From Deseret News archives:
We all sacrifice in public education
I'm also on Randy Smith's e-mail list, but neither he, nor his Web site, speaks for me, my family or my neighbors.
I was involved in the Davis High School Boundary Committee as the volunteer co-chairman. I was on the inside of all the work with sleeves up as a fully participating partner, never missing a meeting. Some have projected their personal anxieties to claim there were clandestine meetings, secret combinations and coercion to conform. With all I hold true and of worth I say: They are wrong. The only pressure placed upon us was the school board's relentless demand to not stop until we had created the best solution for the greatest number of our youths and their families.
So what really resulted of the district court's action that halted our work? Instead of continuing to work on a public solution along with more than 40 community representatives, public hearings, feedback opportunities, etc., the final boundary plan came from one person, although a capable consultant, directed by the court to ignore all the committee's work. The only "error in judgment" was the school board's lack of confidence in our parents and youths, who, because of their exemplary involvement and ownership in our children's futures, were provided an unprecedented opportunity to participate in a profoundly important decision.
Mr. Smith has conveniently forgotten that Woods Cross and Bountiful High postponed their own approved remodeling so Davis High and a new high school could receive preciously limited resources. We all sacrifice in public education so that we can provide the best for students regardless of where they reside. We chose to answer fluctuating enrollment and scarce resources with a portable classroom strategy, as do 40 percent of the school districts in America. Mr. Smith declares that strategy a failure and attempts to oversimplify with an expedient financial action, at the expense of any long-range plans. He ignores educational logistics experts who distinguish between school "facility capacity," "extended capacity" and "optimal capacity," all different numbers with important value in projecting resource allocation. It's not simply a matter of filling school buildings at will, any more than directing a young couple to where they must live because of potential open classrooms, for their unborn children.
Incidentally, Woods Cross High portables currently house magnet programs, a state-mandated unit for the driver's education range and two classrooms that were displaced because the school, being ADA compliant, houses the disabled students for all of the high schools in the south end of the district. No one is being "held hostage," as Mr. Smith perceives.
Don't applaud the Salt Lake District's open enrollment. Ask the countless families that have witnessed the nightmare of "super schools" at the expense of the smaller community high schools. Davis District should not be turned into an elitist community where only "them that has, gets." Don't blindly follow leaders with personal hidden agendas. "Mediocrity" would not have placed Utah students and faculty third nationally in Advanced Placement testing. You can't have it both ways.
David Hansen holds a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Utah and has served as CEO of The World Disaster Alliance.
