They're closing Pathfinder!?

[elfs]

Somehow, our last superintendent of public education managed to pull an Enron of a sorts and now our school district finds itself no longer flush with cash but instead $22 million dollars in debt. This is not a good thing. The school district is looking to pay this debt off over a ten-year period by closing down schools. We got the list today. One of those schools is Pathfinder, where Yamaarashi-chan attends.

This sorta pisses me off. Although it was unlikely that Yamaarashi-chan was going to be attending there one way or the other in the coming season, Pathfinder was a really good school. I thought the principle was doing a phenomenal job at what must be the world's most thankless position. Along with attentive parents who want the best for their kids, he's got apathetic parents and busybody parents (those who want what's best for other people's kids), he's got the legislature on another side, and the school union on a third.

Yamaarashi-chan is going to be disappointed either way. I hope the principal lands on his feet; he was one of the good guys.

[Edit: This is the proposed budget, but most of the school council seem to think it's mostly a done deal. Still, there's a chance it won't go through completely, and Pathfinder will be spared. I wouldn't hold my breath.]

Odin! Between this, the recent rejection by the state Senate of gay rights legislation, and the three-cent gas tax increase, it's a crappy year all around for the local legislature.

[Edit 2: Pathfinder is a done deal. The most skeptical of school closings member of the school board agrees that the Pathfinder project "should be shut down or moved." Suck!]

Comments

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

*grr* Sorry, Elf.

And sorry, Yamaarashi-chan. I know Ael would be really sad if they closed the school where my daughter's in the Spanish dual-language program.

no they're not

[(Anonymous)]

they're not closing it, they're moving it

Re: no they're not

[elfs.livejournal.com]

All of the children will need to be moved somewhere, and if the program at pathfinder is "moved," that still means that the classes will get broken up somehow, other classes will be integrated into the curricula. David Dockendorf will no longer be organizing Pathfinder. The results are the same; parents will have to choose new schools for the coming year, children will be relocated, and so on.

Re: no they're not

[(Anonymous)]

From David Dockendorf:

Last night, Superintendent Raj Manhas presented a preliminary recommendation on student assignment and school closure/consolidation to the School Board. In this recommendation, Pathfinder K-8 Alternative School has been identified for relocation to Cooper Elementary, which is located at 1901 SW Genesee St. at Pigeon Point. What this means to our school community is that our K-8 alternative program will stay intact as will our school staff and move as a whole school. If the recommendation is accepted, we will move both our staff and students to this new location for the 2006-2007 school year.

Re: no they're not

[omahas.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that he hopes that the staff will be included in the move, and one would think so. It would make more sense that if the students from the Pathfinder school are moving into the Cooper school, and the students from Cooper are being relocated to other schools, that they would move the staff and principle from Pathfinder as well since they are most familiar with that alternative program.

But one of the reasons for the shutting down of these schools is that it will allow them to also remove the staff from those schools as well (cost-cutting). So whether it will be the staff from Cooper or the staff from Pathfinder, one set of staff will go away. It just makes sense that the original Cooper staff would be removed, since their students will be relocated to other schools.

And the Pathfinder school *is* being closed (and may end up being demolished, considering how old it is...over 50 years old). The K-8 Alternative program that *was* at the Pathfinder school is being moved to the Cooper school.