What do you think about this for Wausa? Leave your comments on this story from KTIV.
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17 responses to “Knox County School Consolidation”
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What do you think about this for Wausa? Leave your comments on this story from KTIV.
I am against this in fear that it will kill our community economically and drop our population.
The larger school would give our students the opportunity of taking a broader range of classes and activities that you can’t find in any class D school district which most every school in Knox County falls under. However, being a parent, I don’t like the idea of having to bus our children and it makes it harder for parents to attend school activities if the school isn’t in our town- ie. ballgames, parent-teacher conferences, ect.
I would vote no–how would you handle snow days trying to get youth from 7 communities to one school? What a negative economic impact to a community loosing teacher and support staff jobs? It would decrease student opportunity to participate in many extracuricular activities with that many students vying for a varsity spot in sports, drama,& speech. A solution is to increase use of long distance classes.
No, the county is too big for just one school in terms of distance. I would also hate the loss to each community. I think they should use more video classes and keep the schools local.
Article also covering this topic.
http://yankton.net/articles/2010/01/30/community/doc4b63cf6fa596f218188776.txt
I wonder sometimes if they are proposing this LARGE project in hopes to pass a smaller project by the people. The lesser of two evils if you will.
“Oh, no one wanted the Knox County School but how about Wausa/Bloomfield?”
Not interested in a Knox County school and definitely not interested in Wausa/Bloomfield school. What was our school board thinking when we started to share Superintendent anyway? Did they not think this is what Bloomfield was going to try and do?
Our Superintendant and School Board Members should stop going to Lincoln, spending tax payer money to try and get laws passed about unifying (which is really just consolidating) schools.
WE DON’T WANT IT, YOU WILL KILL OUR COMMUNITY!!!!
Amen #7!!!
I watched the video and they said something to the effect our students were not getting the education they need in our small schools???? If they were to make this larger school and buss ALL the kids there…where will the one on one be??? I believe this would cause more damage then good to our students! If you look around, we ARE providing the best for our students!! #3 had some very good points as well! I feel this would be a mistake and the small towns around would really feel the impact!
The media has the whole story out of proportion and did not report it factually. They were just trying to get ideas at that meeting in Center. Not every school in Knox County will be able to survive on their own with all suffering from declining enrollments. #7 – Bloomfield is NOT trying to take over Wausa’s school. Did you notice who’s superintendent they kept? It saved both of them money which is what the objective was. Don’t let rumors shut down all negotiations. If no feasible ideas can be brought up, they will drop it. No one will force anything. Direct questions to those actually involved. Don’t depend on talk on the street for your information.
Did anyone look at our comunities if a Knox County School system were to go into effect. It will kill our communities. I have heard for nearly 20 years that our schools will have to consolidate, but it has not happened yet. I think Mary the ones involved have a “half baked” idea and not a real plan, nor any foresight on what this will really do for education in our area. They react and find out later this was not a good idea. Think smart the solution is simple.
Economic Development in our communties will save everyone, get some ideas on creating jobs, keeping our small businesses and stay away from the call centers. Young people want to move back they just don’t know how to do it. Each community needs to show how people can move back and make a living, get a great education for their children and get the social interaction they want.
Wasting time on this does no good for any of the communities.
We have the chose people… We vote… If we don’t want this then we need make sure members of our school board are on the same page as the voters… If they are not then we have the right to change that.
I am very concerned about the direction our school system has been going for a few years now. They spend tons of money and claim to have grants for, which is only half true.
We are headed done a tough road if we don’t start going to school board meetings and sharing our goals as a collective.
I too believe that this would only have negative effects on everything from most importantly the children to the community. Small community public schools are what many look for when relocating!! Let’s look into more distance learning to broaden our classes and keep these kids where they belong!!
I would think you should look at this objectively. There are volumes written on the subject of school-consolidations and that’s where you should be looking first. Try not to reinvent the wheel because you’ll all burn out and the Chinese will do it cheaper.
My experiences with teaching in consolidated districts don’t include bringing more than a couple smaller districts together. There are pros and cons to both sides; expanded class choices, increased number of extra-curriculars, more competitive athletic teams, extra travel, and the list goes on.
Not only do we need to get all of our eggs into one basket, but if this would ever fly, we need one heck of a big basket. Maybe balloon boy has some ideas?
Iowa is filled with 3-4 smaller district consolidations so we could start there if you’re looking for some immediate research.
Why not get real innovative and look around the world to see how other folk educate their children. Implement that into one larger school and become the leading educators of this state and nation, whalaaa!
Or, have a centralized high school where all of your 4 year college bound students can receive the most advanced and challenging classes. Each of the rest of the community schools eliminate duplicating those attempts and concentrate on teaching and developing curricula around trade, business and industrial appplications.
Yes, today you can choose where you want to go to school with little or no restrictions other than your own travel and time expense.
If there was a school in Verdigre (example) that specialized in graphic arts, i may certainly want to attend for at least a year or two. If another was specializing in robotics in industry and manufacturing, hey, what’s to say a year or two there would be great? How about the world of plastics? Computer science? Foreign languages? Art? And the list goes on!
Rather than kill the messenger, give him a chance to speak. You may be sitting here on one of the most unique problems, with one of the most unique solutions. My first move would be to get a few dozen of those wind machines in each community so money is not such a huge problem (and not locate them all in one basket), and share the wealth.
As I drive around the country I see some real challenging problems with education as it appears in their topography, their business climates, homes, infrastructure, etc. You would not want to live there and I think for the Swedes, they should be very lucky to have what they have.
Quoting my cousin, Dr. Gerald Carlson PHD, when he reflected on his educational experiences, he said, “The best education he ever received was in his little one room school house located a half mile west of home.” (Currently the Gene Gillilan farm.)
“You were the student, and you became the teacher, all in one setting. The repetitive interactions paved the way for a learning environment that he dearly loves.”
He didn’t comment, however, on those few in his class that are still working towards their GED! Let’s all try to start thinking of the possibilities of what may be ‘blowing in the wind for you’, as Dylan would sing, “yes,the answer my friend”. “It could be Cash,” as another cousin would say!
As for economic development questions, as one comment eluded to, that’s a whole other bag of worms to deal with. If there is enough caring and passion behind your words, it can be done right here in Wausa. To turn it into a LA-population nightmare; there remain a ton of pros and cons behind that idea too. Having just spent the last two days in that city leaves one major question: Why would you want to live there?
Nuff said for tonight zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Ask your kids what they think, because if combining schools will help out students succeed, I think that it will be better for your kids.
Ask them.