DCSD consolidation

01/08 tahoe mt. news:

By Kathryn Reed

Parents seemed shocked the district was not budging.
Administrators never intended to.
Kingsbury Middle School will close at the end of this school year. It’s final. And it’s been final since June 2006 when the school board unanimously voted to do so. Zephyr Cove will be a K-6 in the fall, while Whittell High becomes a 7-12.
During a nearly three-hour meeting at Whittell on Dec. 10 about 200 people listened to Superintendent Carol Lark defend the decision she inherited when she took over the helm of the district.
Board member Cindy Trigg, who is the lone Lake representative on the seven-person board, at times seemed like she was campaigning to keep her seat. Her term expires at the end of the year. An ironic twist to the evening was having Lawrence Howell moderate the event. He lost to Trigg in the November 2004 election.
Trigg, Tom Moore and Keith Roman represented the board that night. Not one of them was taking notes.
More than 90 minutes into the discussion someone finally asked Lark to give a two-sentence answer to why Kingsbury is closing instead of Zephyr Cove. Proximity to the high school and economics are her reasons.
The elementary and high schools are on the same street. Sharing teachers will be easier, as will custodial staff and busing issues.
“If we can’t sell Zephyr Cove, it would be a financial disaster,” Lark said. Earlier that night she had indicated the Whittell Estate put a deed restriction on the Zephyr Cove site when it was donated to the school district. It essentially ties the district’s hands when it comes to having choices with what to do with the parcel.
Lark said Zephyr Cove could fetch $4.5 million if allowed to be sold and Kingsbury could garner $9.5 million. To date, Lark said no one has expressed interest in leasing or buying KMS.
In the past 10 years, Douglas County’s Lake schools have declined in enrollment by about 42 percent. No one is arguing to keep all the schools open – just which ones. With Kingsbury being the newest of the three and not having the radon levels of Zephyr Cove, the outspoken parents believe the board’s decision needs to be revisited.
Lark does not anticipate arranging another meeting like last month’s. The three board members said they would not ask their colleagues to reconsider closing Kingsbury.
Parents did gain a few things. Trigg agreed to have the board look into the district’s field trip policy that prevents parents from raising money for travel. The district’s thinking is keeping things equal for all schools is better – so schools with more affluent parents are not providing more than schools with lower income households.
But the district somewhat violates its own policy by spending $9,631 per student at the Lake and $7,278 on valley kids. Lark said the difference is because “you have special needs.”
The elimination of Spanish at the elementary level was brought up. Lark, who is bilingual, appreciated that concern but does not foresee it being reinstituted soon.
As for the radon issue, through that evening’s discussions, it was agreed to investigate more rigorous mitigation measures at the Jan. 8 board meeting – which we did not have time to cover before deadline.