I am all for one regional high school. In fact, I would be for one regional school district. I would appreciate someone explaining why they are against a regional high school or school district.
I like the idea of one regional district, but not sure if one high school, considering the spread out nature of the county, would be best. Maybe two or three.
Consider the amount of time that students would spend being transported to a regional school? How would having one school for the entire county be a beneficial move for the students?
Ted, My high school years were in a town called Chittenango in Central NY, this was a regional High school/school system. (I am in favor of a regional school system BTW)
My morning bus ride was nearly 15 miles, we would get picked up at 7am for a 8:40 class time. On a normal day,being dropped off home at 4:15.
Any after school activity would get us home around 6:45, after dinner, Homework ( For a diligent High School Student about 1 1/2 hours a day. Made a for a late night every night, sometimes 11:30 to midnight there just isn't enough decompression time for students at that age in a scenario like that.)
My high school class was 191, roughly the same size as Batavia High School now, so there it was absolutely necessary simply because of the numbers.
The interesting trend was that those who lived closer to the school tended to be involved ,ore in extra curricular activity, those in the outer rings less likely. Extra curricular activities like sports, music, drama etc are a very important part of over all education.
There were times that I would be on the late bus with 2 or 3 kids all the way fro chittenengo back home to bridgeport. bussing cost began a huge issue every budget.
Secondly class size, we were lucky there, our class size was about 20-25 students for each class. That is currently what we see in Batavia High School, I am nopt sure that increasing the class size for kids is really a good idea. In fact, large class sizes is a big problem in large school districts. Ask any teacher, the size of the class in high school has a diorect bearing on over all performance of the students.
Now a school district, with 2 or 3 high schools might be somethiong worth considering, as ll three schools would keep the studnet populatioons in relative parity.
Finally, look at the city schools in Buffalo and rochester, larger class sizes definately a key factor in lower performance.
Somehow other states make do with regional schools so why not in NYS. My main issue is that we have too many school districts, too many administrators and too much duplication of services. In the days of the horse and buggy, I could see all these school districts but in the day of the auto there is no such need. We should at least look into consolidating school districts. I know consolidation is a bad word but people have to realize the monetary well is going dry and we need to figure ways to cut expenses.
If NYS is looking to make sweeping consolidation changes, I think we should start with consolidating Administrators first. 1 County wide superintendent, 1 County wide business manager, 1 count wide Director of IT, etc. etc. Currently, many districts have managers for each school building, along with a Director of each department for the District. We can eliminate a 1/3 of the redundancy in Administration cost without affecting students or teachers.
First you assume that every stste with regional schools is doing better education wise Ted.
Secondly, the money well arguably is going dry not because of what we do on the local level, but more because of what we do on the Federal level.
Consider that the larger any system grows, what you gain in economies of scale, you loose in voice and control.
School systems cost largely grow not by what local school boards do, but due to State and federal mandate.
Ask any school board member, the actual control of cost locally are shrinking and the cost imposed by state and federal mandate are increasing. Sometimes the impact of mandates are not so obviouis.
I still believe for one, that the government served closest to home, is the the government that best serves the people.
Every tax dollar sent to Washington is one less dollar that can be spent at home. That is the real crux of the problem. Our federal government has grown so large and has it's fingers in every facet of life. This isn't a democrat vs republican thing either.
If you want to reduce cost at home, start in the nation's capital
Not sure I be in favor of ONE regional high school, but 3 or 4 makes sense to me. I have lived in many rural areas of the country and all had regional school systems, except New York. Our school overhead costs and overall funding mechanism in this state are broken and they need to be fixed.
While I can see the benefit of small schools in terms of small class sizes, familiarity and small town feel, we need to keep in mind that we are also short changing our students to some degree. Due to the extra costs involved, small schools can't offer the multitude of specialized and AP classes that larger suburban schools do. Our school is cutting Latin and limiting language choices to just French and Spanish, while bigger schools are adding Mandarin, Russian and Arabic.
I'm not saying that our kids are getting a bad education, but the opportunity exists for an even better education.
If we can't regionalize, then why don't we take advantage of technology and offer specialized classes via Skype or some other teleconferencing system? That way we only need one teacher to reach the whole county. You could fill a class with kids from several school districts and they could stay in their local school to participate. I don't know how this would work exactly, but it's a concept worth exploring. We already offer vocational training regionally at BOCES, so why not offer some specialized classes in the same manner?
I say no because consolidation lessens your voting power. Right now, city residents get a bigger percentage of deciding their budget than they would if we included the entire county. I am always against the weakening of my vote.
Tim, I agree that a regional school system would be a good Idea, NOT a regional high school. It seems we are on the same page there.
Economies of scale can be gained by implementing a regional school system clearly. And you are absolutely correct a 3 or 4 high school system would be best in my opinion.
What many seem to forget though is a regional high school would require an entirely new campus somewhere. NONE of the school buildings in the county are large enough to accomodate a regional High School
Regional or County-wide system sounds like a good idea. One high school for the county, though, seems likely to cause too long of commutes for anybody not in Batavia itself (and the HS *would* be in Batavia).
I am all for one regional
I am all for one regional high school. In fact, I would be for one regional school district. I would appreciate someone explaining why they are against a regional high school or school district.
I like the idea of one
I like the idea of one regional district, but not sure if one high school, considering the spread out nature of the county, would be best. Maybe two or three.
This is why it is a bad
This is why it is a bad idea
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/high-school-reform/
Consider the amount of time
Consider the amount of time that students would spend being transported to a regional school? How would having one school for the entire county be a beneficial move for the students?
