Four-day plan hinges on four votes
Feb. 13—It comes down to the wire on whether the St. Joseph School District will have approval to move forward with plans to drop Monday from its class calendar this fall.
Isaura Garcia and David Foster are committed to voting "no" on the proposal when it comes up at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26 at the Troester Media Center. Kim Miller said she is voting "no" as of now, but that could change. Kenneth Reeder has not said which way he will vote but is thought to be leaning "no." If that comes to pass, the measure could fail on either 3-4 or 2-5 votes, as only Board President LaTonya Williams and colleague Whitney Lanning have endorsed the idea. Rick Gehring has spoken favorably about it but has not yet indicated a decision. Board members can freely change their plans before Feb. 26.
"When we're considering something this drastic, we do need to allow the right amount of time to consider all the factors," Garcia said. "We can't guess on how this is going to affect our students. We can't guess how this is going to affect our community. We have to bring the community along."
Among concerns Garcia has cited is the low participation in a district survey by self-identified speakers of languages other than English. Out of 1,748 total respondents, 1,704 said they are English speakers, while only 33 said they speak Spanish. One parent responding said their household speaks Chuukese, the second-largest language community in the district after Spanish; Chuukese originates in the Federated States of Micronesia, a Pacific Island country.
"I would prefer to see a more complete census of our parents in all communities," Garcia said. "This will take time, but it is time that we need to invest."
Foster, who is leaving the board in April and will be replaced by whomever voters choose from among 10 candidates on April 2, said the district and experts it has invited to speak have yet to assuage his doubts that the four-day plan gives enough services to students. In particular, those who have learning disabilities and others who are on individualized education programs that address special needs. Foster said he is not satisfied that the method adopted by the Independence School District, in which students voluntarily show up on Monday no-class days for specially arranged help, will be enough.
"This leads me to believe that the students who will suffer the most are students with IEPs, special ed students and students who don't speak English as a first language," Foster said. "This is a major concern."
Follow-up stories will look at the perspective of four-day plan supporters, and the bigger picture of what a four-day plan's effects might be.
Marcus Clem can be reached at marcus.clem@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowClem
