Research on southern feeder pattern schools available for review

At a work session this week, Superintendent Pam Moran will make her recommendation to the Albemarle County School Board regarding the long range plan for three elementary schools in our southern feeder pattern (Yancey, Scottsville, and Red Hill).  At the meeting, she will walk the board and the community through the extensive research she has reviewed to support her recommendation.  That material is available here.

After this work session, the School Board will hold a public hearing next week and then we are anticipating making a final decision next month.

• 9/29 – Public Hearing on the Small Schools held at 7 p.m. in Monticello High School auditorium.
• 10/22 – School Board makes decision regarding Yancey, Red Hill and Scottsville elementary schools.

Below is the text of Dr. Moran's open letter to the community regarding this topic.

Brian Wheeler

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Friday, September 18, 2009

Dear Albemarle County Public Schools Parents and Community Members:

Our children are our future. Parents and community members consistently rank education as the number one priority in Albemarle County. We know the importance of a good education and I know you believe, as I do, that we must make the right choices to prepare our children for the world they will inherit from us. These choices are never easy. Daily you make decisions about resources, time, money, and priorities, keeping the best interest of your children in mind, but balancing what is possible with what is practical. In family decisions, you must consider a child’s individual needs and wants, but work within your family’s budgetary constraints. These are the same decisions facing our community as a whole as we search for the best answer for our small elementary schools in the Southern Feeder Pattern.

Today, I am sharing with you more information regarding Red Hill, Scottsville and Yancey Elementary Schools. During the Board’s September 24, 2009 work session, I will present an analysis of this information and what I believe is the best recommendation to address the needs of our community’s young people, now and into the future. I am making this information public so that you will know what I know, and you will be able to see the scope and complexity of the diverse issues that must be taken into account with a decision of this magnitude; a decision that the School Board will ultimately make after their deliberation. In my final review this week, I am considering several broad categories of information including:

• children’s learning needs and their access to quality educational programs and services,
• costs and appropriateness of facilities in the short and long-term,
• building and construction costs,
• annual operational costs,
• feedback from our school staff, parents and community members,
• environmental impact, and
• the ability to implement my recommendation.

Staff has also reviewed information used by the Southern Feeder Pattern Study Team and Long-range Planning Advisory Committee in their deliberations earlier this year. I directed staff to verify and update this information based on the Division’s current data. New information items include an independent review of small school research, site analyses, as well as data collected in response to issues raised by parents and community members.

I appreciate your involvement in this work and the value you place on our children’s education. I hope you can see from the range of data we are making available that staff has taken great pains to explore all possibilities. Together, we must balance what is possible and what is practical, and incorporate our unique and admirable traditions and histories with our vision for tomorrow, when our children will take our places as leaders and decision-makers.

Sincerely,

Pamela Moran
Superintendent of Schools