Letter To The Editor: Howell Schools Reconfiguration Must Be Reconsidered

Dear Editor:

Yes, my involvement in the Howell reconfiguration saga all started because it affects MY children. That is a fact I won’t dispute, so don’t bother using it to attack my motivation or competence. Don’t question the validity of any of the legitimate concerns emerging from formerly quiet corners of Howell just because they originate from personally provoked parents. Of course we care most when something hits home. That isn’t necessarily a liability; it’s what makes us compassionate and productive members of society.

I am here because of my son’s outcries and my daughter’s tears, but that was just the catalyst. Emotional origins have morphed into a community-wide collective protest centered on actual details and metrics, or the lack thereof. The administrative rhetoric is lovely and their public interaction is constant, even impressive. But for those of us listening closely enough and taking the time to demand substantive answers and supporting data, their words are nothing more than glorified selling points. And we’re not buying in.

I’ve done the research, attended meetings, spoken to teachers, administrators, BOE members, neighbors, friends, strangers, and I am wholly unconvinced that drastically overhauling the educational structure of our school system (from K-5 to K-2/3-5 with 3 middle schools consolidated into two) is in the best interest of our children or our town. It’s in the best interest of furthering K-2 common core and 3-5 PARCC testing structure, though, isn’t it?

Superintendent Isola readily admits K-5 is not broken; it works. But Howell has a numbers problem. And so his solution to an imbalance in school enrollment is to dismantle something that isn’t broken, creating rampant logistical problems that will ostensibly be fixed this summer...after the board votes this through...after they assemble committees and action plans to patch together the plethora of problems they create in the process of addressing the central issue. The “nuts and bolts” of the plan are set to be dramatically revealed on March 30, but everything else -- transportation complexities, staffing, sister school cohesiveness, leadership opportunities, PTO rebuilding – is undetermined. The aggregate of what they don’t know is more compelling than what they do.

What bothers me the most is that at its core, they are risking the loss of a successful educational model in order to buy themselves the possibility of a few extra years without redistricting being necessary. “Sustainability” is one of their buzz words. But I bet they thought opening three middle schools, building two elementary schools, and closing Southard would also yield sustainable situations, and look where we are now. Meanwhile, they disregard the body of research out there that clearly links grade banding with negative student achievement! They say K-2/3-5 is not better than K-5, but have they considered it is worse?

Is it worth changing to a configuration that is, by the way, the least common configuration in the country, in order to fix an imbalance that could be achieved with a comprehensive redistricting plan? Since reconfiguration moves at least half the children in the district anyway, why can’t the entire town be redistricted under a K-5 model? I’d rather we be redistricted now and afforded the opportunity to stay at one school, together, than to chop elementary careers into halves. We don’t want our children to be another statistic proving that more transitions, even planned transitions, increases the likelihood of negative psychological and academic outcomes.

The board president, who has “complete confidence” in the administration, asks us to embrace change if it is “clearly beneficial” for our children. But that is the problem. I don’t believe it’s clearly beneficial. They haven’t proven it. They haven’t properly vetted it. They feel such a sense of urgency to rectify the imbalance perpetuated by previous leadership that they are jeopardizing the future of the entire district. And it’s bad business to enact policy out of desperation. I hope the board is listening, questioning, researching, and reconsidering. I am dreading April 15, especially after hearing murmurings that the vote is just a formality and this is already a “done deal,” even with all the floating logistics. But I will keep advocating, talking, and reading. For all of our kids.

Meredith Patterson
Howell