Boundary changes enforced due to potential school closings
All around district 834 signs displaying “Save Our Schools” are placed in yards and down streets. Community members are also showing support by tying a red ribbon on a tree or their vehicle. “Our community is weary from fighting for what we believe in and it is clear to us that after weeks and the too little two late ‘Q’ and ‘A’ sessions with Withrow and Marine this week it is clear that there doesn’t seem to be an interest in listening much less acknowledging our perspectives,” community member Lance Cunningham says.
The familiar topic of Marine, Withrow and Oak Park closing in 2017 has been of discussion for over almost a year, and with new boundaries being enforced, there has been recent controversy.
The 834 District School Board approved a Contingency Boundary Plan on Nov. 10, 2016, that changes boundaries for each town in the 834 District. This will dramatically change bus routes, classroom sizes, and which new schools the three closing schools will move to. As of now, Marine and Withrow students will move to Stonebridge Elementary, and Oak Park students will move to Andersen Elementary.
Students across the district are going to be impacted by the boundary changes.
Sophomore Matthew Lamers said, “I do not believe there is a valid reason to change the middle school boundaries. For example, my brother, Anthony, attends Oak Park Elementary. Anthony and I live on the north side of highway 36. One of Anthony’s friends, who also attends Oak Park, lives on the south side of highway 36. With the current boundaries, both would attend SJHS/Stillwater Middle School.”
He added, “My brother and his friend would be separated all the way until high school. Also with attending a new school, it requires him to make some new friends (after being separated by some). Attending a new school will even affect his health (a little).”
Most parents and students in the district are in support of Stop Bold Cold, which is a community-run organization which campaigns the opposition of the proposal to close the three schools.
Sophomore Mason Hayden said, “I think the changing of the boundaries are unnecessary and only disrupts students and their education. Putting students in environments with new people they have never met will not help their education in terms of if they where in a comfortable environment they could focus on their education.”
Boundary changes will also largely affect the two junior highs in the district; Stillwater and Oak-Land. More and more students are and will be enrolling at Stillwater, and Oak-Land’s student population is decreasing, and will continue to by the 2017-2018 school year.
Additionally, the closings of the schools and adjustments to boundaries are mainly due to budget, and decreasing costs in one area, so we can increase costs in other areas that are, as of now, more important.
Superintendent Denise Pontrelli said, “This one thing we’re doing [closing three schools] is the first step, it’s not going to ease all of the budget needs that we have. We have to look at our athletics and activities. We have to look at our staffing. Just about every area of our system we have to review and look at if we are being effective and efficient. Those are all costs we have to look at. We have to increase costs in one area and decrease costs in another area.”
Abby Banks • Mar 28, 2017 at 11:44 am
This was very good writing! I loved the detail and interesting evidence on the new changes. Maybe copy edit it one more time, but this was a great article overall. I thought you handled a sensitive topic very very well.
Travis Jacobson • Mar 28, 2017 at 11:34 am
The interviews and the amount of detail that went into this article really made it pop and gave the issue meaning.
Megan Karnuth • Mar 28, 2017 at 10:18 am
Megan, I like this story because you use interviews from people who are directly impacted by the situation to help your argument. You also are able to summarize a huge complicated event and make it simple. One thing to improve on would be making a clearer concession, but altogether great work!
Cates Eliasen • Mar 28, 2017 at 9:40 am
I really enjoyed how you used your past experience as an op/ed writer to address such a sensitive and contreversial topic with grace and eloquence. Although the article was short, it was pcked full of information. The definition of short and sweet. Great article, Megan!
Jack DeGonda • Mar 28, 2017 at 7:28 am
I think that this story raises a special question that needs to be asked- what are the impacts of the BOLD program? This subject is near to my heart because I attended marine Elementary, and its sad to see my elementary school closing, although it will be a charter school once the legal obligations are taken care of. well written story.
Jesse Zelaya • Mar 28, 2017 at 6:53 am
This article is very good. It shows how this new issue will impact the lives of many, and it even explains why its taking place. The quotes are very interesting because it shows how people are impacted differently and I really like the additional quote from the Superintendent, thats a very strong source
Olivia Weirtz • Mar 27, 2017 at 6:41 pm
This story has strong supporting quotes that are detailed and demonstrate skilled interviewing. It was good to get the perspective of Superintendent Pontrelli along with the students.
Owen Landrud • Mar 15, 2017 at 8:12 pm
With a subject such as this a longer format is almost necessary and the reporter does a great job balancing the use of facts and details on the story and insight from people in the community. There are plenty of great background details that allow for better insight into the issue at hand.
Ciana Fragnito • Mar 13, 2017 at 4:26 pm
The facts in this article are great and give an unbaised viewpoint of the closing of the schools. The quotes strongly support that approach by giving factual information. The quote from Denise Pontrelli was quoted in this article further proving the strong research done by the writer.
Emma Pelletier • Feb 28, 2017 at 6:11 pm
I appreciate this article and totally respect your opinion, as I too believe that it will be hard to see these schools close. However, I think that the other side to this argument was not considered at all. The reason for the change was because of economic needs. Without the closure of these schools and the new impeding improvements to the high school, many activities and organizations (such as music and the arts, athletics, and other education courses) would be dramatically affected in a negative way. Also, just because there are signs up, doesn’t mean that the majority is anti-bold. If the majority of the distict was anti-bold, then BOLD would not be happening. The 6th graders of Lake Elmo elementary are currently attending Oak-Land Junior High right now due to the overwhelming population. With such a small population in the other schools (such as Marine and Withrow), it was a hard decision that had to be made. The decision to close the schools has been processed for over one decade, and it was only time that would determine when it would happen. Unfortunately it is happening now, but the Stillwater Area School Distirct will benefit from it in the future. I totally respect your opinion and understand the emotional attachment to the issue, but I believe that it is important to consider both sides of the argument.
Hope Haukom • Feb 28, 2017 at 12:49 pm
I love that this article doesn’t just focus on the reasoning of someone’s “childhood” closing or sappy quotes. It has hard factual evidence that supports the reasoning of closing the schools and I didn’t know about some of the campaigns, which helped show the resistance. I think it’s cool how the reporter got a quote from the superintendent.