Be Part of the Conversation

My letter to the school board:

December 1, 2011

Dear Keene District School Board:

Last night, I attended the open forum on the topic of closing Jonathan Daniels Elementary School and restructuring the remaining four schools. My purpose in attending was to listen and learn more about community members’ hopes and concerns.

Prior to attending the forum I had not yet formulated an opinion on whether or not the proposed plan was in the best interests of students and the community. Neither my husband or I are long term Keene residents (yes, we choose to purchase a home in Keene four years ago rather than in another town because of the reputation that the public schools had). And unlike many others who attended the forum, I am not emotionally tied to any one of the elementary schools because I have not yet had any children attend any of the schools (I am a parent of two preschool children: one child will be a kindergartner during the 2012-2013 academic year, and the other child will follow the following year). Besides what I learned while attending the October school board meeting and reading about the plan in the Keene Sentinel, prior to last night, I knew little about the plan.

Last night’s forum, the information presented at the October school board meeting, and the articles that I have read in the Keene Sentinel have all led me to formulate the following opinion. I believe that it is fiscally responsible to close one of the smaller elementary schools. Should a school be closed, it should be repurposed to consolidate the housing of district wide departments and (possibly) the Pre-K program. I understand that the closing of a school will cause pain to one of our neighborhoods, but it is in the best interest of all to control our school wide spending at this current time.

What I am currently not in support of is the portion of the proposed plan to restructure the remaining elementary schools in a Pre-K/K-1 and 2-5 configuration. Last night I heard some very valid arguments that helped me to reach this conclusion. My concerns include:

• The timing of this major change. With key administers set to retire in the near future, and looking at exploring a new administrative structure, I am very concerned that there will not be the adequate leadership in place to help our community through this transition.
• Transitions for Special Education Students. The concern for this is well founded in the fact that many Special Education Students do not respond well to transitions. I believe that this is an issue of equity, and that asking these students to transition after first grade is unfair and unnecessary.
• A loss of continuity and consistency for all. Any parent knows that children do best in structured environments that provide continuity and consistency. The proposed restructure would interrupt this, challenge the established, and what appears to be well loved, culture of our elementary schools, and generally make life more complicated for parent and student involvement in the schools (as a parent of children who would concurrently attend two separate elementary schools, the logistics of parent teacher conferences and participation in school activities in multiple elementary schools sounds like an unnecessary nightmare).
• Transportation. I am not concerned about busing, but I am concerned about parents and caregivers who lack transportation being able to participate to schools because the elementary school that their child is attending is 2.5 miles away. As a Keene Community Education instructor and counselor, I am well aware that transportation issues are a real concern for a number of families.
• A loss of sense of community. Strengthening neighborhoods is a part of Keene’s current Master Plan. I believe that restructuring will result in the opposite. I also believe that it will be more difficult to create a sense of community in our schools should the schools be restructured, which would be a real loss.

I understand that there could be some positive educational changes that a restructure could produce: more focused professional development for educators, environments that can be centered on specific age groups, and a more equal distribution of students across classrooms, but I do not see how these benefits outweigh the costs. My questions for you are:

1. Has and/or will the board consider closing one elementary school, keeping a K-5 structure, and redistricting as a way to more equally populate classrooms across Keene?
2. If the board would approve of closing one elementary school, redistricting and maintaining the K-5 structure, how would this impact the estimated taxpayer savings? I understand that facilities are expensive to staff—how much of the 1 million dollar savings is due to a lack of staffing and how much is due to the restructuring?

As a community member and a future elementary school parent, I ask that you please do not restructure our schools at this present time. I understand that those on the Ad Hoc Committee that made this recommendation see some real educational value to restructuring the schools. I would suggest that we do not ignore what has been learned about this, but rather examine restructuring as a separate issue set apart from the decision to close an elementary school. Change is always unsettling and I believe that you are asking Keene residents to make too many changes at one time.

