Parents of students attending Richboro Middle School (RMS) — and parents of students in any of the Elementary Schools which feed RMS — may want to be aware of and attend a special forum being held at Council Rock High School South on Wednesday, November 4th. Up for discussion is a plan to alter the high school assignment of youngsters graduating from RMS. Currently some of those students are assigned to CRHS North and others to Council Rock South. The discussion will focus on a potential plan to assign all students graduating from RMS entirely to South.
A decision like that could have ramifications for all Council Rock students depending on the impact at the high schools, and so may also be of interest to parents whose students aren’t among the Richboro Middle population.
The District’s website mentions this forum, but the language may not make it particularly clear to parents of elementary students how important this issue (and thus their attendance) may be. The website states:
Parents are invited to a Forum to discuss enrollment trends in our middle schools and high schools at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at Council Rock High School South in the school auditorium. This forum culminates discussions over the past four years on high school attendance boundaries and the potential to move all students at Richboro Middle School to Council Rock High School South.
An announcement that was issued in the newsletter of the Council Rock North PTO, however, makes it a bit clearer that elementary students’ parents may have a stake in attending:
Wednesday, November 4 – Community Forum to discuss enrollment trends in the district – 7pm – Council Rock South Auditorium – The potential redistricting of Richboro Middle School beginning in the 2011-2012 school year (with current 7th grade students) will be discussed. Redistricting would effect ALL STUDENTS, not just those who attend Richboro Middle School. I encourage you to forward information about this meeting to all your friends and neighbors. While parents of students currently in elementary school may feel like high school is far off in the future, redistricting will affect this population more than any other current student. Attendance at the forum is encouraged to learn more about this topic and share your opinion before the school board makes a decision.
Questions may arise about the capacity and impact for Council Rock South to handle a greater influx of students, and on what impact might be felt on programs at Council Rock School North if fewer students attend there. Also, based on some issues, I have heard from at least one parent that there are those who would prefer their children to continue being assigned to North rather than to South.
Council Rock School District has three middle schools but two high schools. Until a couple of years ago, students graduating from RMS were assigned to either the North or South High School based upon their address. (All students from Newtown Middle went to North and all students from Holland Middle went to South.)
A couple of years ago, the issue seemed to come to a head as some parents complained that their children were being separated from their friends (who might live a block away but on the other side of the high school assignment border) and that they were lost and in the minority at the High School. People opposed to a shift in the school assignments held that no empirical evidence was being provided that this was harmful or a problem, and that preparing students for change in life was a good thing. Largely due to the urging of Robert Donnelly on the School Board, a survey was taken and students were allowed to opt out of their assigned high school, provided that the parents provided transportation to the other school. The number of students who made this opt-out seemed small in practice.
This ad hoc solution apparently hasn’t resolved the issue for some people, leading to this grander redistricting plan. The question of whether this grander solution to a perceived problem will have other repercussions should be fleshed out before it gets implemented and voted.
When issues like this crop up, it should be remembered that School Board members can bring any item up for a vote during a public meeting, regardless of whether it is already on that meeting’s agenda. All it takes is someone to make a motion and another to second it. So a forum like this may be important to make points heard before any vote gets taken. Parents with concerns should also not hesitate to contact their School Board members before any possible chance they’ll have to vote on this.
Filed under: Administration, Council Rock, Facilities, Meetings, Redistricting, School Board, Students | Tagged: Administration, Facilities, Redistricting, School Board, Students
