I'm not a parent at Williamsburg or Mill Creek, however, I am a parent with 5 children, 4 of whom still in the Geneva School system. I think it's ridiculous to bus one grade to another school. I agree that the boundaries need to be revisited and if neighborhoods need to moved to a different elementary then so be it, but to move only certain grades or individual families on a street or block isn't looking at the big picture. The staffing should be added now and this issue needs to be the priority going forward so these families aren't moving from school to school or worse having half their family at one school and half at another when they're a grade apart.

Yes, let's add staff at any cost. I believe that is what Lynda said.

Congratulations to the board for considering utilizing our resources to the max. We can talk all day about the ideal way for things to be in a perfect world. Unfortunately, times are tough. I'm happy to see the board consider what is fiscally responsible while still in the best interests of all our children. The glass isn't always half empty. My district had to do this when I was in 3rd grade, and it was a very positive experience. I formed friendships that continue today, and I had the advantage of knowing more kids than most did when I got to middle school where everyone converges. My mother fought tooth and nail against the busing, but that was just my mother thing to do the best thing-- what she thought best. Find the positives. They are definitely there. All children matter and they can be best served if we are fiscally responsible.

A school boundary study is the obvious answer to this issue. But that is not going to happen in the next 3 weeks, but rather will happen during the 2012-1013 school year to be implemented for the 2013-2014 school year. So in the mean time, for this ONE school year, the school board needs to approve a half-time teacher for a new kindergarten section at MCES. Then, NEXT YEAR, after they boundary study is complete, everyone in the district can be shuffled around to where the numbers are best suited. The board members admitted at last night's meeting that approval of this ONE additional part time staff member would NOT be putting the numbers outside of the salary budget. So if we have the space at MCES, we have the dollars budgeted for this already, and we have two overflowing rooms of kindergartners, why not approve a third room? Why are we opening a whole new can of worms in discussing busing a dozen kids to a completely different school where their siblings don't attend, their neighbors don't attend, they can't walk to it as they could MCES, etc. Why do we even have these boundaries if we aren't going to follow them? When I purchased my house, I was under the impression my students would be attending the school three blocks away within the boundaries, not whatever school the board feels like sending my kids to that particular year. Would those opposed to the third section feel the same way if it was THEIR young child getting sent off? I think not!

Melissa -- I'm not arguing on one side or the other. I'm more asking a question. It sounds from the story as though it's not ONE section, it's TWO, one for Mill Creek and one for Williamsburg. Am I correct? So that does make a change in numbers, I'm guessing.

Boundary changes are hard issues, and emotional. I don't envy anyone involved, not one bit.

And by the way, when my oldest daughter, who's now 24, was in kindergarten (in Geneva) all four sections were at 30 or 31. I still consider it, all these years later, as essentially a lost year, despite good teachers. There were just too many kids in the room.

This seems way too late in the game to be making this decision! Our kindergartners have already been to orientation at their school, met their teachers, and sent in registration. It is obvious that a boundary study needs to be done, but you don't make this kind of decision one week before the kids find out if they're going to be in morning or afternoon kindergarten.

Additionally, my son was in kindergarten at Williamsburg two years ago and they had four section with eighteen students in each class. That's a total of 76 students. The numbers listed above for Williamsburg total 77. Why was it ok to have four sections 2 years ago? If this enrollment is expected to continue why don't that just have four sections of kindergarten like they always have?

This is such a short sighted proposition and it shocks me that the board would consider this. It seems like it is going to stir up a lot of drama, anger and resentment. If you're going to make a needed boundary change do it after much thought, consideration, and study. It's always going to be hard for people, but this quick of a change with so little thought put into it is not something I would expect from a school board that cares about children.