Ted, My high school years
Ted, My high school years were in a town called Chittenango in Central NY, this was a regional High school/school system. (I am in favor of a regional school system BTW)
My morning bus ride was nearly 15 miles, we would get picked up at 7am for a 8:40 class time. On a normal day,being dropped off home at 4:15.
Any after school activity would get us home around 6:45, after dinner, Homework ( For a diligent High School Student about 1 1/2 hours a day. Made a for a late night every night, sometimes 11:30 to midnight there just isn't enough decompression time for students at that age in a scenario like that.)
My high school class was 191, roughly the same size as Batavia High School now, so there it was absolutely necessary simply because of the numbers.
The interesting trend was that those who lived closer to the school tended to be involved ,ore in extra curricular activity, those in the outer rings less likely. Extra curricular activities like sports, music, drama etc are a very important part of over all education.
There were times that I would be on the late bus with 2 or 3 kids all the way fro chittenengo back home to bridgeport. bussing cost began a huge issue every budget.
Secondly class size, we were lucky there, our class size was about 20-25 students for each class. That is currently what we see in Batavia High School, I am nopt sure that increasing the class size for kids is really a good idea. In fact, large class sizes is a big problem in large school districts. Ask any teacher, the size of the class in high school has a diorect bearing on over all performance of the students.
Now a school district, with 2 or 3 high schools might be somethiong worth considering, as ll three schools would keep the studnet populatioons in relative parity.
Finally, look at the city schools in Buffalo and rochester, larger class sizes definately a key factor in lower performance.
Somehow other states make do
Somehow other states make do with regional schools so why not in NYS. My main issue is that we have too many school districts, too many administrators and too much duplication of services. In the days of the horse and buggy, I could see all these school districts but in the day of the auto there is no such need. We should at least look into consolidating school districts. I know consolidation is a bad word but people have to realize the monetary well is going dry and we need to figure ways to cut expenses.
If NYS is looking to make
If NYS is looking to make sweeping consolidation changes, I think we should start with consolidating Administrators first. 1 County wide superintendent, 1 County wide business manager, 1 count wide Director of IT, etc. etc. Currently, many districts have managers for each school building, along with a Director of each department for the District. We can eliminate a 1/3 of the redundancy in Administration cost without affecting students or teachers.
First you assume that every
First you assume that every stste with regional schools is doing better education wise Ted.
Secondly, the money well arguably is going dry not because of what we do on the local level, but more because of what we do on the Federal level.
Consider that the larger any system grows, what you gain in economies of scale, you loose in voice and control.
School systems cost largely grow not by what local school boards do, but due to State and federal mandate.
Ask any school board member, the actual control of cost locally are shrinking and the cost imposed by state and federal mandate are increasing. Sometimes the impact of mandates are not so obviouis.
I still believe for one, that the government served closest to home, is the the government that best serves the people.
Every tax dollar sent to Washington is one less dollar that can be spent at home. That is the real crux of the problem. Our federal government has grown so large and has it's fingers in every facet of life. This isn't a democrat vs republican thing either.
If you want to reduce cost at home, start in the nation's capital
Not sure I be in favor of ONE
Not sure I be in favor of ONE regional high school, but 3 or 4 makes sense to me. I have lived in many rural areas of the country and all had regional school systems, except New York. Our school overhead costs and overall funding mechanism in this state are broken and they need to be fixed.
While I can see the benefit of small schools in terms of small class sizes, familiarity and small town feel, we need to keep in mind that we are also short changing our students to some degree. Due to the extra costs involved, small schools can't offer the multitude of specialized and AP classes that larger suburban schools do. Our school is cutting Latin and limiting language choices to just French and Spanish, while bigger schools are adding Mandarin, Russian and Arabic.
I'm not saying that our kids are getting a bad education, but the opportunity exists for an even better education.
If we can't regionalize, then why don't we take advantage of technology and offer specialized classes via Skype or some other teleconferencing system? That way we only need one teacher to reach the whole county. You could fill a class with kids from several school districts and they could stay in their local school to participate. I don't know how this would work exactly, but it's a concept worth exploring. We already offer vocational training regionally at BOCES, so why not offer some specialized classes in the same manner?
I say no because
I say no because consolidation lessens your voting power. Right now, city residents get a bigger percentage of deciding their budget than they would if we included the entire county. I am always against the weakening of my vote.
Tim, I agree that a regional
Tim, I agree that a regional school system would be a good Idea, NOT a regional high school. It seems we are on the same page there.
Economies of scale can be gained by implementing a regional school system clearly. And you are absolutely correct a 3 or 4 high school system would be best in my opinion.
What many seem to forget though is a regional high school would require an entirely new campus somewhere. NONE of the school buildings in the county are large enough to accomodate a regional High School
I’d be willing to bet at
I’d be willing to bet at least half of the no voters didn’t read the article.
This report is much closer to
This report is much closer to the issue than the one Julie posted.
http://regional-institute.buffalo.edu/Includes/UserDownloads/PolicyBrie…
The school districts in this county are ripe for regionalization.
Regional or County-wide
Regional or County-wide system sounds like a good idea. One high school for the county, though, seems likely to cause too long of commutes for anybody not in Batavia itself (and the HS *would* be in Batavia).
Actually Mark I did read the
Actually Mark I did read the article,
The state is currently pushing for consolidation at everyfront, Town's and cities, school districts, police departments etc.
Bigger is not always better.
I believe in a rhural county such as ours, the exact opposite would be better, a county system with 3-4 high schools.
Some consolidation is necessary, but you have to put things in perspective.