By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph School Board members seem determined to tackle a controversial issue that has been avoided by the board for years, if not decades.
The board is considering significant changes to school boundaries in an effort, board members say, to create more equitable school districts in an effort to smooth the transition from elementary to middle to high school.
St. Joseph School Board President LaTonya Williams says she understands, as a parent, the emotions that come with this topic, but insists it is a matter of fairness.
“If I am okay with my kids’ educational opportunities as they are right now, I don’t want that to change,” Williams tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “On the other hand, I may be okay, but a hundred other families are not okay.”
Williams says that while the board has been presented options from the administration, this will be a board decision. At present, the board has been reviewing three to four options. Williams says the school board is concentrating on the middle school level, determined to end the two different models operating in the St. Joseph School District, one that includes 6th through 8th Grades and the other than includes only 7th and 8th Grades.
Williams says the board understands the mine field it will have to walk through to tackle the issue. But Williams adds that while that has scared past boards from addressing inequities at the city middle and high schools, this board is determined to forge ahead.
“It’s an ongoing problem. It’s an ongoing issue,” Williams says. “And in the past, other boards have tried addressing it and then everybody gets mad and then they just kind of back off and leave it alone.”
Williams says public outcry has kept past St. Joseph School Boards from tackling the controversial issue.
“It’s been a long time coming,” according to Williams. “All we do is talk about it and then we plan and then we ease back and we plan and we ease back and we plan. And I’m a fixer and we’re now about to fix things.”
St. Joseph School Board Vice President Kenneth Reeder urges patience on the part of St. Joseph residents as the school board begins its process.
“Right now, the folks in St. Joe in our school district need to understand if we have a 10-chapter book, we just opened the front page to chapter one,” Reeder tells Birr during his appearance with Williams on the Hotline. “So, we keep saying what have we decided, what have we decided? Right now, we just opened a book to chapter one in a 10-chapter book.”
Reeder claims inaction in the past has only made the issue more controversial now.
“But the reason they’re so significant is because of this 20 years not making a decision on that and you can’t believe us as well as the top administrators get a lot of heat from very, very important people in town saying you don’t dare change those boundaries. I can’t sell homes in this part of town if you’re going to change the boundaries,” Reeder says.
Reeder invites the public to attend a November 9th school board work session scheduled to discuss the issue. A special Board of Education work session has been scheduled for the 9th at the Troester Media Center at 3401 Renick, beginning at 5:30pm.