Any time students may need to change buildings is an emotional conversation.
The school building serves as a place where students make once-in-a-lifetime bonds with teachers, meet new friends and learn skills they'll carry for the rest of their lives. Within the walls of a school building is where young students discover their strengths while older students begin to plan life after high school.
The building a child attends becomes a piece of their identity and a point of pride for students and parents alike.
The emotional attachment students form to a school building is a major part of what made the Blair School Board's decision of whether or not to reconfigure kindergarten through fifth grade within the school district difficult. The board ultimately voted to move K-5 to Deerfield and Arbor Park while finding alternate uses for North and South schools at its Dec. 12 meeting.
The board's decision came after a year and a half of planning by a couple of Ad Hoc committees, meet and greets between administration and parents, surveys and an open forum. The board did its due diligence to make sure everyone had a chance to give their support or opposition to the plan or ask questions to gather more information and hundreds took the opportunity.
Throughout the process, concerns were voiced about student safety, the lack of a transportation plan, mixing younger and older students and the lengthening of pickup lines at Arbor and Deerfield.
The district heard the concerns and also gave its point of view that enrollment increases could eventually force schools to grow beyond their physical walls, which would then require construction or expansion. Reorganizing K-5 into one building increased efficiency and could eventually save the district more than $1 million by not having traveling or repeated staff at buildings.
As an entity that represents the taxpayers, the financial side of the decision could not be ignored, nor could the reality that the district may be caught by enrollment growth unprepared if proactive stops weren't made.
These conversations were difficult for both parties, as each understood the other. Both should be commended for the approach taken towards such a sensitive subject. The public hearing was conducted in a conversational manner with no personal attacks, no raised voices and understanding from both sides. The school board members urged those present to share their thoughts and opinions while listening and answering questions.
The combination of understanding the emotional side from parents and teachers while keeping in mind the financial implications led to a difficult decision. Ultimately, moving to the K-5 model is a smart move that will likely come with growing pains for all involved at first. But in the long run, most students will still be going to school at Blair, with fellow Blair teachers and students.
As school board member Steve Callaghan said at the public hearing on Dec. 8, “the Blair culture is pretty strong and I think that will go with no matter what we end up doing.”
