Legacy Academy Blog

I met with Michelle MacEgan this morning about future planning issues. We both signed up for the future planning committee [FPC] and haven’t heard from anyone about the subject, so we decided to have coffee and discuss it. We talked about FPC subjects as well as High School Committee subjects.

Some observations we discussed:

According to recent parent surveys, 63% of current middle school [MS] families plan to have students go elsewhere for high school [HS].

A concern exists in the elementary school [ES] staff about whether LA should even offer HS. This concern extends to purported problems in mixing older students in common hallways with younger students.

The ES has a secure peaceful environment while the MS/HS environment is presently chaotic.

The east wing corridor of the school is currently saturated with students between classes due to mixed usage of classrooms between HS and MS classes.

The HS/MS student body is expected to grow by 30 students next year.

Expressions by the school board at the 1/15/08 meeting about HS expansion contained conclusions that the existing school building financial structure should not be changed right now, and that an incremental infrastructure growth of adding one modular class at a time should be investigated by the board.

Increasing school room capacity east of the main building complex would increase stress on the already full east corridor. Adding a modular will not mitigate the current MS/HS chaos.

In the early days of the school under Mr. Kern, teachers published and presented their own research to professional charter school audiences.

Staff have strayed from teaching formal education theories that the school officially adopted.

Our conclusions:

Public school HSs in Elbert, Kiowa and Elizabeth contain social problems that LA does not have. Our community needs quality HS education capacity. LA can be that HS alternative to public schools.

LA does not have a reasonable HS goal at present. The incremental approach currently under discussion would exacerbate logistics problems in the current school building, and perhaps further alienate ES staff on the feasibility of a successful HS.

The existing east wing could be well utilized as an exclusive MS facility.

We need a 2-story, east wing build out to contain, exclusively, the HS. In addition, alternative corridor access to the gym along the outside of the existing east wing must be built. If along the south side, this could be an open covered walkway.

The LA parent and staff communities need to unite under common education and facility goals, and proceed to implement them.

Education theories the school has espoused should be followed. Teachers should practice them and also attempt to advance the state of the art as was done in the early days of the school.

The financial position of the school with regard to facilities expansion needs to be fully disclosed to the parent community and fully discussed by parent experts before accepting the conclusion that the existing financial structure is the best possible financial structure for the school. Alternative financing for HS expansion must be explored.

We need to flesh out a design for a fully developed LA campus that solves all of the logistics problems of the school , evaluate financial alternatives to achieve that completed campus, and map out a plan to move LA directly into that configuration.

My apologies to Ms. MacEgan for any omissions or errors in the above.

Respectfully submitted, Brooks Imperial

Mr. Bleich responded:

 

These are some very good ideas that need to be looked at realistically. Thank you for putting this together.

Keep in mind that last year we thought we were going to have a population explosion too. We budgeted for around 40 extra students for the current school year and felt comfortable, based on letters of intent and wait list, that we would actually exceed the FTE’s that were budgeted. When the October count happened we fell short of the budgeted number by about 30 students. This shortfall took us from ending the year in the black (With a surplus) to a shortfall of $100,000. We managed to get that number down to around $40,000 deficit (Negative, NOT surplus). So you can see why we might be a little hesitant about counting on those 30 students to help fund a 2 story expansion at this moment in time. The board is also not ready to discount those 30 prospective students and that is why there is also research going on into modular buildings to supplement the facilities we already have should those student counts prove to be realistic. We realize this is not going to help the situation of having the east wing being crowded, however we also need to be realistic in what is and is not possible to accomplish with the limited budget that we have to work with. The cruel reality is that without the student population to support completing the building or without a benefactor who donates a large sum of money to the school, we are probably going to have to do the best we can with the resources we have as far as a facility goes until we have enough students to support an expansion on a long term basis.

As for the ideas about attitudes and improving the dynamics within the school, I could not agree more. We do need to find a way to get people to communicate and get the majority of the Staff and Parents and Students moving in the same direction. We are going to have to have some cooperation from everyone. The only way we are going to be able to sway those that believe that older and younger students mixing is a bad thing is to show them that older students can be good role models for the younger children. We need to start thinking of the High school as the asset that it is, start treating these students as an asset and encourage them to be the best citizen they can be so that they will be worthy of being looked up to by the younger children. That all starts with communication and a positive attitude from Staff and Parents towards the High School Students. I firmly believe that any child will live up to or down to expectations. Which they choose to do depends on Staff and Parents in this situation. If we choose to treat them as if they are a liability, that is what they will become. Whereas if we treat them as precious assets, that is what they will strive to be. I know which one I would opt for because I know which one I want my girls to be when they are in High School. Every parent, God Willing, will someday have their child in High School; I would like to think they would want their child treated as an asset when that day comes so I would hope they can be positive influences on the High school students that are there now. If that fails, maybe they can be convinced to take Mom’s advice when it comes to the high school, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”.

Thanks,

John Bleich