Year-round school hot topic at community forum

MOSES LAKE - What Common Core means, elementary allocation and why, and the possibility of year-round school were among the topics at a lively Moses Lake School District community forum recently at the Moses Lake Senior Center.

The year-round school also prompted a discussion about a possible construction bond amongst the some 20 people in attendance. Year-round school could begin in the 2014-15 or 2015-16 school year, and Moses Lake School Board chair Kevin Donovan said the main motivation for year-round school would be to solve the district's problems with overcrowding.

Currently there is not a bond proposal, Donovan said, but if one was submitted to voters and passed before year-round school was implemented, that might make a difference to board members. The board might be willing to look at other alternatives until any new buildings were finished, he said.

In answer to a question, Donovan said some people are in favor of a construction bond, but other people aren't. The board asked for a community survey that will look at current district buildings, demographics, community growth and other factors. That's underway now, he said, and a report will be submitted to the board and the community in January.

Before board members make any decision, they wanted updated information, he said. A similar study was conducted in 2005, and turned out to be very accurate in its projections, he said.

In answer to a district patron's question about specifics of year-round school, Donovan said district officials haven't come up with a proposal. It has been decided that all the children in one family would have the same school schedule, regardless whether they were in elementary, middle or high school, he said.

There are a lot of variables to work through, Donovan said, but if year-round school is implemented, the goal will be to make the transition as easy as possible.

The bond discussion is complicated by the fact the district's assessed property value has dropped, Vicki Groff, the second board member at the meeting, said.

District officials need a contingency plan to address overcrowding, and right now that's year-round school, Groff said.

To a comment that year-round school might not be popular with district patrons, Donovan said school districts use it for economic reasons. Donovan said as far as he knows, there is no evidence it improves education except for special education students. There is evidence it reduces dropout rates, he said.

In answer to questions about Common Core implementation, Donovan said it was a federal initiative, and some federal funding was tied to its adoption by the states. The state adopted it, which meant Moses Lake had to follow, he said.

District patrons will be invited to a presentation on Common Core and what it means, Linda McKay, the district's executive director of teaching and learning, said. Common Core is a method of measuring performance, not a curriculum, McKay said. Each state had its own standards for measuring educational competence, she said, and part of the rationale behind Common Core was to establish a common standard for kids who moved from state to state.

Parents and grandparents expressed concern about Common Core, and McKay said district officials plan to hold some meetings to explain the concept and the effects to district patrons.

Parents expressed concern about the lottery that allocated students between Peninsula and Sage Point elementary schools, and the possibility of redistricting elementary and middle schools.

Sage Point's potential enrollment exceeded its capacity, and whether kids went to Sage Point or Peninsula depended on a lottery. The parents allege some families got into the lottery when they didn't qualify.

Families moved from the Sage Point attendance area between spring registration and the start of school, or didn't live there in the first place, the parents said. Others moved in after school started, and were admitted to Sage Point regardless, the parents said.

Another parent asked about new middle school that will replace Columbia Basin Secondary School, and how middle schools would be redistricted. McKay said there would be community meetings on elementary and middle school redistricting, so that people could see the proposals. The decision should be made sometime in early April, McKay said.