School Board tables discussion on next steps for integration
Published: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
By Jill Fahy
Free Press Staff Writer
The Burlington School Board on Tuesday put off discussing next steps for integrating low-income and middle-class students across the district's six elementary schools until later this month.
Board members, expecting a large crowd to speak out on the issue that has drawn so much attention, met in the Hunt Middle School library, but the added space accommodations weren't needed. Only three parents showed up to speak out on the issue -- a sharp contrast to last week's open-mike forum that was organized by the grass-roots group, Burlingtonians for Responsible Change.
One of the parents, Dale Azaria, questioned the board's support of socio-economic integration as a silver bullet to solving the district's academic and social issues.
"I believe this is an insufficient solution to the challenge facing the School Board right now," said Azaria, a Champlain Elementary School parent. "I encourage the board to shift its focus from who's going to which school to what's going on inside the classroom."
The School Board spent October holding public meetings and soliciting comments on three recommendations: to consolidate into two types of elementary schools -- kindergarten through second grade, and third through fifth grades; to create magnet schools; and to redraw district neighborhoods.
A recommendation Tuesday authorizing district Superintendent Jeanne Collins to appoint a volunteer group to further study the issue and to bring forward in February or March two to three proposals for implementing socio-economic integration was tabled by the board until a special board meeting Nov. 28.
At issue was whether the board should itself pore over the hundreds of public comments collected and come back with its own proposals.
"This is our project, and what is being suggested is that the board is uncomfortable making decisions so it will upload this whole thing on to another committee," board member Chris Haessley said.
Karen Paul, a Champlain parent and organizer of another parents' group, Building Burlington's Future, praised the board for putting off any decisions until the new year.
"Ultimately the answer to this whole issue is going to come from the parents and the community," Paul said.
Contact Jill Fahy at 660-1898 or jfahy@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
