November 18 Minutes: School Choice

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November 18 Minutes: School Choice

Time:	7:00 - 9:00 pm
Location:	Roosevelt Middle School Library
Present:	Members: Joanne Austin, Erik Browning, Mike Dubick, Mike Garling, Robert Gordon-McCutchan, Cindy Hinton, Susan Hirata, Carolynne Hopkins, Mac McFadden, Will Mueller, Hal Sadofsky, Anne Schrenk, Sharon Schuman, Beckie Smolek, Ollie Snowden, Jan VanderTuin, and Lynda Whitener. Staff and Facilitators: David Piercy, Margot Helphand, and Betsy Shepard.
Absent:	Members: Bahati Ansari, Richard Leebrick, Robert Jackson, Shanti Michaels, Penny O’Leary, Diane Pergamit, Maxine Proskurowski, Fred Tepfer, Sandy Vaughn, Cassady Walters, Alice Wheeler.
Notetaker:	David Piercy

Time	Topic	Presenter
7:00	Agenda Review and Introductions Members who were not present at the first meeting introduced themselves: Sharon Schuman: No longer has children in school, but is very concerned about the charter school movement Jan VanderTuin: All kids learn in different ways and some need different options. Anne Schrenk: A parent at Edison who is concerned about the impact of choice on neighborhood schools. Susan Hirata: Is interested in choice and believes there is no real school choice for students. Is concerned about testing and believes students are being tooled and not educated. Is thinking about homeschooling. Cindy Hinton: A teacher at Adams who has had children in alternative schools. Has a unique perspective as a parent and teacher. Concerned about inequities between neighborhood schools and alternative schools.
	Minutes Review Jan VanderTuin commented that the minutes did not reflect several ideas that were discussed at the previous meeting: In addition to questions about how parents knew about choice programs, there were also questions about how students become aware of the choices open to them. There are times when some “choice” programs have a stigma attached to them. Visitors from charter schools and private alternative education programs should be invited to speak to the task group. Decision: David Piercy, Margot Helphand, and Betsy Shepard will review minutes before they are distributed.	David Piercy & Betsy Shepard
	Community Input Task group member Alice Wheeler, Margot Helphand, and David Piercy met prior to the meeting to propose a process for receiving community input. They proposed that the task group identify interest groups and a key person in that interest group. The key person would be asked to invite five others to a forum in January to receive initial input. An additional session would be scheduled in February to receive feedback on the draft set of task group recommendations. Decision: After extensive discussion by committee members, the task group reached consensus on the following model to receive input on January 6, 2000. The task group will determine which of the major interest groups are represented on the task group. Representatives of the interest groups who are not represented will be invited to the January 6 meeting. The specific process will be designed on December 8. We will determine whether to have a February input session following the January 6 meeting. The following interest groups were identified and committee members indicated if they represented that interest group: Non-profit alternative education options: LyndaWhitener, Hal Sadofsky, and Jan VanderTuin. District alternative education programs: Sharon Schuman, Mac McFadden, Mike Garling, Mike Dubick, Cindy Hinton, Beckie Smolek, Susan Hirata, and Will Mueller. Charter Schools: No task group members represent charter schools. It was suggested that a pro charter school person be invited. Sharon Schumann can represent the neutral to negative opinion. Home School: Jan VanderTuin. Transfer Students: Carolyn Hopkins, Mike Garling, Linda Whitener. Private Schools/Voucher Advocates: No task group members represent private schools. CyberSchool: No task group members represent CyberSchool.
	Descriptors of Current System Task group members identified the following characteristics of the district’s school choice program: Exceptional amount of choice within the school district. Don’t have as much external choice as some other districts do: most is by referral and not by choice. Current system reinforces economic segregation in some cases. In other cases, it increases diversity, especially when schools are together (e.g., Kelly, daVinci, and Yujin Gakuin). A lot more choice at the elementary level. Lack of stability in small school funding. Choice in 4J focuses on traditional education. Some alternative schools are smaller than neighborhood schools. Alternative schools are capped and neighborhood schools aren’t. There is a mixed picture: some neighborhood schools are predisposed to failure because they have to take in high-need students that drive out high SES families, but this is not true everywhere. There are regional differences in the number of alternative schools. District-wide, neighborhood schools are losing enrollment while alternative schools are increasing slightly. Neighborhood schools house programs for students with special needs but alternative schools don’t. Alternative school enrollment is by lottery. Class size is larger at the high school level than at the elementary level. Parents recruit schools rather than schools recruiting students. High SES schools are able to raise money for staffing. No transportation for alternative schools; there is transportation for some alternative education options. Choice creates a monster with transportation. There is a perception of inequity between neighborhood and alternative schools.
	Agenda for December 8 meeting. Decision: The group agreed to the following tentative agenda for December 8: Finalize the input. Identify key issues related to school choice. Identify key trends (demographics): a vision of what it might look like.
	Assignments for the next meeting Margot asked each task group member to do two things before the next meeting: Identify the top three issues related to choice: “The issue to me is…..” Identify the top three criteria you would use to evaluate the school district’s choice problem in the future. What is non-negotiable to you?	Margot Helphand
9:00	Adjourn


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