My appreciation of the time and energy spent by so many on this current issue is great. Many have carved copious amounts of time out of their already busy schedules solely for the purpose of making our community better and stronger. I thank you for this. Should this recommendation move forward, I am happy to offer to help in any way that I can. I am currently completing my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in literacy and language, and I will be starting a Ph. D. program in Educational Studies with a specialization in adult learning this upcoming July. I will leave it to you to suggest how you think I can best help.

Thank you for your time and commitment,

Jennifer DeCoste

Have you considered changing the grade spans to K-3 and 4-5? Developmentally students in grades K-3 are in the early stages of learning to read and learning the basics of math and other subjects. Focusing on early learning strategies in K and 1 and then building on those strategies in grades 2 and 3 would provide more continuity for and confidence in students. Students in grades 4 and 5 are reading to learn and ready for more advanced learning experiences in math and other subjects. They may yearn for graduation to a new school and new learning opportunities.

Also building a school community for the first four years of school rather than the first two years makes more sense. Parents and students could settle in and feel welcome and engaged in a school from Kindergarten through grade 3. Then they may be more ready to make the change to another school in grade 4 and 5.

As a parent of a former student and a taxpayer I just don't agree with closing any of the schools left in Keene...I agree with one parent that a child that is young and just gets settled in sometimes find it difficult to adjust to the changes and if they already have trouble with change (my son was ADHD and this was an issue at the beginning an end of the school year) what would the teachers be going thru and how much teaching would get thru to kids having these problems..You have many single parents and divorced parents that these children can be shuffled from place to place but school is the one place that has always been a stable and unchanging place year after year for many children...I know that sometimes it is more about money than what is the best for the kids..you have parents that have kids in school going against retirees trying to lower taxes they pay. I believe that our kids deserve all that we can give them and while I hate to pay higher taxes I would hope we are paying for kids that will be better educated and well adjusted I also needed to ask is how long will some of these kids have to travel on buses just to get to school unless the parent drives them. Hard enough for some kids to do 6 hours in school without having to travel an hour or two just to get there...we lived in Winchester my son's last three years of school and if I did not drive him he would have to catch the bus at 545 am to get to school by 7 am.. I would also like to ask by closing Jonathan Daniels how many students in that area will have to travel..With Fuller school and Franklin so close together why isn't one of them being considered as well...I don't mean to replace one over the other but if schools are needed then just leave them as they are. One final question I have is if some classes aren't "full" with only 13 students can't they just shift those kids to other schools that are also not full and maybe eliminate the expense rather than shifting or closing a school altogether. Again I don't have a child in school now but a lot of my friends and coworkers do so I am concerned for their children's future in our schools.

I am a parent at Jonathan Daniels and currently have a 4th grader, Kindergartener and a future student entering in 2017. Realizing we have to make sacrifices regarding elementary education in Keene I want to be convinced we are making correct, well informed decisions that calculate every angle. I want to be convinced that closing Jonathan Daniels is the best decision for my child’s future educational experience.

I am concerned by the facilities study conducted by Marinace Architects upon which the decision to close Jonathan Daniels appears to have been largely based. While complete in analysis of the building structures and costs the report seems to occasionally delve off into other areas not in that purview. For example in the conclusions and summary (Chapter 7) it states “Option 4e (Daniels closed)… retains schools on the east side of the city supporting community needs in their respective neighborhoods.” While one might assume this to be true, what’s concerning is no information, data or analysis is presented prior to this statement in the study to support this conclusion. Assuming there was fair consideration, what about mention of supporting community needs in Jonathan Daniels neighborhoods?
Why is there no discussion of this topic in the report while it is stated as an important factor in the conclusion?

Also from the Marinace report: “If Option 4E is chosen, Daniels school should, if possible, be retained and repurposed. It should be kept available for current and future district needs."
Why are the benefits and negatives of re-purposing Franklin and Wheelock not calculated explored or even mentioned? Additionally, why is there no exploration of the full potential real estate values for each sale of a closed school?

