School Within a School Committee Meeting with Deb Morse, JSD Facilities Manager
Minutes
October 17, 2006
3:30 - 5:00pm
Adolescent Montessori Program classroom

Purpose of the Meeting: This meeting was suggested by Superintendent Peggy Cowan, following questions from Montessori parents and SE Alaska Friends of Montessori (SEAFOM) members since Spring 2006 regarding facilities needs for the Montessori program. The School Within a School (SWS) Committee (made up of Montessori teachers, parents, and JSD Ass't. Superintendent Charla Wright) was the core group of people identified for the meeting.

In attendance: Charla Wright, Deb Morse, Alison Talley (parent and SWS member), Dayna Weiler (parent/teacher and SWS member), Lupita Alvarez (parent), Jennifer Ryznar (teacher and SWS member), Doug Murray (parent and SWS member), and Stephanie Allison (parent and Glacier Valley Site Council member).

Introductions: Alison went around the table and introduced everyone at the table.

Montessori Borealis Draft Facilities Plan:
Deb & Charla stated that they had reviewed the draft facilities plan presented by SEAFOM last spring. Neither of them had suggestions for changes, additions or revisions, stating that the plan was really owned by the Montessori community. It was recognized by both Deb and Charla that the ultimate goal in the Montessori community is to have all grades in one location; Preschool (3-6 year olds) through 9th grade.

Alison asked if there was a procedure to formally present the plan to the facilities committee. Alison was specifically looking for official acceptance of the plan. Deb answered that she saw the facilities plan as a lay out of the program and its needs. If there is a more specific request to facilities the way to get on facilities agenda is to submit something in writing stating there is something that needs to be addressed. The Superintendent would then forward the request to the chair of the committee (currently Bill Peters).

Alison asked if we could present the draft facilities plan to the facilities committee. Both Deb and Charla felt this would be appropriate, with a letter accompanying the plan.

Montessori location for 07-08 school year:
Deb stated that there was no plan to move Montessori for the next school year. Charla also stated with great assurance that Montessori would not be changing host sites for the 07-08 school year.

Glacier Valley Facilities:
Currently the upper elementary class (EII) has 29 students, with expected enrollment of 34 in the next school year. Montessori instruction can accommodate a larger class during the growth period as long as support staff can be provided; until two classrooms can be formed and properly staffed with two Montessori teachers, however space is an issue. The current EII classroom is bursting and will not adequately accommodate 34 students. There is a formal request for next year's EII to have a larger classroom. Charla re-stated that the program could stay at GV for the 07-08 school year; however there would be some required planning for such a large class. Facility allocation within the building would be the responsibility of the building principal. Charla was willing to get together with Chris Trostel, Ted Wilson, & Stephanie to resolve this issue.

Relocatables:
Deb & Charla both stated that the portables were never meant for long-term use. The parents and teachers stated that while the location of the program in temporary locations was logical the first year (after the charter application was rejected by the state) the program is now in its second year housed in these "temporary" facilities. There are many safety concerns for the elementary age children and logistical problems for the adolescents.

Stephanie suggested that all of the classrooms at Glacier Valley not currently being used by a class be evaluated to determine how much of the day the room is used by students, and if it would be feasible (and safe) to move the activity in that classroom to a relocatable. Charla again stated that the allocation of space within the building is Ted Wilson's responsibility; however she felt the safety issues really need to be addressed and she was willing to work with Ted and Stephanie to resolve the problems. Deb agreed that safety concerns should be addressed.

Criteria for Expansion of Programs:
Charla stated there was a need to have a criteria in place for expansion of programs. Charla believes that the expansion criteria should be completed by the school board by Jan or Feb. She felt the criteria process really needed to be done so that the process was fair and transparent. Lupita asked if there was any information the Montessori programs should provide the school board to facilitate their job while developing this criteria. Charla indicated that there will be public participation in this process.

Review of Plans for Space:
Deb explained that most of the space available in the next 5 to 10 years will be downtown in the Marie Drake building, after the new high school opens in the fall of 2008. At that time JSD will start the renovation of Harborview, beginning in the summer of 2008, through the 08-09 school year and concluding in the summer of 09. During that time, Harborview students will be moved to Marie Drake. During the 2009-2010 school year there will be a renovation of Marie Drake to make room for district administration. The Facilities Committee will be looking at the long-term plan for Marie Drake.

Alison reminded Charla & Deb that the school board specifically stated that the Montessori program must remain in the valley. Charla stated that she has not seen this in writing, however she will review the board minutes. The School-within-a-school committee emphasized the desire for the program to remain in the valley. The program needs a stable home, and while it was not desirable to move to the valley in 2004, Montessori has made the best of it and to now have that disruption again is not acceptable.

The biggest issue is that space will be available downtown; there are also possibilities of renovations at Gastineau, Auke Bay, more at Glacier Valley and Harborview with a bond issue next year. The district is trying to not move students at GV and doing the work over two summers. Deb stated that GV is not going to change a great deal of area; there will be no tearing down of walls in this phase of the renovations.

Alison questioned why the Montessori Program would have to wait until all the construction and renovations take place in order to be provided with the facilities it needs.

Also Lupita insisted that Montessori need to know not only where they are going to be next year but also where they will be after that, given all the construction plans the district has. The program needs to know where their permanent location will be and when they will be able to move to it and requested that the Montessori program be considered in the planning process of any remodeling that may take place in such location.

Deb acknowledged that Montessori needs a clearly spelled out plan of action.

Boundary Re-alignment:

Since there have been some bubbles at various schools, new software has been purchased to predict enrollment and look at changing boundary lines. David Means will be overseeing the boundary re-zoning, since it is a data issue. Deb and Charla were unsure when the re-alignment of elementary boundaries was going to happen.

Looking at the capacity of every school in Juneau, Stephanie presented a graph (attached) showing the capacity, as determined by the State, and current enrollment, as reported by the school district. This graph shows that there is room in every elementary school for the entire Montessori program, except Auke Bay Elementary. Everyone recognizes that "available space" is currently "used space" in each school, there is, however, no consistent way to measure available space other than comparing capacity to enrollment.

Charla asked, "Where do you think would be an appropriate place for Montessori?" Doug gave examples of locations that would meet all of the Montessori needs with and without making changes to such facilities. Charla did not think it was a good idea to name a particular location in the letter to the facilities committee, to just spell out the facilities needs.

Both Charla and Deb felt it would be a good idea to have the re-boundary issue addressed in any communication with the facilities committee. With re-boundary likely to happen in the district, it is an ideal time for the Montessori program to be assigned a permanent home and the student numbers to be considered during the re-boundary process. By incorporating the Montessori population of 90+ in the re-boundary process, the program will not be crowding mainstream programs in the school which it ultimately resides. In other words, by giving Montessori a permanent home within the desirable student allocation per school building many of the space and teacher allocation issues would be avoided.

Lupita stated that knowing all of this, the long-range plan is that Montessori probably won't be in Glacier Valley together (1-8 at a minimum). Charla emphasized that the criteria for expansion needs to be completed by the board first.

Action:

It was agreed by all that the School-within-a-school committee would write a letter to accompany its submission of the facilities plan to the JSD Facilities Committee. The letter would include the suggestion that the ultimate placement of the entire Montessori program be incorporated in the re boundary planning which will be occurring in the district.

Stephanie will request that the elementary relocatables safety issues be added to the Glacier Valley site council November agenda for input from the site council.