Perfectly stated Lynda!
But so I can get this straight...basically my child will be segregated because we're new here. He will be bussed to a nearby school we aren't zoned for so that we can "even out" the numbers and justify the 64 million taxpayer dollars wasted on a school that can't even hit capacity or half capacity so that the books look good?
This isn't about what happened 30 years ago and what great experiences some of you had making friends. This is about splitting up neighborhoods and segregating new people, kids without siblings in school yet and basically a big cover up to justify poor past choices. Wow! Congrats district 304! You can finally make the numbers add up to make it look like you built an elementary school based on true need! All this at the expense of the emotional well being of our children.

Amy,
The elderly Geneva citizens attending and voting on our kindergarten class sizes stated that kindergarten is merely "milk and cookies.". They don't care about us, our children or our community's reputation for superb education. It's been at least half a century since they've had school aged kids.

Wow...that means half the time spent in the classroom will be spent on a bus. Now that makes sense!

My daughter will begin Williamsburg Elementary this fall as a Kindergartner. As being a first time parent entering District 304 this is the last thing that I want to worry about 2 months before school starts. When will I know if my daughter will be bussed to a completely different school than what we went to registration for, filled out the paperwork for, and had a mini introduction into her "future" classroom with her "future" teachers? This is too little, too late. We pay enough to live where we live and for our children to go to these schools. There is no reason whatsoever that extra staffing cannot be provided. Even if it is just for this year until they figure out how to re-study boundries. And July 9th? Sure! Let's wait another 2 weeks to figure it out! It's not like time is ticking or anything.

This all began for Mill Creek two years ago when my son entered Kindergarten for the '10-'11 school year. That is when we went from two kindergarten teacher to one when we were told there were not enough kids enrolled to warrant the two teachers. If I remember correctly we had 22-24 kids in our afternoon class at the end of the year. For is 1st. grade class we went from 3 teachers to 2 for the '11-'12 school year where by the end of the school year we had 28 kids in our class and close to the same for the other 1st grade class. And now the word is that once again my son's 2nd grade class will go from 3 teachers to 2 because we don't have enough kids enrolled to warrant the third teacher. Really? 28 kids PER CLASS is not enough to warrant a third teacher? By the way, we are the ONLY grade in the school that continues to loose a teacher each year, though our class size remains among the highest in the school. Had we not lost our second teacher in kindergarten two years ago, we may not be in the situation we are in today with the incoming kindergartners. Early education is so very important and we need to make sure our children have every advantage they can for their upper grades. Perhaps if we spent more time with our early grade kids we will not have to spend more money for specialized reading teachers for the upper grades. Just a thought....

PLEASE email the board! Make your voice heard! Show up on 7/9 as advocates for our children!

I also wanted to mention that I just received an email from the board regarding the meeting last night. It does not mention moving kids around, it simply says that they will hold a meeting to decide whether to hire an additional teacher at Williamsburg and Mill Creek. I find it pretty deceitful to not disclose that they are considering moving students. I am very thankful that the Patch made all of us aware of what was really discussed.

Although it may feel better to vent on the patch, remember that only a letter to the board or comments at the meeting will impact their decision.

I'm going to step in here and defend the school board. I attended last night's meeting and the board did not make any decision other than to set up a special meeting for July 9th. This is a meeting that they were not required to hold. They felt they didn't have enough information to make an informed decision, that is what we elected them to do, make an informed decision. Here is the exact wording on class size from the current teachers contract: "At the elementary level, when a class size in grades K-2 reaches twenty-six (26) students, and in grade levels 3-5 reaches twenty-eight (28) students, the principal will review with the teachers and other related staff, the need for additional classroom support. The summary of that review will be forwarded to the Superintendent. If, at the elementary level, a teacher’s individual class exceeds twenty-nine (29) students, the teacher will receive additional support from a teacher assistant for at least two and one half hours (2.5) per day exclusive of any existing special education assistants."
Where is the summary of the required report, all that was discussed was what the numbers are and they "might" go higher. It is my understanding from the comments last night, that there are already assistants for these classes and it is quite possible these are certified teachers because of the lack of full time teacher positions. I'm not as concerned about the class size as I'm the boundary issue. I'l comment on that below.

What many people don't know is that new families are being DENIED initial registration at Mill Creek Elementary even though as you stated, nothing has been decided. I wonder why that is...