While the advantages of the Jonathan Daniels school external to the structure are mentioned in the report and recommendation (including: baseball fields, tennis courts, track and field facility, outside tables, playgrounds, accessible adjacent wetland/natural area, nature trails, access to the new middle schools facility and its technological offerings, ample parking, easy access, connectivity to the new wood boiler, room for growth and not mentioned, an iconic view of Mt. Monadnock in the distance), these factors are ultimately not assigned any value. It would be possible to calculate associated financial worth to each of these types of external assets to each school to give a more holistic account of each schools value; why was that not performed? This would provide a more comprehensive analysis and better inform citizens that the right decision is being proposed.

It would be helpful to receive clarification regarding the statement: “Option 4e (Daniels closed) results in the greatest savings”.
The Marinace study reported that closing Wheelock (4-C) offers the lowest yearly payment on the 20 year bond for renovating the schools ($244,900 w/state aid & $376,700 w/out state aid). Conversely, closing Jonathan Daniels reports the highest payment per year on the bond ($272,100 per year with state aid and $418,700).
Option 4C (closing Wheelock) also results in the lowest “Grand Total Yearly Cost” ($15,545,781 w/state aid and $15,413,981 w/out state aid as opposed to Option 4E closing Jonathan Daniels with higher “Grand Total Yearly Cost” of $15,577,800 w/state aid and $15,431,200 w/o state aid). Closing Franklin yields a slightly higher Grand Total Yearly Cost ($15,578,940 w/state aid and $15,433,340) than Jonathan Daniels. Please see pages 5.25, 5.33 and 5.41; http://www.sau29.org/documents/KES_REPORT_08-02-2011.pdf
The differences in “Savings in Operating Budget” proposed in the Marinace report appear negligible. The largest difference in “Percent Savings” in the operating budget with or without State aid between closing Jonathan Daniels (Option 4E), Franklin (Option 4D) or Wheelock (Option 4C) is 0.18%. So, it’s reported that Jonathan Daniels is comparable in renovation costs to Franklin and less expensive to renovate than Wheelock and there is minor cost variation in the year to year operations amongst the various options. Where are the cost savings?

The would-be two remaining K-1 schools (Wheelock and Franklin) are in the more easterly part of town leaving no elementary school in the northwestern part. It would seem logical, fair and practical to have a ‘four corners’ approach to situating the four schools for the long term.

Given these factors and the absence of the exploration of certain topics, one is lead to believe that the authors of the Study of Keene Elementary Schools were directed by the administration to lay the foundation for the closure of Jonathan Daniels. Inquiring minds want to know: is the primary motive for closing Jonathan Daniels to provide a nice accoutrement (i.e. office and maintenance facility for the district) to the new SAU office building? I think any reasonable parent from any school would agree that coveting a maintenance garage and office space should have no priority in the important decision of closing one school over another. If this is a primary factor in the decision of closing Jonathan Daniels I would find the credibility of the recommendation to be significantly diminished.

I want to be convinced this is a well vetted, objective and informed decision. I am on board for what’s best for my and everyone’s elementary kids so hopefully we’ll get answers to these perplexing issues.

I will not be able to attend the forum on nov 30,due to surgery but I feel strongly that Jonathan Daniels should not be the school to close!

It seems to me that in order to save 1 million dollars a year(which I doubt,since nothing ever goes down,only up) the school board would like the taxpayers of Keene to spend another 5 million or more upgrading the other 4 schools. We are still paying for the middle school,a new fire station,a new court house to come and only the powers that be know what next! Where does the school administration think this money is coming from?

I know Keene is quite a wealthy city,considering all the banks in such a small city( banks do not go where there isn't money)but as a taxpayer,I am
tapped out.

As for JD,they say it is the newer of the 5 schools and from what the the administration says in so many words,the worst of the lot.How could this be

Where were the administrators when they built JD?Why are there code violations and why weren't the parents informed of this.Too many questions,not enough answers and definitely not enough money.

