One district my son was in was set up Pre K -1st, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8, then the high school. It was FABULOUS. It is wonderful to not have 1st graders around the fourth graders at all! There are no "big kid" influences. After leaving this district and going back to a K-6 environment and seeing all the big kids by the little ones even if it is only in passing the little ones see some of the behavior and hear some of the conversations of the older kids KWIM???

Now, having several kids in several schools is a pain at pick up and drop off times, but they have to run on different schedules because the buses have to get from school A to school B in order to pick up and drop off as well. Therefore, you will have pleny of time to get from school A to B yourself.

Another thing they made sure to do is coordinate the schools schedules really well. If first grade was having a play, then no one else in the district could schedule a program. Parent teacher confrences may take 3 days in a row because they tried to allow for each school to have plenty of time and not have to have the problem of having a confrence at school A at 5 and school B at 5:30.

My point is there will be hiccups, but overall it worked really well.

Hope I have relieved some of your worries.

Julie

Thank you, pals!!!! I've been to boe meetings. It's not their fault or the supers for budget cuts. It can't be helped. Our gov. keeps making the cuts so we have a lot of struggling schools unless you are a wealthy school then you'd get more money while the rest of us get the cuts. I do happen to know a couple of our boe. I happen to be very involved & a bit passionate about these schools. How can you not when your children attend them & are affected by the cuts. I've been involved in the pto for 8 yrs. & I am always volunteering in the schools. I've seen & heard alot so don't judge me, caramalita.(unless you've been there, done that)

[ 03-16-2006, 12:59 PM: Message edited by: Renee S ]

carmalita...welcome to the boards but may I make a suggestion? This forum is to help others with questions and issue that they may have within their parent group or school, people hear different examples and stories. Coming down on Renee because she made a comment about her state government truly isn't called for. I don't know Renee but the fact that she is on the forum so much says that she is an involved parent, as far as looking at your suggestion that she stops complaining and look at her school board more closely.
Well i actually sleep with a school board member (my husband) and you can't get much closer than that. In my district you can attend every budget meeting, every audit meeting, every regular meeting and the truth is if your district isn't getting the funds then it ain't gonna matter how many of those meetings you go to. If you don't think that a school board member isn't sick to their stomach at budget time you're wrong. I remember my husband's first two years with the budget process, he would come home depressed knowing that state mandates and increase employee costs were taking control of our school's budget. Last night they unvailed the first proposal for the 2006-2007 school year, do you realize that the percentage of increase cost of insurance, utilities, pension, is higher than the increase that our district is receiving from the state. They have cut a half a million dollars and unless aid is increased they need to cut another half of million just to be able to cover those increases they have no control over. I am sure Renee feels the same pain that I do when i sit on my board of education meetings getting sick to my stomach because school's are hurting more and more but they don't hesitate to take a nice pay raise. What message are our schools receiving from our government?? Renee was just stating her school's store and I am sure we all have one to share!

Instead of blaming the gov. why don't you look to your school board a slight bit closer. How many meetings do you attend? This is in response to Renee S. the message board maniac. Carmalita

Thanks for the responses. I attended a special BOE meeting last night abiout this subject. It is one of three proposals being looked at. Hardly any parents were made aware of the proposals, and now I get to spend my spring break "rallying the troops" before the next meeting on Apr. 3, where a decision will be made:)

I just wanted some other's exp. to give as examples. The details are sketchy as best, and they have mentioned one PTA. Heck, I can't get any help with the one we have:)

thanks again, this is a big help:)

I am glad that they did keep the sports. It's better than having those kids roaming the streets. Our super. couldn't/wouldn't answer the questions, he kept beating around the bush. The first round of cuts, he was hoping the parents wouldn't notice until school started after the changes were made.Our boe wasn't given a chance either, he said this is it. The second round he tried getting the parents input but wouldn't answer our quest. Believe me, I asked alot. He said we had to cut .... but couldn't tell us how much each item would cost/save except for a few things. Bussing was on the chopping block,too. Luckily they didn't cut it. But the informal meeting I went to were Dog& Pony shows. The kids have finally adjusted. (The B.R. students still tell me they miss B.R. & the pto) I hope your super. & boe will be straight forward with you & give you things indetail. Just keep positive for the kids.