Higher gas prices hit mega-school districts HARD..kids lose

[SoCalDem]

In lots of suburban areas, the school district sizes are amazingly BIG.. Schools cost money, so as suburbs popped up in place of crops, the district sizes grew as did the schools.. The neighborhood schools within walking distance are long-dead, and big yellow buses cart kids miles and miles to and from school these days..

the other night i saw a report about one district in Iowa and another in nebraska, where gasolinie costs and natural gas costs have tripled.. How did they "solve' the problem?

They fired/laid-off TEACHERS..

the students staged a rally/protest to stop it, but the teachers still lost their jobs..

Somewhere along the line, people need to start thinking ahead.. Is it still wise to keep creating mega-schools and carting kids around like so much cargo, or would it be smarter to go back to neighbohood schools...smaller and closer?

[LeftyMom]

1. Kids do better in smaller schools too

Both in terms of academics and socialization. Larger schools do have an advantage in being able to offer more specialized courses and equipment, but thanks to testing mania and college admission standards that leave little room for non-academic electives, that advantage is largely theoretical anymore.

[SoCalDem]

2. Amen!.. My son's high school had almost 4K kids

He was a BMOC, but lots of kids ended up shuffling through school totally unnoticed, and totally bored.. I LOVED my high school experience, but I fear many kids these days just want OUT..no matter how they do it.. I see very little learning going on..

[bluestateguy]

3. I've never been a fan of busing

Especially when it's done as a form of social engineering. It undermines the notion of the neighborhood school. Neighborhood schools strengthen civic ties in the community.

If anybody should be laid off it's those overpaid administrators, many of whom are not all that bright.

[donco6]

11. Overpaid administrator here.

Gee thanks! Duh. Wait, I have to wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth.

I don't know anyone in the Denver Metro area that buses kids for social engineering anymore. I know Denver doesn't have to any more (they were court-ordered until a few years ago). But the cost of gas to pay for our regular student transportation has increased by about $50,000 in the last year (we're a small district of 6,000 kids). An average teacher's salary/benes is about $58,500. We didn't have to cut any, but there are a lot of other things we could be doing if we didn't have to pay for gas.

[Xithras]

4. I've ALWAYS advocated for neighborhood schools.

Neighborhood schools combined with mixed grade classrooms provide a far better learning experience for children, especially when coupled with inter-grade peering in those classrooms. The problem, of course, is that it's expensive to find educators who can handle that, and expensive to take care of large numbers of schools, so the concept has been largely abandoned.

BTW, do you really want to hear about the STUPIDITY of large districts? My oldest daughter is in Junior High, and she has to take a bus to school despite the fact that there's a brand new one only a short distance from our home. In fact, she passes TWO other junior highs every day on her way to school. Is it an overcrowding issue? Nope, both of those schools have available desks. The problem is that the district wants to mix populations from across the district, but the thing is so large that many students end up attending schools far from their homes. Now the district is complaining about the cost of gas and upkeep and an idea has been floated to start charging them to ride.

I have a better idea...let them attend the CLOSEST school to their homes, so they don't have to be bussed in the first place!

[Jim Warren]

5. Fuller impact to be felt this coming winter

This is gonna get worse, a lot worse and not just schools.

[aasleka]

6. Community

As me and my wife drove through a huge subdivision in Raliegh the other day we wondered why they didn't incorporate a
mini market street for a grocer and things.
Why not have a "shakedown street" for these huge neigborhoods, it would save residents gas and energy and give more jobs.

[SoCalDem]

7. Zoning...

Lots of new subdivisions have strict zoning regulations and don't WANT "commerce" .. Lots of communities like their exclusivity and fear "others" coming in and starting businesses that they might not like..

[donco6]

8. When we tried to change our bus boundaries . . .

from 1 mile to 1.5 miles (i.e., you have to live further than 1 mile away to ride the bus), we had such an outcry from PARENTS that we had to back off.

I guess we just get to make bricks without straw now.

Yeah, I wish I could build a little school right across the street from every house in town, but I can't see taxpayers footing THAT bill either. So I get to deal with schools that were built in the 70s (when I was 10 years old and had absolutely no say about it whatsoever).

On the one hand, the business community tells us, "Be more efficient! Consolidate!" On the other hand, parents say, "We want small classes in small schools close to our homes." And the legislature says, "You all suck anyway, so we're not giving you any more funds until you bring up test scores."

It's enough to make you want to throw in the towel.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. All centralization of this nature needs to end. We need self-sufficient

village-style neighborhoods where everything you need is in easy reach, more like it was in the past.

[SoCalDem]

10. It's like we collectively "forgot" what worked..

There was a time when localism was the norm... It's not a bad idea at all to know the people you shop with, go to school with..

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. I live in a small town. The pharmacy and hardware store are long gone and

the grocery store is very limited in what it carries. You can't help but be forced to drive at least 25 minutes to the next town, ehm.. I mean, Bangor.

[sweetheart]

13. The energy sector is all that matters.

We have a 2 sector government, energy and arms. If your business is not in these
two sectors, it is being pilliaged, end of story.