I think this represents a fundamental and detrimental change in education philosophy/policy for Keene schools. I do not agree with this policy as it puts lowering costs above what is best for our children's education. Children will no longer be able to go to their neighborhood schools. Rather, they will change schools every few years and be bused across town. This will be disorienting to the children and it will not put them in the best situation to learn. They will spend more time on buses then they do in their own neighborhoods. Parents will no longer develop connections to the schools because by the time they do their child will change schools. The schools will be competing for resources against each other, rather than working as a cohesive unit. Special services will have to be given to all schools rather than concentrated in certain schools. Parents advocating for children with special needs will have to battle each new school administration to get what their child needs. There are so many reasons that this education policy is wrong, but it may save money.

Not sound practice. I know several of the following points have been noted in the Keene Elementary Ad Hoc Advisory Committee notes, but I thought I would add my two cents here about why I believe having narrow grade spans are not what is best for the children of Keene.

While there are a number of different opinions on what should be done in the Keene schools, I don't think anyone disputes that our decisions have to be driven not by finance but by what is best for the children.  Educators know that children (and families) thrive on relationships.  Building and maintaining positive relationships between school and home is neither easy nor fast, it requires time, patience and hard work.  As the parent of a 2nd and a 4th grader, I know my own children were in 2nd grade when they began to feel a full part of the school community- to understand the traditions and processes unique to the school. 2nd graders thrive on routine and predictability- developmentally, the stress of being asked to change schools just at the time one was beginning to feel at home would impede learning and would be counter-productive to the goals of the school. Stress is a real factor with children and their education. Transitions can be very difficult for children, especially at a young age. If Keene was to go to a K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 model then children would be facing a major school transition every three years of their educational career. As a result, I believe student learning in Keene Elementary schools would clearly suffer with a narrow grade span school system.

My professional career is in education and has centered on building a strong culture within a school and classroom. I have taught second and third grades (currently a multiage 2-3) and I was also a school principal for several years. Part of my principal internship was in a narrow grade-span school system. A strong school culture is built with hard work and high levels of involvement by families (parents and students), classroom teachers, specialist teachers, support staff, and administrators. The benefits of the K-5 (or even better- the K-8) system are multi-fold.  Students have the opportunity to know one another and be known well by the adults in the building.  They have the opportunity to mentor and be mentored across grade levels.  They have a chance to learn together across a longer developmental span, without disruption, providing for better learning and support.  No one group of children needs these things more than children who are struggling early in school. Response to Intervention (RTI), 504, and special education services are key to helping children who are struggling in school. While vital during all grades, all three of these services are critical in the second to third grade transition which involves huge jumps developmentally in math and in reading. In addition these two years can be very important years in the SPED identification process. As a result, I believe the effectiveness of RTI, 504, and SPED services in Keene Elementary schools would clearly suffer within a narrow grade span school system.

Students, teachers and schools all need to work together to create an effective learning environment in which children can thrive. In this day and age where all adults are working more hours, being pulled more directions, and have more stress than ever, a large number of families in Keene would have a more difficult time staying involved in their children’s lives. Imagine having a 2nd and 4th grader in two different schools. Which PTA meeting do you attend? Volunteers are critical to elementary grades K-5. So which school do you volunteer in? You now have two open houses to attend. If the children are on a 504 or IEP you now have two sets of OT, counselors, SPED teachers, etc. to work with. What about school plays- you now have to attend two different nights. Picking up children becomes more difficult- how can you be two places at one time? This all becomes even more difficult if you have a middle school student. As a result, I believe family involvement in Keene Elementary schools would clearly suffer with a narrow grade span school system.  

For all the reasons stated above, I believe following a narrow grade span is not sound pedagogical practice for the children of Keene.

Hello everyone,
If you were unable to attend the community forum on March 15, 2011, you may watch a recording of the meeting on Cheshire TV (Channel 8) on Sun. 3/20/11 at 8 pm, Tue. 3/22/11 at 7 pm, Thu. 3/24/11 at 7 pm or or Sat. 3/26/11 at 12 noon.

