CBOC

Item 8.7

January 10, 2005

Item 8.7 Report on Impact of School Consolidation - Ty Williams

Process Overview and Measure F Scope and Budget Implications

Consolidation Process Overview

This report is intended to be a brief overview of the process utilized by the District to identify potential school sites to be considered for consolidation and the criteria by which the school consolidation committee evaluated individual sites and made a comparative analysis between them. Further, the concern over the budget implications to the Measure F program, looms large in the wake of a second round of school consolidation.

The process itself, was a significant undertaking by a group of 15 community members, parents, teachers, principals, labor union representatives, and district staff. This committee met on numerous occasions to gain an understanding of the implications surrounding the closure of each individual school being considered for consolidation. The committee routinely asked pertinent questions of staff, requesting that certain items be reconsidered in a different light or from a different direction to determine if these often small changes to an approach might make significant changes in the apparent outcome. Many of these discussions centered around the provided demographic data, the proposed realignment of school attendance boundaries and the population shifts to and from the effected neighboring sites. Staff researched these types of requests and returned with the pertinent data to be shared and the merits or feasibility of the suggestions discussed. Many of these refinements were accepted along the course of events and have been incorporated into the recommendation to the Board of Education. This type of open approach to the process, reassured the community that the recommended course of action had not been predetermined and the ultimate outcome was very much in flux.

Provided as backup documentation, and attached hereto as exhibits A through F, are a number of documents which provide an outline sketch of the process, the make-up of the committee, their purpose and charge, the criteria utilized to determine which of the schools were to be considered, and the set of criteria they were then evaluated as a candidate upon. Also included is the district map that indicates the areas determined to be the Northern, Central, and Southern area of the district utilized in grouping the sites into common geographic regions. The boundaries between these regions were determined through a common sensical approach and are generally made up of significant physical landmarks or barriers such as freeways and major roadways.

The criteria the committee was tasked to review were categorized into four areas of concern; Facilities, Demographics, Transportation/Safety, and the Fiscal impacts of any proposed action. These categories are further broken down into detailed areas of concern to be considered at each site. The overall committee was divided into four working subgroups, each independently evaluating all of the sites considered for consolidation and applying the established criteria to each of the potential scenarios. The members of the committee making up each of the subgroups changed as the schools of each geographic region were discussed in succession. Once all the sites had been reviewed and additional information provided the subgroups were asked to rank the schools within each geographic region beginning with the site they determined was the most appropriate candidate for consolidation, and on through the group to the least appropriate candidate. A simple scoring mechanism was applied to the ranked sites and tabulated across the subgroups to show more clearly where the overall consensus of the committee lie. This process was difficult on the participants not only from a commitment of time but also in the gravity of the issues being discussed. The members of the committee performed their task admirably and should be commended for the professional, fair minded, and open approach they took throughout the process.

Upon the completion of the committee's work, District senior staff, led by the Superintendent, began the difficult task of reviewing the work of the committee. Many days were spent going through the established criteria site by site, evaluating once again all the scenarios put forward, and through this effort which largely validated the work of the committee, a recommendation was developed and scheduled to be forwarded to the Board of Education for their consideration.

Measure F Scope and Budget Implications

At the September 13, 2004 CBOC meeting a draft criteria for the reallocation of Measure F funds freed by the consolidation of school sites was circulated as part of the District's Measure F Staff report. In light of the growing number of consolidated school sites, and with that an increase in the potential for one or more of them to re-open at some point in the future, the District believes that it would be prudent to hold some of the allocated funding aside to provide necessary facility improvements if that situation were to be realized. Please refer to the attached exhibit G, "Revised Draft Criteria" for the added verbiage shown in italics.