Small group of parents speak at forum on reconfiguration

Only six people signed up to speak at Tuesday's special forum at the Emerson Hough building.
But in the 40-minute forum, designed to allow the public to provide feedback to the Newton Community School District board about proposed reconfiguration ideas, there were loud and clear messages about potential changes.

The 28 people who attended Tuesday’s forum witnessed a much different atmosphere from a similarly formatted forum held Monday, when more than 70 teachers and other district personnel packed the Emerson Hough building conference room. The forums were announced last week after the release of the results of a the latest in a series of surveys about reconfiguration.

John McNeer, Tim Bloom, Karen Hoffmeier, Kris Simbro, Sarah Muhs and Lee Reynolds signed up before Tuesday’s forum and took advantage of their timed three minutes at the podium. A few others made two-minute comments to add to expand upon what the six speakers spoke about, while the board remained silent, in accordance with the chosen format.

The speakers covered a number of different topics.
McNeer, a Newton resident since 1946, said he took an informal poll of 11 peers at Newton Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday. He said nine wanted "neighborhood" schools, one for "segmented classes," and one "didn't give a darn."

Bloom, the parent of a Woodrow Wilson Intermediate School fourth-grader, said he preferred to keep the current grade levels at their current schools. He said during the old neighborhood-school system, some grades would be far ahead or behind one another in a subject area.

“I’d hear one school on one side of town would get through 30 chapters, and the same section on another side of town would get through 16 or 18,” Bloom said. “I think they’ve merged that better, and to keep them basically at the same level.”

Bloom also said he thinks pre-kindergarten programs could be done at all elementary sites; there could be more instructional teacher coaches, and the district should apply for leadership grants.

Hoffmeier told the board she wanted to know, as a taxpayer, what the district will do with each facility if no major reconfiguration happens. The School Improvement Advisory Committee made a recommendation in September to re-open the Emerson Hough building as a regular school.

This is something that can only be done if Basics & Beyond and other current tenants are moved to another facility, such as the recently purchased former Hy-Vee Building. It would also allow Emerson Hough to be used as a regular K-5 school, which could affect several other campuses.
Hoffmeier said the district needs to update its facilities if it wants to attract people to Newton.

“If I were a young person, coming to Newton and looking for a place to live, I’m not sure I would come,” she said. “I’d look at the schools and see what we’ve done over a long period of time. We’ve done a lot of things that are really good, but I’d be looking at the high school, and saying ‘We never can make it be like it is at Southeast Polk or Indianola or Ankeny. We need something that will bring people to this community.”

Hoffmeier also recommended aides for kindergarten and the first grade.

Simbro said he wanted to see a time frame for any reconfiguration that is approved. He also wants to see an April pre-registration session for the upcoming school years.

Muhs said she’s been told special education and other ancillary personnel would either be spread thin or converted into regular classroom teachers if reconfiguration happens. She praised the special-education personnel who work in the district.

“They’ve kind of got it to a well-oiled machine now,” Muhs said.

After the meeting, board member Donna Cook said there are no plans to cut or reassign any support personnel. Not only has the board not formally approved any type of reconfiguration, but such approval would not necessarily mean cuts, layoffs or “repurposing” of any staff.

“Lower class sizes does not mean the elimination of anyone,” Cook said. “We’re having these forums so that professionals can tell us what they think is the best thing for the kids. No rock will be left unturned when we look at what’s next, and it’s not like there are only two options.”

Alicia Weithers said she had to explain some of her daughter’s circumstances when she went to new campuses, and reconfiguration might mean she’d need to explain it all again.

Reynolds said class size, which seems to be one of the main driving forces behind the study of reconfiguration, isn’t as important as other factors, such as how well teachers are collaborating now.

“I just want to make sure decisions are based on those kinds of things, and not necessarily how easy it is to drop your kid off at school,” he said.

Muhs commented on class size not being a goal that should be pursued at any cost.

“If you asked me, ‘Do I want to travel around the world?’, well, sure, I’d love to,” she said. “But if you said, ‘Oh, you have to give up your kids to do it,’ well, no, then I don’t want to do it.”

The board discussed the results of the recently completed teacher survey at last week’s regular board meeting. The board will conduct a public reconfiguration work session at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 18, at Emerson Hough, just four days before its only regularly scheduled meeting of December. The board will not interact with the public during the Dec. 18 session.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com.