Alternative schools review draws light response.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

Nearly a year ago, more than 100 parents and employees jammed the Eugene School District auditorium to speak out on a controversial review of four alternative elementary schools.

On Wednesday, the auditorium was empty by comparison, as the school board heard from just two speakers - both of them Charlemagne at Fox Hollow Elementary employees - on a subsequent review of the district's other four alternative schools.

The mild response, also evidenced by a dearth of e-mail correspondence to the board, may stem in large part from the fact that last year's hot-button issue - building sharing between alternative and neighborhood schools - pertained to only one of the four schools reviewed this time.

Alternative schools enroll by lottery, provide no transportation and strive to offer a distinctive educational program, such as language immersion. Superintendent George Russell concluded in 2005 that alternative schools, by attracting disproportionately high percentages of advantaged children, have contributed to growing concentrations of low-income, minority and special education students in some neighborhood schools.

The reviews - which assessed distinctiveness, viability, diversity and the effects of building sharing - were key among a set of recommendations meant to boost equity within the school system.

On Wednesday, Russell outlined his own recommendations based on the recent review by the four-member Alternative School Review Team of Fox Hollow, Buena Vista, Yujin Gakuen and Corridor.

The board will consider them next Wednesday.

Among them:

Do away with grade-level caps at all four schools, just as was done last year for Hillside, Eastside, Magnet Arts and Family School. Russell agreed with the team that they serve no educational purpose and amount to an unfair advantage.

Direct staff to work with all four schools to attract a more diverse student body that includes special education, minority and low-income students.

Only Fox Hollow, which was found most lacking in student diversity, would be placed on a formal "plan for improvement," necessitating a follow-up review next year.

The team, which visited each school once, said it found little evidence that Fox Hollow would project a "welcoming" climate to students different from the majority of those attending.

Consider relocating Buena Vista as part of the current "strategic planning effort," which will result in a blueprint for change based on a study of demographics, boundaries, building capacity and other trends and characteristics. As was the case with the co-located schools reviewed last year, the team found tensions between Buena Vista and building-mate Meadowlark, stemming largely from competition for students, perceptions of elitism and the disparity in parent fundraising. Russell has recommended ending co-location altogether.

Debbie Dubois, a Fox Hollow teacher whose special-needs daughter attends the school, told the board the team's visit didn't give the full picture. "It really saddens my heart," she said, that the team didn't observe the positive educational experience her daughter enjoys every day.

She also said the district should do a better job advertising alternative schools to families who might have difficulty hearing about them.

Peggy Young, a technology support specialist, noted that language immersion in and of itself promotes diversity by introducing students to other cultures.

Board members briefly discussed the recommendations, with Eric Forrest reiterating his conviction that co-location doesn't work, and Chairman Tom Herrmann citing his continuing support for grade-level caps.

Alicia Hays, appointed to the board just Monday, said she's concerned about the lack of diversity at alternative schools, and noted it was a delicate and difficult subject when her now-seventh-grade son was a student at Buena Vista.

The team this month will complete follow-up reviews on Hillside, the only one of the eight schools found lacking a distinctive program, and Eastside, which, like Fox Hollow, was found significantly lacking in diversity.