I got these emails sent to me today. Seems like a good idea and wondering why the city council doesn’t move to this method;
Hello DeeAnn,
Hello task force members, like many people I am working less these days and have a lot of free time. The social distancing guidelines and rules for not meeting in groups are probably going to remain in effect for awhile.
Considering the limitation on holding in person meetings we should probably arrange for virtual boundary task force meetings using a program such as zoom. The virtual meetings for the middle schools should be arranged first, during the month of May and then our virtual boundary task force meeting after that. We need to move things along.
As Kent pointed out our students are safe because they are all at home. And our teachers are all safe because they are at home. So now is the perfect time to hold virtual meetings.
Would the school district consider setting that up?
Thanks
Denis Miller
DeeAnn’s response;
Denis and Task Force Members – We have developed a plan that will be communicated within a week to 10 days. The plan moves forward with community engagement meetings (though not in-person) and a final virtual task force meeting. Â We will share that information as soon as it is finalized. Â Thanks. DeeAnn
When school does open up once again, my guess is that there will even be more kids receiving free lunches in this town, which should make it easier to create new school boundaries with economic diversity, but don’t let that fool you. Until they factor in race, it’s really not true diversity.
Why bother to take public input?
It was obvious from the Task Force meetings, the boundaries have already been decided with possibly one exception:
The 81 kids who live on the west side of Tea Ellis Road.
When the Task Force meetings started, facilitator Doug Morrison stated these students would be moved from Memorial/Roosevelt to McGovern/Jefferson.
In attendance at that meeting was Steve Van Buskirk. His company’s development, Cherry Lake Reserve, is where some of the 81 students live. By the next Task Force meeting all of the students west of Tea Ellis Road had been moved back into Memorial/Roosevelt. Hmm…..
In addition, City Councilor Neitzert openly lobbied both at the TF meetings and on Facebook for the 81 students to remain at Memorial/Roosevelt. He has a student who will enter Memorial this fall.
The argument the developer and the city councilor used:
Memorial and Roosevelt are within walking distance.
Drive this area: The students who live in the Cherry Lake Reserve neighborhood would have to cross Hwy 42, there is no way this is a safe route for walking.
The students who live south of Hwy 42 and west of Tea Ellis Road would have to cross four lanes of Tea Ellis Road, a route that will continue to become busier and busier as development occurs west of Tea Ellis Road. There is no way this will be a safe route for walking.
The entire area west of the Tea Ellis Road is slated for future residential/commercial development, as was stated numerous times at the TF meetings.
Now, is when the District needs to not bend to undue influence. It has been 25 years since the SFSD boundaries experienced city-wide changes. It will be many years into the future before this happens again.
Both the City of SF and the SFSD know where the next areas of high growth will be and west of Tea Ellis Road is one of those areas.
Help relieve the pressure on MMS and RHS by moving all students west of Tea Ellis Road to McGovern/Jefferson.
The SFSD needs to protect students, District staff and the taxpayers in this process.