Many thanks to Cheshire TV.

All the materials, research, etc. that I have seen appear to be pointing in the same direction, the elimination of staff and, probably, one of the current schools. We can tweak and pinch pennies forever, but the big monetary amounts are locked up in these items. Painful as this is, we should acknowledge that this is a step that private businesses, faced with similar cost structure issues, are forced to take on a regular basis. Having said that, it matters very much how it is done. I would be extremely disappointed if it all boiled down to seniority issues, as these things often do. As a starting point how about this? Size the staff appropriately for all functions. The highest performers should be incented to stay. The lowest-performers should be incented to leave. The school board and/or principals should know where everyone stands on the scale. I read one post on this site about a school that appeared to be in horrible disrepair (filthy attic, bats, no insulation...). Maybe that's the school to close or maybe there is another that is a better candidate because of long-term cost issues. That should be researched much the same as the middle-school issue was. Just my thoughts. Thanks for the opportunity.

Hi, I attended the forum last night and was impressed by the work that's been done. The core values that you have developed truly can guide the school decisions. As you showed us the pros and cons of the various choices, I was struck by how some of pros as well as cons apply to Keene and some do not. For example, with regard to the narrow vs. wide grade span plan, how many familes really stay in the same school for more than two-three years tops? Although these forums will always have at least one parent passionately defending their own child's wonderful 5-6 years in their neighborhood elementary school, I'll bet you could find as many parents who were happy to switch schools. Beyond that though,if we consider what the research tells us about children, they do best with good teachers at each grade level. Most kids who go through the same elementary school will have about two years with a less than ideal teacher situation. I'm not dissing teacher at all--far from it---I'm talking about the match between teacher and student style. Teaching today is harder than ever before. There is more to teach and more ways to teach it. The children are in general less eager to listen closely and follow directions. (Many social factors are the reasons for this.)I think that having teachers confined to three grade levels will certainly provide opportunities for more collaboration, more motivation, and more understanding of each individual child because more teachers at that grade level will be able to offer perspective to each other.

And what about principals? Schools need leaders who can protect and nurture the best teachers and bring the middle-of-the-road professionals along in ways that pay off for the kids and that do not penalize the top teachers by putting all the tough kids, or all the kids whose paretns requested them in their rooms. Principals need to be closer than ever before to what is going on hour by hour in their schools.

The argument about playing in neighborhood where there is a neighborhood school may be another

We hear that Keene’s cost per pupil is significantly higher than the state average. Can that per pupil cost be broken down further and compared to components of the state per pupil average? For example, do we have the data to individually compare per pupil costs of building operations, administration (personnel as well as a comparative look at insurances i.e. Workers Comp costs), capital equipment, consumable materials, support services, teaching staff, etc.? It may be that this more detailed comparative analysis could help prioritize our cost saving efforts, while upholding the values identified in the first community forum.

i will not be able to attend the next meeting, but have been to the previous two. my suggestions pertain to the franklin school. i believe that an energy audit would reveal huge expenditures due to no insulation in the ceilings and poor windows and doors. the attic is filthy and full of bats and bat guano which probably makes its way into the school air. some basic building maintenance and cleaning would go along with upgrading the overall weatherproofing and insulating to save money and enhance the general comfort of staff and students. another suggestion that i have is to offer early retirement to some of the faculty that are making the highest salaries and hiring some young, energetic teachers to replace them. this would save money AND enhance the quality of education, not to mention bringing in some freshness. the teachers should not have computers on their desks in the classroom because it is a distraction for them and a psychological barrier between the students and the teacher. there are many places in the school where the staff can access computers without having it right on their classroom desk. thanks for considering my suggestions.

Just wanted to say that as a parent of two kids in the elementary schools -- but also a taxpayer who is feeling the pinch -- I appreciate the opportunity to address this issue together as a community (and not just "behind closed doors"). We have some difficult decisions to make!