School board hears plans for shuffling elementary school students

[Bottomless well]

WTF do elementary kids know or care about socio-economic and ethnic diversity?

Buzz words for the PC people that are now running our schools.

BUS the kids around to fufill an utopian dream? Good for the kids?

No.

[concernedparent]

They should keep the "neighborhood school" concept.

That is makes Chambersburg stand out from other cities that herd children into certain schools, usually out of their local home neighborhood.

Please don't do this!!

[be smart]

Our school district seems to be on a continual downward spiral. Makes me fear for the future of my children within this district. I am not reading very many "smart" solutions lately regarding our students and school issues. And I feel for our teachers too. They have to put up with this stupid "no child left behind" junk, children that are not parented and who are very disrespectful these days, and crowded classes. The teachers breathe a huge sigh of relief to get any parent volunteers and some can't seem to function without a classroom full of adults. And now they want to propose absurdities instead of smart solutions. Unreal.

[mom]

many of our elementary schools have been around for decades. rather than tearing down and building new, why are we renovating and updating throughout the years. this will keep "community schools" rather than "country clubs" as others have said. some of the schools have room to add on. why not do that and eliminate the trailers. add a gym, cafeteria, what not. we as parents realize that it wouldn't happen overnight. but things should be done as time goes, not all of a sudden making drastic changes. there is no sense to tearing down buildings that are needed. they just need some tlc. and why transport small children across town. some kids are already on the bus too long. especially kindergarten kids. and siblings shouldn't be seperated just to accomodate some futuristic idea of structuring. things are so crazy anymore, i understand why more and more parents are homeschooling.

[Alright]

I'm sure the parents in Marion are excited at the possibility that their kids get to attend Stevens! FYI ... that was sarcasm.

[STRAIGHTALK]

Remember we are talking about bussing 5,6,7 year old children out of the neighborhood where their parents taxes were based. You can no longer buy a residence and know for sure which school your children will attend. I remember holding hands and walking my children to school on their first day. I am glad I didn't have to put them on a bus, adding hours to their day, and wave good bye from the curb. The reality is, if you buss kids from Coldbrook and Marion to Stevens, the other kids will make their life miserable. You can count on it. Keep the little kids in their neighborhoods.

[anon]

Close a school in Marion, bus them to Stevens, and give the YMCA millions.

Sounds like a plan to me!

[another SH mom]

mom at SH wrote:

If you want to make changes then make sure that the school getting the kids is big enough for them. My kids go to South Hamilton and they have not got enough room for the amount they have now. Rethink this.

I totally agree on rethinking this. My son is in kindergarten at SH and there are already 20 children in his class. I've been to his class a few times to help out and saw for myself how crowded it already is. I also don't like the idea of moving grades 3-5 somewhere else when SH is only two min. from our house

[a parent at Coldbrook]

Please don't close Coldbrook! The parents and children are happy there. The test scores are high at Coldbrook. Why close prematurely without a reasonable plan for the children in this neighborhood? The "improvenments" at newer schools do not outweigh the benefits of a neighborhood school! We don't want to bus our children across town! The school has been declared safe and while it is small, we love it there. Why not rebuild a larger neighborhood school on the land available at Coldbrook. All of this "progress" is an attempt to raise test scores at certain schools-NOT to provide better services. It's an issue of funding. WE DON'T WANT COLDBROOK TO CLOSE!!! The few parents with complaints DO NOT represent the majority.

[a parent at Coldbrook]

If you send your children to cyberschool-NOT Chambersburg Cyberschool-the school district will lose $7500 per student in tax dollars per year. Then they will pay attention to what we as taxpayers want. We want our children in the school in their neighborhood-we bought this house for a reason and we want to send our kids to that school. Don't bus them all over and make their day any longer: 3:45 will become 4:30 and later. Stop being ridiculus this is not a game of musical chairs.

[dfgoji88]

WHAT!!!
close coldbrook and send them to stevens?

Oh that will go over big

[Keep Coldbrook Open]

Now it is becoming obvious why the start time for elementary students was modified for the next school year. Why doesn't the CASD Administration stop playing games with us, or do they think we really are stupid ?

[keep these schools open]

how can we stop the closing of these schools?
is there any action the residents of chambersburg can take that will stop this? where do we start?

[KAP]

The potential closing of Coldbrook and Guilford Hills Elementary Schools is not a good idea in this parents eyes. The teachers at Guilord Hills are great and so are the sizes of the classrooms. We would be doing our children a diservice in shuffling them to other schools and possibly districts. There is nothing wrong with Guilford Hills. Build a Kndergarten center if you have to but we want our neighborhood school. Young Children should not be in huge numbers at schools that have more than two or three classes of the same grade. The social dynamics are too great. Leave Guilford Hills alone we like it as it is.

[Ret-Fed]

keep these schools open wrote:

how can we stop the closing of these schools?
is there any action the residents of chambersburg can take that will stop this? where do we start?

Attend a school board meeting and advise the members of the board of your displeasure. But remember, they know what's best for the children, uh, excuse me, I mean what's best to get test scores higher.

[swat]

How about moving Coldbrook Elementary School students to Andrew Buchanan and Falling Spring Elementary Schools instead of across town to Benjamin Chambers to achieve "socio-economic balance"? This sounds like busing to me -- will it accomplish the objective or just have children spending more time going back and forth to school?

[Justice]

I am soooo glad , happy even, that my children are done with CASD and this self serving delusional administration. How will this mass confusion and ad hoc approach ever be straightened out? I'll just pay the taxes they are extorting and feel bad for the rest of you. Maybe they need to hire more administrators and administrators.