshall moved to Segment 5. |
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| Numbers driving the process | |
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OFSC – How do they make their decisions. This is determined by enrollment
trends, historical data/birth records in the region and |
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What are your plans for Carl Shuler? |
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Make sure that the information gets to the public. |
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Does not feel that the
general public has a clear understanding of the full plan. |
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| The website has a poor feedback function. You fill out a form with your comments, but never know if comments are heard. People who fill out comments must receive some sort of response so they know they are being heard. | |
| If schools in an area lose enrollment and the district decides it must close a school, why not hold community forums at that time and let the community decide which one of three or four schools will close (similar to how the Catholic Diocese is making their decisions)? | |
| Why not factor a school's academic success into its future (whether it will be rebuilt, repaired or closed)? | |
| Does the district take the "Landmark" designation into consideration when choosing which ones will remain operational? There are schools that are not landmarked that are on main roads which could be closed and sold. Landmarked buildings on side streets have no value to the district if they are closed. | |
| Why are there schools on the east side with enrollments as low as 270 that are being rebuilt for 350, while some schools on the west side with enrollments very close to 350 are only slated for "maintain operational?" The west side schools are told to improve enrollment to 350 or face future closing. Enrollment on the west side has remained more stable than the east side. How does the district justify building new east side schools for schools with enrollment under 300? | |
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K-8/Middle School Structures |
Would like to see Elementary (1 – 5) data for PreK-8 comparison. |
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If middle grades change back, when will parents be notified? |
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Concern that PreK-8 is here to stay. There is no definite decision as of today. |
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There needs to be more time for community members to give input on plans/decisions. |
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How is the PreK-8 structure effecting the elementary population? |
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| Parents need to be surveyed on how they feel about the K-8 structure. Just telling parents that K-8s are working based on test scores and attendance data is not enough. Address parents' concerns about safety issues and student activities/courses. District enrollment has taken its sharpest decline since going totally K-8. Parents don't like K-8s. They complain about them to teachers all the time. Let's find out why and either fix the problems or eliminate K-8s. | |
| Alternative schools should be opened and disruptive students should be removed from regular schools. This would make all schools safer and more appealing to the community. | |
| One suggestion for recreating middle schools would be to open middle schools using a different approach. Many successful middle schools operate using smaller schools or teams within the middle school. | |
| Find out what parents want and decide on whether or not we will have middle schools BEFORE the construction plans are finalized. | |
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Safety and Security |
How did you determine where to place metal detectors first? 4 criteria were used |
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Are your hiring ISO contractors for security? |
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| Do companies have employees have experience with working schools training to TSA standards? | |
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What partners are assisting CMSD with security? RTA takes care of five schools @ dismissal CMHA covers East High School CPS provides K-9 dogs |
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| Why are mental detectors in elementary schools? | |
| Concerns with safety & security officers in the building and how they deal with kids. | |
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