Since Geneva has "neighborhood schools", everyone believes their child will attend the closest school. The only guarantee a parent has is that your child will have a seat somewhere in the District. Shodeen falsely advertised that Mill Creek had a school in the neighborhood and that is where the children would go. Good Real Estate agents don't tell you what school your child will attend because they don't know, boundaries could change at any time. That is why the MLS sheet lists the District but not a specific school. No District employee will guarantee a school based on where you live for the same reason.
Does it make sense to assume if you buy a house 3 blocks from an elementary school your kids will go there? Of course it does, but reality is you received no guarantee where you kids would go. This is the real problem not class size, kids can adapt to class size. This will only be solved by a boundary change and those that are unhappy now will be happy and those happy now will probably throw a hisssy fit if their kids need to change schools. In the end, the kids will adjust to their new school, everything will be fine and parents will forget about the fit they threw. It appears that we have two sections of kindergarten that will be affected this year, lets make the smart decision. The parents need to calm down, understand the situation and allow the board to make a decision on the 9th. I have faith they will take into account all options and decide what is best.

Bob, it is very obvious that you are for saving money at any cost. Would you just like to put all the kindergartners is the district in one classroom with one teacher? That would save a ton of money! Every time there are uneven numbers at any grade level should we just switch the kids around? That sounds like pure chaos. I've never heard of a school doing that. How far are you willing to go to save money? If Williamsburg is expecting 90 kindergartners, it is extremely reasonable to have 4 classes with 22-23 kids in each. And for the record there have been 2 full time kdg teachers at Williamsburg until this past year when enrollment decreased. The kdg enrollment for the upcoming year is completely consistent with years past when there were four sections.

They were DENIED until they made some noise. Just ask the MCES school secretary. I'm sure it's no secret or maybe it is a big cover up.
Imagine living in an area where you just moved from half way across the country. You don't know anyone but your neighbors who thankfully have children your children's ages and are grateful enough to offer to help you in times of need. Say you're husband is traveling, your baby is sick and your Kindergartener needs to be picked up from school for an emergency situation. Oh no! All the neighbor kids are bused to another school and on a field trip that day! Who do you call? Remember...half way across the country...no family, only neighbors. Let's not just try to make the bottom line add up. There are real live PEOPLE and CHILDREN involved!

Ok Bob,
When your kid is standing on the corner waiting for a bus with friends and they get on one bus while your kids get on another how do you think they'll feel or when the kids are going to a school function and your kid is sitting watching them go but they can't, what do you say? Sorry you didn't make the cut. I have worked for a school for 28 years and kids shouldn't have to adjust in this matter. Kids have enough on there plates in this day and age, pressure of test scores, bullying and sometimes home life. Are you forgetting what a community is, why we move into one? Not to send our kids to another! This should be about kids NOT the almighty numbers. This is not a “corporate business” but yet everyone wants to run it like a big business. This is the business of making happy children into good citizens.
Maybe this district needs to look at Multiage classrooms for a year or two to average out numbers without kicking children out of their base school. There are a lot of great benefits to it. Many schools have gone all multiage and it has worked out beautifully. What about the schools that have a low enrolment, bring one or two teachers over to Mill Creek till the boundaries are worked out? There are many solutions without kicking kids out of neighborhood schools. If you do that you surely don’t belong in a school district you belong in the cut throat business world, you are not thinking of our kids!

Beckie,
Please email the board too!
Board@geneva304.org
And I think the superintendent is KMutchler@geneva304.org
And don't forget 7/9 meeting!

I love that some here post ad nauseum on any tax issue imploring people to get involved and regularly bashing the school board. When an issue comes up that would require additional expenditures, an outpouring of support is then met with calls of "hissy fits" and a need to "calm down," Now we learn that the same individuals are experts in the impact of class size on your child education. I'm glad our community is blessed with these "experts" to shepherd us through adulthood.

