Davis Parents See Problems with St. Charles School District Plans

What will happen when a large group of under-performing students at one school are mixed with those at another school?

That and dozens of other questions and concerns were voiced by parents Wednesday night at as District 303 Superintendent Donald Schlomann fielded questions about a proposal to merge students from Davis and Richmond schools into two new ones.

Schlomann explained to the crowd—the vast majority being parents from Davis—the district's proposal to take the newly combined K-5 population from the and split them by grade levels into the two buildings. The younger children at one school would receive a curriculum with an extra emphasis on literacy while the older-student school would see an additional 40 minutes a day of foreign language and technology-based science instruction.

While some parents who spoke said they welcomed the additional focus, many focused on potential pitfalls with mixing the schools—such as what might happen when a subgroup of economically disadvantaged students that had failed to meet Annual Yearly Progress set by No Child Left Behind are combined with students performing at adequate levels.

One Davis parent, Kim Overstreet, told St. Charles Patch before the meeting that she fears that exceptional students and those that need extra help will be impacted by the addition of students who need more attention. She also worries about how this will impact and affect the Davis community.

“I think a lot of people are upset with how the district has handled this,” Overstreet said.

In his presentation, Schlomann emphasized that a perception of Richmond as being a failing school was “not factual.”

Richmond has made strides but still struggles with AYP requirements in one subgroup.

The problem, according to Schlomann, is that all schools will soon fail to meet AYP as the requirement steadily increases to 100 percent if the law remains unchanged. Davis, he said, is projected to fail AYP next year in one subgroup.

“Every school in the district will soon fail AYP … Every school in the nation will soon fail AYP,” Schlomann said.

Other parents expressed concerns about identity and a neighborhood issues that would come with a change. A few wondered how students would be, traveling to a new school. At least one parent said he was concerned about moving to a neighborhood because it was near one school and now, would potentially see a change in property value.

The plan, should it be approved when it comes before school board committee next month and final board approval in March, would eventually be implemented across all schools. Curriculum at the middle and high school also would be adjusted for the increased emphasis in two areas requested by parents through surveys—science education through technology and foreign language instruction, according to school officials.

Editor's Note: The subgroup which failed to meet AYP standards most recently at Richmond Elementary was misidentified. It actually was the economically disadvantaged subgroup.