School board outlines redistricting options at special meeting

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Mary Bauling (center), of DeKalb, discusses the informational handouts with Russ Fletcher, DeKalb schools community relations director during a special meeting at Cortland Elementary School in regards to the possible closing of a Malta school on Wednesday Oct. 28, 2009. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com)

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CORTLAND – More than 150 people attended a special meeting Wednesday night of the DeKalb School Board to learn more and ask questions about proposed plans to reconfigure where students attend class.

District administrators spent two hours presenting information about five possible redistricting options and answering questions from board members, and then another hour answering questions from the audience.

The addition of a new high school in DeKalb and new elementary building in Cortland – thanks to a $110 million referendum approved in 2008 – is allowing the school board to consider how to best utilize space to educate the 6,000 students across the district. Administrators presented five reconfiguration options to the school board in September as members decide how to best utilize space in the district’s facilities.

The referendum also will allow the district to renovate the existing high school, Huntley Middle and Chesebro Elementary. But administrators are looking at other options because of the change in economic conditions. Last year’s ballot initiative was supposed to be the first of a two-phase referendum, but the board has shelved the second portion, which would have renovated additional district facilities.

In every option, there would be the equivalent of 6 to 7.5 jobs eliminated, according to information presented by Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Lindsey Hall.

Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Andrea Gorla showed projections of cost savings the various options could have on the district’s fund balances down the road: Depending on the option, the district could see cost savings of more than $300,000 in 2012 to more than $2 million by 2014.

But many other questions were raised by both board members and those in the audience. School Board Vice President Michael Lord said he wanted to have specific price tags attached to each option.

“We know how much it’s going to save us,” he said after the meeting. “I want to know how much will it cost us to get there.”

Questions from the audience ranged to where would playground equipment come from if Huntley Middle School is turned into an elementary school to why there was no information about how busing costs would change under the various reconfiguration options.
 
Others asked board members whether they were aware of a sixth option prepared by residents of the Malta area, who have expressed concern that Malta Elementary School would close under all of the options presented so far.

Eric Biletzky said he was one of the people who came up with that idea and said it was not intended to be a solution to the problems the district faces but a collaborative effort with the community. He also noted that the interest of the community needs to continue.

“When I see a crowd like this, it needs to continue well beyond this meeting or redistricting,” he said. “It’s our children were are here to discuss, it’s our tax dollars we are here to discuss.”

The details of that idea were not immediately available Wednesday night, and the board chose to not explore that option further.

Board members asked administrators to provide them with more information at their next meeting, including busing costs, the results of a survey of how staff members felt about the various options and cost estimates for the various options.
 
The board has said they want to make a decision by December so they can make the necessary renovations and changes by fall of 2011 when the new high school is slated to open.

School Board President Mike Verbic said he thought the meeting showed excellent progress in the redistricting process and that he appreciated the input from interested community members.

“This is a very important decision for our community and one we should not rush into,” he said. 
The next meeting to discuss redistricting will be at 6 p.m. Nov. 16 at a to-be-determined location.

On the Net

Information about grade reconfiguration in the DeKalb School District can be found online at www.dist428.org/

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