Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

[pineda]

Read the story below first. Based on the information given, what would you choose & why?

Hildebrandt students may attend Strack, voluntarily

By: Kentesheia Dockery , HCN Staff Writer

"I'm not pleased at all with these options," said Larry Allen, a member of the Board of Trustees for the Klein Independent School District, during its monthly meeting on March 2. "I don't have a solution myself and I'm upset by that because that won't help in solving the problem."

Klein ISD's board of trustees approved a proposed attendance option for Hildebrandt Intermediate, located at 22800 Hildebrandt Road, during the monthly board meeting last Tuesday amidst debate from parents and board members themselves. The recommended option allows for voluntary transfers (not to exceed 400 students) from Hildebrandt Intermediate to Strack Intermediate.A shuttle bus would transfer students from Hildebrandt to Strack and back each day. Parents are responsible for morning drop offs at 8:15 a.m. and afternoon pick ups at 4:30 p.m. at Hildebrandt campus. Bus transportation, however, would only be available during 2006-2007 school year for those choosing to remain at Strack Intermediate. And, transfer students are allowed to remain at Strack through their eighth grade year rather than return to Hildebrandt or attend Krimmel Intermediate as per their zoned school in the 2007-2008 or 2008-2009 school years. As it pertains to district transportation, this task totals $10,000 per school bus.

"Why do we only look at one option, and why not consider blending options?" said trustee, Connie Neeley. "If we have five people volunteer it no longer becomes the solution. If we have 10 people volunteer to go to Strack, then we have 390 students left. We are months away from this, and I do think we're in danger of compromising. I would really like to know about our back up [plan]to resolve this."

"It's a shame with most of our options that we've put a burden on students in the district and it's a shame for students at Hildebrandt," said trustee, Jerry Courtney. "Why haven't we looked at out feeders and a system that can allow adjustments to be made by taking students west? I don't think this is something we can keep putting off by continuing to have these problems. It sounds like we have to absorb it at Hildebrandt by setting class sizes, take one whole class level and establish temporary buildings with all amenities providing them with whatever they need, and that we need to accelerate our feeder review. We need to make a fix, make it right and make a move toward future subdivisions."

The need for rezoning comes in light of another Klein ISD development, Krimmel Intermediate, near Stuebner Airline and FM 2920. Although students will have to endure a similar process again when that school opens, the superintendent thinks that it would be much wiser to wait before making the adjustment. Dr. Jim Cain said that the move would be very risky given that the school year is halfway over.

During the public forum portion of the meeting last Tuesday, a Hildebrandt teacher and member of the Klein Education Foundation spoke of how teachers and students have each suffered from circumstances of an overcrowded school. As a product of the Klein district, he remembered when adjustments were made to accommodate a residential boom to the area in the 1980s. "The class sizes are not manageable," he said. "Our stairwells are full, there are 25 to 100 kids in the hallway when the bell rings, and it's impeding on our class time because some students who ride the bus are coming in late."I'm teaching 30 students. Why not look at redistricting the west side [of the district]? We have classes that are getting larger and larger, but cannot put more employees in. There needs to be a plan for reduced population."

Cain said. "I realize that we have a very different situation here, but we are doing things to make that better. We're not compromising the quality of education, safety or security."

Board of Trustee, Steve Szymczak said to members of the board and the community that they should keep in mind what happened following the opening of Klein Collins High School just a few short years ago. Initially, the school opened with too few of students and the reverse seems to be happening on the verge of the opening of Krimmel Intermediate.He, too, is in support of the first option of having community volunteer transfers as his son will be entering Hildebrandt in the fall. But, perhaps the most important question of the night was when Szymczak asked fellow board members and administrators if students participating in the recent move will be forced to re-transfer because of the opening of Krimmel.

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Read the story below first. Based on the information given, what would you choose & why?

I don't see many good options for the problem with what is being discussed.

- If you place a sixth or seventh grader at Strack you can temporarily solve the problem. However if your child should decide that he or she wants to continue at Strack it becomes the parents' responsibility to make sure that their student can get to Strack after next year. For many parents this is not a viable option.

- If there are not enough students who volunteer to transfer, then it sounds like Hildebrandt will have a field of temporary buildings. This scenario is very hard on both students and teachers. For students it is too much unsupervised time passing between classes. Classes lose teaching time and getting students focused after class changes is hard. In addition the temporary buildings are noisy with both the sound of passing trains and the air conditioning in the building. It is better to have students in a junior high setting in a main building setting rather than moving from temporary building to temporary building.

The district should be thinking outside of the box so to speak. One idea that would come to mind would be to take approximately 400 students that will be going to the new intermediate school in the 2007-2008 year and move them to a temporary facility. There is enough vacant buildings along the 2920 corridor that may work for a temporary school setting. There is also enough time to do the work needed to set up a temporary facility. The number of students would limit the number of offerings available, however it could be done. The money that would be allocated for busing to Strack and for rental of temporary buildings currently being used by Hildebrandt could offset some of the cost. The idea of working in a smaller school setting and really getting to know the students and their needs would interest me as an educator. I would imagine there are other teachers who like the opportunity to teach in 400 student school rather than a +1000 student school.

Back to your original question - should I stay or should I go? If I were the parent of a sixth grader who was going to stay at Hildebrandt after the rezoning I would probably keep my child at Hildebrandt. If I know for sure that my child would be attending public school and the crowding situation is a big turn off - then as the deadline for families to make their decision nears, I would check in with administration at Hildebrandt or my local school board representative to find out if I can find out the numbers of students who are voluntarily transferring to Strack and then make my decision based upon this information.

[Chris]

[b]I think that the district should just wait until Krimmel Intermediate opens in the fall of 2007 to rezone. When they do rezone I think they should take students from the Hildebrandt/Schindewolf zone. Both of these campuses are overcrowded currently. Schindewolf just recently recieved another temporary building. If you take students from these two campuses to make up the Krimmel Intermediate zone, that will take overcrowding from Hildebrandt and Schindewolf Intermediate Schools. I think this would be the best way to resolve the overcrowding and pressure for th students.