Beginning the June 10, 2014 Iowa City Community School District board meeting, Chris Lynch stated, "We need to give Steve Murley some direction regarding the redrawing of the boundary maps."
Tuyet Dorau specified, "We need to direct Steve collectively, not individually, [according to] policy."
Patti Fields: "Flexibility is important; that must be built into the process."
Tuyet: "There was a lot of public feedback and pushback regarding the diversity policy. Comments were, "Scrap the diversity policy or delay it."
Sally Hoelscher: "Yes, we should listen, but public comment is a piece of it, not the whole thing."
Tuyet: "We need to vote on relaxing the diversity policy."
Marla Swesey: "We voted on the diversity policy. It's a mandate. People are frustrated and that led to misintentions. We don't know what busing costs will be. We don't want to bus students for no reason."
Tuyet: "What about islands?"
Marla: "If we had intentions to make it easier for kids, I'm not so opposed to islands. I changed my mind on that."
Tuyet: "Steve has two directions in opposition to each other: 'no islands' versus islands are okay."
Steve Murley: "Yes, we should consider public input, but we do have a diversity policy to implement."
Jeff McGinness: "Do we start with no boundaries?"
Steve: "We heard repeatedly from the public regarding transfers, and what 2019 might look like. We don't want to move students twice."
Jeff: "Is there a better solution or not?"
Chris Lynch: "Is the major concern the higher Free and Reduced Lunch [FRL] schools?"
Tuyet: "No."
Jeff: "We have really weird looking boundaries, goofy looking attendance zones."
Woman board director (didn't catch which one): "Strange peninsulas."
Chris Lynch: "I'm against more transitions too, but we have some really high FRL numbers."
Tuyet: "I'd like Steve to have flexibility. I hate the word "cluster," so I'll use the word group. We need to minimize barriers for students with fewer resources. We don't want them to experience more barriers because of us."
Public priorities were characterized as
- Keep the broader neighborhood together.
- Walkability, which affects affluent as well as poor children.
There was a lot of talk about grandfathering students but not bootstrapping students, magnet schools (inconclusive), and goals for redistricting.
Tuyet Dorau said she wants to eliminate high pockets of poverty ("above 20%"), concentrate on operational efficiency, and prioritize walkability.
Marla Swesey said she wants to minimize disruption to neighborhoods while keeping walkability.
Patti Fields said that in talking to teachers, she kept hearing the word "balance," that teachers don't expect miracles, but they're hoping for balance [whatever that means].
Jeff McGinness: "I'll steal her word, 'balance.'"
At that point, there was loud feedback noise from the audio system, the meeting was interrupted, and part of it was lost.
After the disruption, someone asked, "Are we on?"
If the superintendent got collective direction on redrawing boundary maps, I'd be surprised. But then, if we subscribe to Jeff McGinness' theory, the board should defer to Supt. Murley anyway, since he's the educational "expert."
Supt. Murley did seem very hurt that the board didn't trust him. His voice was quivering with emotion in an exchange between him and Tuyet Dorau. Imagine that. After a $172,000 administration parking lot, a $562,000 roof for the administrative roof, and a $30,000 monument sign to identify West High as West High, he's quivering with emotion?