Good luck parents. You are going to have to build a very strong case for the addition of sections. This is a very fiscally conservative school board. You will need to get as many parents as possible to attend the special meeting on July 9th.

Write yor emails and start knocking on doors. Figure out your strategy you will be up against a lot of resistence not just from the school board but from other groups as well. Get your supporters to the meeting on July 9th.

One thought......could they combine sections at another elementary school and shift a teacher or two too the schools that need an added section??? Probably not but maybe that could be considered.

Good luck,

John Rice

27 kids in a kindergarten class! The horror! Float a bond issue and build some new schools ASAP!!

And Glen we were told at the Board meeting last night the class is approximately 2.0 to 2.5 hours long and they have an aide along with a teacher in the classroom already. If the Board needs to restructure to avoid additional costs it is a reasonable remedy. But all this emotion, I wish there was more emotion to institute a remedy to solute the 321 MILLION DEBT this community faces in the future. Now that is a MAJOR problem. If this Board was so conservative it would have mandated fiscal responsibility to avoid a debt situation.

My kids will be impacted by the busing issue described at Mill Creek. I don't consider myself throwing a "hissy" fit, but rather advocating for what I feel is right for my kids. We are new to Geneva (3 weeks and running) and have a Kindergartener and Second Grader. I agree with Bob, in that children will adapt to change; however, I think it is unfair to ask kids to change three schools in three years. That is something I think even I would have a difficult time with as an adult. I understand the Board is in a difficult position, but all I am asking is if you're going to make a needed boundary change do it after much thought, consideration, and study. Don't hand pluck my children from a neighborhood and send them to a different school to only then address a much larger problem and rezone accordingly. Why not leave the kids where they are for a year, while making a well-informed and much needed rezoning change? I have addressed my concerns with the Board members and would encourage you to do the same. I will be at the July 9 meeting, not as an irate parent screaming at the Board about class size; but, rather a concerned parent who wants to address the bigger picture.

It is extremely difficult to put on a "happy" face for my children every day when they continually ask what school they will be going to and I have to answer somewhere in Geneva. They are little and are looking for security and familiarity. Even though we have been granted initial enrollment at Mill Creek, I don't want to confuse them. Transitions are so difficult for kids that we were hoping by moving at the beginning of summer we would be able to provide them with some stability. I am greatly saddened that I too can't be more excited about moving to Geneva.

All this emotion....And Irony!!! Apparently there might be a new "pitchfork and torches" crowd showing up at the school board meetings. Hopefully the school board will make the right choice or we might have a new demographic "leaving by the truckloads", and then who will buy the homes from all the other "truckloads" leaving? I don't know how one can stand so much HYPERBOLE!!!!!

As I get older and wiser, I still have a lot more growing-up to do, I find myself wanting the best for everyone, especially all kids. Just because I had some tough times growing up, doesn’t mean other kids should.

I sure the heck did not move here to live on an ocean, for a mountain view, for the weather, or for a job (I drive to Chicago every day). I moved here for the schools. The taxes here are high but I burden that finance, for the schools. I moved here for my kids. I expect that the majority of people live here for that same reason. That is why I would like the board to consider what is best for the kids.

A school district that debates the idea of adding a teacher to an over crowded grade scares me. Add the teacher already. Some decisions like purchasing a new curriculum, drawing new boarder lines or building a new school should be debated at length.

So many people are missing the point and arguing just to argue. At the end of the day, all of our Geneva schools are great! What we the parents who this is affecting are upset about is the singling out of our children to be sent to another school for a year while rezoning happens. My culdesac has 8 houses. My family only knows our neighbors since we just moved here from Florida. Please don't single us out because we are new. Send my son to the same school as the only friends he knows, where we are zoned. That's my point and that is my simple request.

Some years ago the south Mill Creek kids started out at Mill Creek Elementary, then were moved to Western Avenue, then moved to Fabyan. They all turned out just fine.

Also, when we moved here in 2006, the people moving into north Mill Creek were told the Mill Creek was full, and a separate bus went around and picked up those kids and brought them to Western. That didn't involve us but maybe someone could speak to that experience?

