School administrators and board members pondered the information they heard at the Jan. 13 public forum and the two previous forums before the board met to consider taking action on the superintendent’s proposal to make major changes in the district.
Sean McDaniel, Englewood schools superintendent, told about 80 people at the Jan. 13 forum he was asking the board to take action on the major elements of his proposal at a special Jan. 15 meeting.
The key items are:
Educating all elementary school students in four buildings — Clayton, Cherrelyn, Bishop and Hay
Making the Maddox building home to the Early Childhood Education program
Moving Englewood Leadership Academy
Either leasing or demolishing the Lowell building
Establishing four attendance areas, one in each quadrant of the city, for the four remaining elementary schools.
McDaniel said Jan. 13 that the five elements are the framework for changes to the district and, if the board approves the proposal Jan. 15, school staff will begin working to iron out the details needed to make the five elements work successfully.
He said if the district continued doing things the same way, the results would remain unchanged So, he introduced the proposal titled, “Reinventing Englewood Schools.”
McDaniel said the purpose of all elements of the proposal is to help the district do a better job of educating all the students. He stressed there are many pockets of success around the district and the idea is to build and expand those successes.
“A don’t see this as a people issue. We have great people throughout our district,” he said. “I think the problem is the system and the focus of this proposal is to change that system and make it better for everyone.”
The superintendent introduced his proposal to the school board Dec. 15, noting that no one in the district is satisfied with how well Englewood schools are doing when it comes to providing a good education for all students.
The board and school administrators wanted to hear from the public about the proposal and scheduled three public forums, which were Jan. 8 at Englewood High School Auditorium, Jan. 12 at Maddox Elementary School and Jan. 13 at Englewood Leadership Academy.
About 700 people attended the forums although many people went to more than one gathering.
McDaniel repeated Jan. 14 that public comment is being considered and noted that, based on the information from the Jan. 8 forum, the proposal is being modified so that all the students in the Alternative Development and Academic Program Training for children with special needs will not be in a single location instead of the original proposal to place programs at each ADAPT student’s home school.
He also noted that, as a result of comments from the first two forums, the possibility of moving Englewood Leadership Academy into Englewood High School is now being considered as a possible option along with the original proposal to move the academy to Hay Elementary School to create a kindergarten through eighth-grade International Baccalaureate program.
A large contingent of residents attended the Jan. 8 and 12 forums and their general message was not to make any changes at Maddox Elementary School.
A number of residents cited how the close-knit, caring Maddox community benefited the students and asked for no change.
The proposal also has a major impact on Englewood Leadership Academy, and academy parents and students made up most of the audience of about 80 who attended the Jan. 13 forum.
McDaniel said the district was impressed with the academy’s success and achievement and would like to replicate it. One possibility was to add ninth grade to the academy and another was to expand its enrollment, increasing its size.
Judging from the comments of academy students and parents, the preference is to move the school to Englewood High School because of the benefits of facilities, proximity to the existing location and access to after-school activities.
Administration, school board had forums for comments on proposal
Board scheduled to vote on proposal Jan. 15