According the district website >link<, the school board will discuss and then take action tomorrow, on splitting the APS into (at least) two districts.
"B. Proposal for Splitting the District (Discussion / Action)"The meeting is a "special" meeting, not on the regular
schedule of board meetings. Most stakeholders will not
even know that the discussion/action has taken place.
Unclear, why the APS Communications Department
has made no effort to communicate with the community
on an obviously important issue.
One would think that Paula Maes/Modrall et al
didn't want to hear public input on the issue.
Perhaps, it is not so "unclear" after all.
4 comments:
It has been said many times in the past that: 1) splitting the district into 2 is impossible to evenly spread the poor and rich districts in integration.. there would be a poor and a rich district.
2) Splitting into 3 would distribute the per capita wealth but...
3) as you said before, corruption is corruption.
Do we want 1 big cancerous parisitic priveleged class running APS, or do we break it down so there's little priveleged kingdoms running about?
Either way we, the public, loose.
D6 proposed changes MUST take place, or..... WE WILL ALL LOSE, especially the kids!
How many times has a study been done to break up APS in the last few years?
What I want to know, who is making this $90,000 over and over to tell us the same thing?
The "Economy of Scale" issue comes up, saying that especially support services should be in a consolidated group to cut costs, even if that support group serves many separate Districts.
However much my Union heart wants for the status quo to make sure my bretheren with 20 years in can get their last five in and retire, I may be thinking with the wrong part of my body.
Small Districts do fine around the country, but they usually don't have the trained up and ready support services that a big district like APS can pull off with its, yes, economy of scale.
How to compensate? Cut the administrative fat down to acceptable percentages. Compare to Jefferson County School in Colorado, or any successful District, and see what percent of their money they spend on administration versus dollars in the classroom.
Then, you have options. You can create three districts, one for High, one for Mid, and one for Elementary. That way the money problems of rich and poor are not as bad, and you still get less admin bloat.
You cut the fat in support as well, make people accountable and train them up to be professional in all trades. We have the core we need right now, don't let the vast knowledge in Maintenance or Security be lost; separate the chaff from the grain and continue with a leaner and more efficient, and accountable, crew.
Another point on separating APS by student level - you can hire specialists in educational delivery to a certain age group of students, who are known to have differeing needs as they develop.
Teachers are separated profesionally by age bracket they teach, right? Why not the school districts that serve them?
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