On Wednesday, February 19, 2014 12:29 AM, Nicole Tonini <ntonini@alvinisd.net> wrote:
Good Evening,
I would like to thank every one of you who have been so actively engaged in this school boundary discussion. I want to let you know that I have been listening to you. I have been reading all of your emails, petition comments, and Facebook discussions. I appreciated your comments at the open Forum and Board meeting as well as the candid discussions that took place afterwards. Finally, as you all know, I am a mom with kids in these same schools. As a result, through my regular waiting in pick-up lines, volunteering at Marek and Nolan Ryan JH or attending Maverick Baseball games, or simply visiting with my various SCR/west side neighbors and friends, I have had the opportunity to have multiple one-on-one discussions about this critical issue.
With that background, what I would like to do in this email is to clarify some common misconceptions that I have heard and read, and explain the next steps I am planning on taking between now and when the final decision is made. I am sorry that this is a generic email going to several concerned citizens, but this appears to be the best way to communicate these various points in a single concise manner.
For your information, there is a Board Workshop this Thursday at the District office in Alvin, where the Board will receive an update regarding the School Boundary Advisory Committee (SBAC). The Board Workshop is open to the public. The main focus of this Workshop is to discuss the District Budget; however, a portion of the meeting has been designated to present the Board with an update on the SBAC. I do not believe this will be a time for comment or questions from the audience, but it provides the public the opportunity to hear the update and information first hand, as well as hear any discussion and questions from the Board of Trustees. To my knowledge, this meeting will not be broadcast on the internet.
Common Misconceptions:
· Any boundary/zone changes proposed by Alvin ISD are for schools (and residents) within Alvin ISD only. No family currently zoned to Alvin ISD will be re-zoned to Pearland ISD, Fort Bend ISD or Houston ISD. We live in a somewhat unique area wherein the school district encompasses parts or all of several cities – Pearland (West of Hwy 288), Alvin, Manvel, Rosharon, Iowa Colony, Amsterdam and Liverpool. This is all Alvin Independent School District.
· Based on state provided performance reports that the Board received last week (http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/src/2013/campus.srch.html), the three existing elementary schools in the Shadow Creek area have scored within 2-3% points of each other in the aggregate “All Subjects”, and all three have been rated Met Accountability for the 2013 Accountability Rating Standard.
o All subjects for the STAAR met or exceeded Level 2: Wilder 87% - York 88% - Mark 90%. Each school had their significant strengths: York – Science, Marek – Math / Writing, and Wilder – Writing.
o York was the only school to receive Distinction Designations.
o Wilder has the most Exceeded progress for the STAAR in Reading.
o Marek had the least number of students needing Accelerated Instruction.
· The reason why an elementary School was not built in the Southern Trails subdivision was due to developer conflicts, not Alvin ISD.
· As currently proposed, Elementary School 15 (Duke Elementary) will likely have only primary three neighborhoods attending it (Southgate, Southfork and Southern Trails) and one apartment complex (Cobblestone). James “Red” Duke Elementary is located on CR-59/Southfork Drive – which is the next exit after FM 518 off of Highway 288.
· For procedural reasons, the Board has had minimal to no direct influence on the boundary process to date. The proposal was generated by the Citizens committee (SBAC). What was presented at the forum was the result of that committee’s analysis, and presented by the District Superintendent, and employees of Alvin ISD involved in the boundary process, not the Board (School Board), however, there were several Board members at the meeting. I received the proposal the same time you all did – via the website.
· The open forum that occurred on February 10th is part of the normal data gathering process. We as a Board will have a chance to review the final proposal in April (assuming everything stays on this track) and the Board will be able to make our observations/comments at that time. We will either vote on it when presented, or we may send the proposal back requesting more information.
· According to my research at Brazoria County Tax Appraisal and conversations with City Council members, people who live in apartments do pay taxes, albeit indirectly. The complex owners are charged School District taxes as are homeowners. Based on data provided by the Appraisal District, the Apartments currently zoned to the three elementary schools in question paid approximately $1.9M in School District Taxes last year. These taxes are then included into the monthly rental rate. One important difference though, is that we as homeowners are able to claim our local taxes as a tax deduction while renters are able to claim the indirect taxes.
· Often people state that they do not know anyone at the new school. All zone/boundary changes will include entire subdivisions to a new school, not single families or certain streets in neighborhoods only. As a result, there will be students and parents in your neighborhood that you know today, who will be at your new schools.
· At the current time, it is physically impossible to have every community drive north to their schools.
· 850+ students will be going to a new school next year in order to provide relief to the current schools. As a result, some communities will need to experience change.
Next Steps
· SBAC update to the Board at the Budget Workshop – Feb 20 (Alvin)
· Additional Citizens committee to be held Feb 27 (tentative)
· An additional open forum has been requested by various Trustees (date TBD)
· Present proposal to Board at the April Board meeting (tentative)
What Am I doing about this?
· I am happy to, and will continue to serve as a liaison between our community and the District. Please continue to communicate with me your concerns and alternate proposals. While I cannot promise that the District will implement every idea presented, I will make sure that your ideas and opinions are heard and accounted for.
· Continue to work with the District to improve visibility of the process. I was pleased to see the note from Mrs. Lovette (NRJH) yesterday as well as a similar update made to the district website. http://www.alvinisd.net/Page/15353
· Continue to work with the District to make sure there is a second Public Forum held.
· Continue to review current proposals that I have received to determine if there is a better solution, and pass each on to the district.
· Solicit feedback from the community on how this process could be better. We will need to have these discussions as new schools are built and as our communities on the west side continue to grow.
Again, the purpose of this email was to clarify some misperceptions that have been reported. I am not trying to sway anyone’s opinion. I hope that by having a more complete set of data, we can continue to have productive discussions and come to an optimal solution.
As I have mentioned to many of you, this type of growth will result in growing pains and it is impossible to make these types of changes without impacting families and students. As we know with life in general, there is unfortunately no way to make this magnitude of a change and still keep everyone happy. That being said, I am very hopeful that we and the district can work to find an optimal solution to take care of this growth, while having minimal negative impacts on the students.
Thank you again and thank you for your keen interest in our most important asset – our children
Finally, please let me know if you would like to be removed from this distribution list.
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