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Neighborhood schools plan moves forward
Plan outlined and concerns addressed during meeting at community hall
Dozens of Quincy Valley residents braved the snowstorm on Thursday, Jan. 19 to hear the Quincy School District’s plan for converting Mountain View and Pioneer elementary schools to kindergarten through third grade neighborhood schools for the 2012-2013 school year.
Currently all the kindergarten and first-grade students in the Quincy area attend Mountain View, while all the second and third grade students go to Pioneer.
During the presentation, superintendent Burton Dickerson and representatives from the K-3 Reconfiguration Committee explained the process.
There are 30 members of the committee, including parents, administrators, teachers, classified employees, school board members and counselors.
Some areas that need to be addressed by the committee include academic programs, facilities, staffing and boundaries and transportation.
When it comes to academics, the committee is working to ensure that there are cohesive programs at both schools, parallel curriculum pacing, equal access to academic programs, resources and enrichment.
For facilities, the committee is making sure that there is a continuity of playground equipment, furniture and technology facilities. Tom Harris, head of the facilities subcommittee said the technology access at Mountain View will need to be upgraded to match what is offered at Pioneer and George elementary schools.
Staffing has already been settled. The committee tried to strike a balance between employee preference, staff experience and qualifications and a balance of teacher leaders.
Mountain View Elementary School teachers will include: Lila Schwint (K), Liz Kondo (K), Sheena Miller (K), Whitney Gregg (K), Jessica Flores (1), Heather Jacobson (1), Frances Nielson (1), MaryLynn Hallmark (1), Heidi O'Banion (1), Debbie Koehnen (2), Alita Rainbolt (2), Ashley Leneway (2), Eva Ponce (3), Cecilia Monda (3), Laurie Norton (3) and Mary Bennett (3).
Pioneer Elementary School teachers will include: Jody Stadelman (K), Heidi Deleeuw (K), Sara Hausken (K), Megan McCarl (K), Savannah Brewer (1), Susan Yaw (1), Caitlin Walters (1), Gretchen Cedergreen (1), Lindsay Rasmussen (2), Linda Schmidt (2), Evie Wood (2), Laura Demetruk (2), Hans Schmidt (3), Balmer Pereira (3), Alesha Porter (3) and Sue Huxtable (3).
Still to be determined are the boundaries for the schools. The committee will try to create boundaries that provide even numbers and demographics for both schools. During a question and answer session, committee members said the boundaries will be a reflection of district policy, which calls for both schools to be evenly distributed demographically and by numbers of students.
The boundaries will be examined regularly to determine if they are inline with that policy, stated Dickerson.
Other considerations for the boundaries include safe walking routes to school. While elementary students will still be provided with bus transportation in Quincy, students will be encouraged to walk to school if there are safe routes, Dickerson explained.
The district plans to have two more community information meetings on the change for the schools at Quincy Community Center with a meeting on Feb. 23 and one on March 15. Both meetings are at 6 p.m. Updates on boundaries and other issues are planned for those meetings. For information on the neighborhood school plan, the public was encouraged to call Dickerson at 787-4571 or Pioneer principal Nik Bergman at 787-1595 or Mountain View principal Kathie Brown at 787-4548.
