I agree with the other posters, this a stunt to get a critical mass mobilized for an end result.  Poor planning, incompetence, and little regard for the students has been the style of the Roanoke City Schools for years.  There is always some agenda behind their strategy, again with the kids interests last on the list.

Perhaps the millions spent on stadiums should have been spent on the average student, maybe putting one of those computers in each students arms, so that technology could actually be used.  Try calling the school board, they have an archaic phone system, and I was told a few years back that they quit posting email addresses, as the email systems would crash if they got "too much mail".

Roanoke City Schools needs to quit making excuses, get with the program and hire some management that has the kid's interest at heart, can execute a 5 year plan and understands the big picture of educating a captive audience with diverse backgrounds, talents, abilities and goals.  There is no one size fits all.

Step in to the real world and change the 100+ year old education system.  It is far better to put a few dollars in to a kid now, than thousands to keep them incarcerated or in rehab down the line.  Education of the kids has to be the priority going forward.  Put some parents on the school board, I tired three times, turned down with out a phone call every time.  WHo better to be invoved with the kid's future than a passionate parent with an idea whose time has come, not centuries old platitudes.

grace_sp:

juunkmail96:

 There are other ways to save money. you know how teachers print out papers, they can go digital. Or have the students print out their own paper at home. little things like that... (kinda like saving one penny at a time)

 

 Your plan would require there to be computers and printers in every home of every student.  That situation is not practical and would negatively impact disadvantaged students.

 Those are just examples. I am not saying that what they should do... Just pointing out little things they can save (like giving the student a choice to print their own homework sheet at home)

 I agree with you completely. In my opinion the school systems administration has frequently displayed what I perceived as misplaced priorities.

A rough look at operational facilities maintenance information alone demonstrates where the priorities lie.  For example from the start of this current fiscal year 7/1/08 to present RCPS has spent $93,000.00 on there administration building.  These expenses include “in-house” labor charges and material supplies for what can be attributed to nothing more than office renovations, carpet replacements and a general sprucing up. That equates to roughly 905 dollars per person. When you compare this cost to the dollars spent on educational facilities is sickening. 

The only facility that comes close to this cost is the new Patrick Henry High School.  From the start of this fiscal year 7/1/08 to present RCPS has spent almost $87,000.00 for routine maintenance.  Keep in mind this facility is brand new and these dollar amounts do not include construction cost.  This equates to roughly 52.00 per student.    

Everyone knows times are tight.  But there is no excuse for what in my opinion is a misplaced spending priority that has allowed my children to have a meager $34.94 dollars spent on them as compared to what I perceive as an excessive $904.61 spent on the whims of school administration.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid this is just the tip of the iceberg!

 I think the solution is very simple.  Huff Lane and Round Hill sit on prime realestate property-as does Fishburn Elementary.  Sell the Round Hill and Huff property- sell to a developer who wants to make each location a "prime shopping retail center" - that would definitely pay down the difference in the budget.  Leave Oakland open open and divide those school populations between Oakland, Preston, and Westside. Sell the Fishburn property to the state for expansion of Virginia Western.  All three of those schools sit on major money making property.  Close Woodrow and turn it into a "mega learing center for Elementary" and send the Grandin, Va Heights, and Raleigh kids there.  If worse comes to worse, then send the 5th/6thgraders to Fishburn as an "intermediate school".  I believe that if we were to sell the Valley View property, then that would definitely solve the problem- with possibly a bit of extra cash to cushion our "pockets"- It's crazy to not realize the realestate options that are presenting themselves.  I just feel there is a financial solution to this whole 16 million deficit.

Keep Tayor exactly where is is- those kids need classrooms with windows looking into the acuatal room so that the teahers and students can be monitored for the safety of everyone inside that building.

parents don't need to complain, they need to support- and if we all put our heads together, than I think that we may be able to find a solution that won't involve the quality of education that we currently need.

 I think my initial response to this was a bit emotional, I'll admit it. 

But, i agree with many on here who are saying that there is no real accountability from the administrators when it comes to spending.  

The answer to our problems is not MORE money or spending.  It is better leadership.

Where do the top scientists come from these days?   Impoverished countries like China, India and Pakistan.  Many of their schools have very little in the way of technology, yet their students excell.  Why is that?

