Group proposes overhaul of schools.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

A community advisory group is recommending moving away from some of the Eugene School District's hallmarks, among them small elementary schools, unfettered school choice and the use of the term "alternative" to describe elementary schools that enroll by lottery only.

The Think Tank - a group of 12 community professionals tapped for their expertise in education, public policy and other arenas - recently put the finishing touches on a set of recommendations that will go to the school board on Wednesday.

Working with professors Rich Margerum and Ed Weeks of the University of Oregon's department of planning, public policy and management, the group has spent the past six months reviewing scenarios aimed at boosting achievement and equity.

Its starting point was a set of options and issues culled from eight internal district focus groups that studied issues such as special education, federal Title I funding, instruction for students learning English (English Language Learners), full-day kindergarten, grade configuration and school size.

Superintendent George Russell and the school board sought the Think Tank's advice on which options looked most promising. The board will mull them over and formulate its own set of recommendations to take to the public in the fall.

The exhaustive process is dubbed Shaping 4J's Future, and the school board hopes it will chart a course for a district grappling with dwindling enrollment; uneven school choice patterns; rising percentages of special education, low-income and minority students; and an achievement gap that separates students by income level, race and ability to speak English.

Some of the Think Tank's suggestions are likely to stir controversy.

"I envision the board's going to have a long, long dialogue with some segments of the community," said member Emilio Hernandez, assistant vice provost at the University of Oregon Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity.

Some of the recommendations in the draft 64-page report:

Set a targeted minimum enrollment of 350 students at elementary schools, but also strive to establish small learning communities within schools with 400 or more students. An alternative school could be smaller, but only if it shares a campus with another alternative school and the combined enrollment meets that target. Right now, the only two alternative schools that share a campus are Corridor and Yujin Gakuen.

More than one-third of the district's 25 elementary schools fall short of this enrollment standard, and six - Coburg, Edison, Crest Drive, Charlemagne at Fox Hollow, Twin Oaks and Harris - are too small to hold such numbers the way they're configured.

Margerum said that while the Think Tank recognizes that some schools warrant exceptions, it believes that the district should either expand capacity at its smallest schools, perhaps through a capital bond measure, or close them.

In its research, the group found larger schools can operate with greater efficiency, better integrate special education students, and offer a fuller range of physical education, music and the arts.

Abandon the term "alternative" to describe elementary schools that have no neighborhood boundaries and enroll by lottery, and adopt the term "districtwide" instead.

The designation applies to seven schools - Charlemagne at Fox Hollow, Buena Vista, Yujin Gakuen, Corridor, Eastside, Family School and Hillside, which will close next June.

All of them underwent reviews in the wake of contentious debate over the extent to which they have contributed to segregation among district schools.

Data show that most alternative schools attract disproportionately small numbers of low-income, special education and minority students, particularly when compared with the neighborhood schools from which they draw most of their students.

The Think Tank said "alternative" had acquired a negative, elitist connotation, although there was some disagreement over whether "districtwide" would be any less loaded.

"All we're doing is shifting terms," former school board member Virginia Thompson said at this week's meeting, where the issue came up again.

Set enrollment targets of 400 to 600 for middle schools. This could mean further curtailing transfers into popular Roosevelt Middle School, which has nearly 700 students and keeps a waiting list of students wishing to enroll.

Keep all four high schools open, but seek ways to balance enrollment among them.

This could mean further restricting cross-district transfers to South Eugene and Sheldon high schools, which have about 1,700 and 1,650 students, respectively, compared with about 1,150 at North Eugene and 1,300 at Churchill.

The group also recommends establishing small, career-theme learning communities within each high school - something North Eugene and Churchill have in place already.

Maintain current grade configurations, unless it makes sense to change them at a particular site, as happened at the shared campus of Jefferson Middle School and Magnet Arts Alternative Elementary.

Enrollment at those schools shrank to such a degree that Superintendent George Russell decided to close them and start the district's first K-8 school.

Some members of the earlier focus groups had recommended changes, citing research showing the effectiveness of K-3, 4-8 and K-8 schools.

But the Think Tank did not believe that the evidence was compelling enough to spur such disruptive and costly changes.

Consider launching a dual Spanish language immersion program, in which half the students are native Spanish speakers and half native English speakers. In such a program, students are taught in Spanish for about half the day, English for the rest.

Given the demonstrated benefits for ELL students, the group said dual immersion should be a higher priority than other new language programs - including Chinese immersion, an option under consideration thanks to a recent grant.

Adopt new school boundary criteria and consider other policies that encourage a more equitable distribution of low-income and special education students. At its meeting this week, the group agreed to recommend that no school have a poverty rate exceeding 50 percent.

Based on last year's data, seven schools exceed that, with the percentage of students eligible for subsidized meals - the standard gauge for poverty - above 70 percent at three of them.

Consider adding building capacity to eventually accommodate full-day kindergarten, should state or local policy-makers mandate it.

The Shaping 4J's Future process will continue through the winter, costing the district an estimated $225,000.

THINK TANK MEMBERS

Susan Ban, executive director of ShelterCare

Jim Carlson, executive director of central services, city of Eugene

Serafina Clark, senior program services coordinator, Oregon Department of Children and Families

Virginia Farkas, Eugene School District Budget Committee member; district parent

Chuck Forster, executive director, Lane Workforce Partnership

Gerry Gaydos, managing partner, Gaydos, Churnside & Balthrop law firm

Emilio Hernandez, assistant vice provost, University of Oregon Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity; former state Board of Education member

Marilyn Klug, regional vice president, PeaceHealth

Steve Korth, partner, McKay Investment Co. (Oakway Center); district parent

Charis McGaughy, district parent

Hugh Prichard, Prichard Partners real estate brokers

Virginia Thompson, former Eugene School Board member; former secretary for the State Board of Higher Education 

SHAPING 4J'S FUTURE

For more information, visit www.4j.lane.edu/shaping4J