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School closing needed to be one of the options

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Sunday, Aug 19, 2007 - 12:07:54 am CDT

The Lincoln Board of Education already has received plenty of criticism for considering closure of Dawes Middle School and Hawthorne Elementary School.

But it ought to get credit for putting the proposal on the table.

The school board has the responsibility for overseeing the public education of the community’s children.

Story Photo
Hawthorne Elementary School

It also has a responsibility to taxpayers to provide that education efficiently.

No school board can accomplish the second goal unless it is willing to consider hard choices it knows will be unpopular with at least a segment of the community.

The board had ample reason to take a hard look at the possible closing of the two schools.

For years, the attendance at Dawes Middle School has been boosted by children bused several miles from the Lincoln Air Park area. The long ride — an hour each way for some students — was necessary because Goodrich Middle School, which is closer, is over capacity.

The need for that long ride, which costs the district $164,000 a year, will finally end when Schoo Middle School is opened in 2009-10 to serve the growing neighborhoods in northwest Lincoln.

When that happens, enrollment at Dawes will drop to around 300. That means that providing standard middle school programs will be more expensive on a per-student basis.

Meanwhile, Hawthorne Elementary School is serving only around 70 children from the neighborhood. Its enrollment has been boosted by attendance of more than 100 English language learners.

Those factors may not, in the end, prove sufficient to justify closing the schools. There are other ripple effects to be considered. The proposed closings are part of the district-wide redrawing of attendance boundaries. About half the elementary and middle schools in the district will see changes under the proposals.

If the two schools are closed, efficiency at other schools will be affected. There is the question of whether the district can, or should, make use of the Hawthorne and Dawes buildings for other programs. There are also questions about future growth. Would closing Dawes leave northeast Lincoln without enough classrooms as that part of the city grows?

As it should, the Lincoln Board of Education is conducting its decision-making out in the open and providing opportunities for parents and others to make their views known.

To properly do its job, the school board must thoroughly examine possibilities that it knows will be controversial. And ultimately it should not shy away from making unpopular decisions that will be in the best interests of the district as a whole.


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John wrote on August 19, 2007 10:03 am:
" No, you don't understand. Closing the schools was never a "consideration." The schools will close. This is LPS. Somewhere, somehow there is always back-door politics in play. The decision to close the schools was made a long time ago far away from the public eye. Now they bring the "proposal" forward to make it look as though they want public opinion when in all actuality a decision had already been made. The fun part now will be to watch all the Fallbrook folks cry foul when they finally realize they get their new school only to get the low-income Airpark kids to go with it. Congratulations Lincoln! instead of throwing away millions of dollars worth of property you could of spent a couple hundred dollars on redistricting and restricted enrollment. Huzzah! "

 Unbelievable wrote on August 20, 2007 12:14 am:
" This is another manipulation LPS does. Just like the St. Louis person gouged for already overpriced gas in this state, it takes an OUT OF STATE person to get on his high horse for this underhandedness and robbery he experienced in N. Platte & Lexington, something that has been going on since before the 1980's when I was warned when I came home from the east about it. It seems no matter where in Nebraska everybody is a crook. These taxes paid in Lincoln are ridiculous!! The whole country knows Nebraska is taxing their people to death, and they could care less. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU any way??? The damn underhandedness & lies in this town are unbelievable. These people are suppose to be educated, you could sure fool me!! I'll guarantee, every state I've lived in I have NEVER seen this kind of dishonesty!! "

 Seriously... wrote on August 20, 2007 11:09 am:
" Why does everyone think everything is a huge conspiracy? This is a school district! Politics or not, kids have to go to school, and the city has to pay for it. This is a common sense option. If a school doesn't have enough students to run on its own, and it is expensive to bring in students from other places, maybe the school should be shut down. At the rate Lincoln is growing, maybe LPS can keep the land/building or rent it, then open up the school a few years down the road when Northeast Lincoln grows more. They would save the operating costs, which are significant. Who on earth do you people think would benefit from closing a school? Regardless of what you think of Fallbrook, the Airpark kids who don't spend hours of their day on a bus are benefiting. And if the city is operating fewer schools and bussing fewer children, it will be cheaper for taxpayers. "

 whatever wrote on August 20, 2007 7:22 pm:
" Tired of my non Lincoln tax dollars supporting your cities irresponsible and unethical behaviour "

 Titto wrote on August 21, 2007 7:46 am:
" The problem is embedded deep in the Administration of LPS and always has been. These people are white collar problems and need to be FIRED and the people of Lincoln need to FIRE the new Administrator she has no clue what has or is happening she is just a yes mam for the school board "

 Stop wrote on December 7, 2007 6:43 am:
" The school board is an extension of the community. However, the closing of any school or the opening and/or building of any new schools, should be done by the vote of the majority of tax payers and not the school board. Running a school is different from ruining a community. School board members are elected true, but the community is the entity supporting the school, board members are only voices of the community, the true voice of the community comes at the voting booth and not at the table of the school board. Lincoln is lucky to have cool heads in the community, (and I am not saying board members are cool heads, although they may be) and these cool heads allow things that are beyond reason. We as a community need to make rules for closing or opening schools and these types of decisions need to be taken seriously by the community and not by a quick vote of the existing board of education. "

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