LETS TALK MONEY:
Add up the cost of a couple school buses to pull a few kids away from the 2 over populated kindergarten classes and send them to a different school. Add the cost of leasing at least 2 more buses, the cost of maintenance, cost of fuel, cost of equipping it with a camera system, the cost of a driver. How much more does it cost to hire 1 teacher who teaches 2 sessions of half-day kindergarten for a year?

The people who comment about how their kids move city to city and switch schools all the time, sounds like it was their choice to do so.

The district is not rezoning and sending a SECTION of kids to a further away school. I understand and accept that is a difficult decision that has to be made from time to time. What I have an issue with is the following. ONE OF THE PROPOSALS WILL HAVE MY ONE CHILD WHO LIVES A COUPLE BLOCKS FROM THE SCHOOL, NO ONE ELSE AROUND US, BUSED TO A FURTHER AWAY SCHOOL. Are there really people out there who think is acceptable?

If you're speaking about me, dan, please reread my comments. Those moves were dictated by my husband's career, not our choices.

The only time a career isn't a choice is during a draft. I believe the last draft was Vietnam.

I think rezoning is the answer. Obviously the numbers from the last survey didn't pan out, whether by deceit (as some claim) or just a change in circumstance (Crossings of La Fox never got built, etc.). Regardless, sending a select group of kids elsewhere for a year doesn't fix the issue. In today's NCLB world, Kindergarten isn't "milk and cookies" as some older folks remember, it is basically first grade, with reading, writing and math. 304 does a whole lot in those 2.5 hours, my youngest just completed kindergarten and I am impressed as to what he learned. Can the teacher do that with 28 in a class? Even with an aide? I don't know. 304 is obviously going through some growing pains here. I think the best solution is to implement the 2 half time positions, and do a boundary review in 2012-2013. It's too late to do one for this year, and bussing select kids makes no sense. We built the new school based on certain asumptions, they haven't held true, now we have to fix it. While my family isn't directly affected by this latest issue, in the 6 years we have lived here, our neighborhood has been zoned to 3 different schools. I can appreciate that kids are resilient, switching schools when moving is one thing, but switching schools while living in the same house is counterintuitive at best.

Dan and Sabine:
The original comment I posted about childrens' abilities to adapt has apparently escaped you. I know you don't want to hear it because your kids are your babies. I felt the same way about my kids and still do. However, you've taken a different path about my comments that you know nothing about and are judging me for it. It's too frustrating working with amateurs, so have a good day. Over and out.

Bob McQuillan:

I live in Randall Square as well and have a kindergartener enrolled at Willaimsburg for the fall. So happy to hear that you aren't for plucking students out of neighborhoods and sending them to different schools. However, I received a letter in the mail asking if I would be willing to bus my child to Heartland or Western. They are asking for volunteers. All because they don't want to add back in a fourth ( part time teacher) class, which they've had for years past until enrollment was down last year. And they are scared to spend a dime because of your taxFacts group. Parents are more than concerned in this neighborhood and we are going to take a stand. Would you like to come over on the first morning of school, and explain to my five year old why he can't get on the bus with his friends and neighbors? Would you like to explain to him why he has to get on a bus alone and attend a school he's never stepped foot into with teachers he's never met? I was told he is high on that list because he doesn't have older siblings at Williamsburg. Great work, taxFacts!

Interesting that we hand out the equivalent of two teachers salaries (150k last I looked) to people just before they retire (to boost their unfunded pension) and yet we haggle over the cost of hiring a few teachers to reduce class size. There is more than enough money coming into Geneva 304 to promote small class sizes, but the spending priorities are those promoted by the self serving teachers union, and not those desired by parents.

Martina,

We're not even talking about hiring new bodies. This issue would require having two kindergarten teachers (one at Mill Creek and one at Willaimsburg) work a full day instead of half of a day.

Well Said, Geneva Resident and Amy H. This essentially alienates children at a crucial age and puts an unfair burden on families.