My opinion is harsh, but I feel like it is truthful.  They excell because they TRULY value their schools.  They respect the teachers and KNOW that education is the ONLY way they will get what they want out of life. 

Our secular culture teaches our kids that school doesnt matter (MTV, American Idol).  Our secular culture is about decadence and gluttony.  Our secular culture is about depravity and bling.  Not honor, respect or survival.  We want everything RIGHT NOW and very few are willing to do anything to earn it. 

Education has lost its focus here.  We all want our children to "experience" other cultures, poetry, other languages, philosophies, etc.  All that FUZZY-FEEL-GOOD folderol.

We HAVE to get back to the basics.  Math, Science, ENGLISH and History.  If we can PROPERLY teach these subjects...the rest will fall in line.

THAT's why are schools have failed for the past 30+ years.  Too much fluff.  Kids haven't changed THAT much in the last 50 years...don't tell me they can't learn without a REAL science lab or a laptop.  That's an excuse for failure and to ask ME to pay more to cover it.

I agree with most of you an "throwing money at the issue" the fact remains Roanoke City Schools is looking at a mulit million dollar shortfall. I also agree that our standers have slipped, but not because of lack of our educators, but because or politicians want test scores not educations. There seems to be no denying that with the interdiction of SOLs RCPS has feel behind, graduations rate are down, and our schools are ranked near the bottom in the commonwealth every year. We have no accountability because we has parents and citizens have no say so in the processes we have an appointed school board so of course they don’t fear the parents. To me the meetings are nothing more than a show RCPS has their plan in place and none of us can stop it.  

With that being said as a parents of a RCPS student, and a graduated of RCPS I know that a good educations can be had. The teachers and schools administrators I have dealt with all seem to care, but it seems to me there hands are tied a lot. We should all see that the closing of Ruffner and R. Court is going to happen no matter what. If this is the plan then I can get behind the idea of Woodrow as one elementary, and Madison as a big middle school.  Along with this redistricting will have to happen and soon the population shift in Roanoke is a noticeable one, but yet will still go by lines drawn before I was in school.

And for anyone who thinks the idea of secular education is a bad one well you have options here in Roanoke for a non secular education look into it. As far as the other “Impoverished” countries you need to look into this a bit further. Only a small percent of their children get that “good” education you talk about. It’s not a fair shake at least we “try” to give every child in the Sates a chance to succeed. You have one thing almost right we cuddle our kids too much anymore there is no competition in class. Gone are the days that Kids want to outdo each other, but here are the days everyone is a winner. And if I have to pay so my Kid can have a laptop of school because he needs it then I will do it lets not forget education is at two way street School and home. If a family has a real issues and “CANT” afford one then there should be a fund. However we have too many people who want the give out and that’s part of the issue.

Well I would like to edit my above post becuse of some type-o's, and the HTML markings, but I cant seem to find a way to do it.

The solution seems very simple to me--- several of Roanoke's schools are sitting on prime realestate.  I propose that the city rezones the land on which Huff Lane and Round Hill sits- these are feeder schools-  Combine those schools with Preston Park, Oakland, RAMS and Lincoln Terrace-  and sell the land to a developer itching to expand the Valley View property.  Once the school rezones attendance lines, then this should even out the number of students at Oakland and Preston.  Fisburne Park is then sold to the state for expansion of Virginia Western Community College- and those students are divided between Crystal, Raleigh, and Grandin-  again, once the attendance lines are redrawn, then the overcrowding should take care of itself because we'll no longer be busing children all over town and everyone will be attending their own neighborhood schools- which should be fine because there is plenty of room for children at Hurt Park and RAMS- and even Westside has a brand new addition.   This should also help with the busing issue- because, once again, we are not busing children all over town to even out our population.

Keep Taylor exactly where it is, keep Oakland open- to help absorb the population of Huff and Round Hill.  As for Ruffner- Those children are too young to be so close to the Fleming students- so moving them to another location may not be such a bad idea.   Within the next couple of years or so, when everything stabilizes, then we could possibly have the funding to build a state of the art middle school that blends in with the new William Fleming High School campus.

I don't understand why we aren't using our property value to help us in this crisis.  Selling these valuable pieces of land would not only insure safety of our students (it's NOT safe to have schools so close to the mall area) but it would cushion our pockets to build and expand neighborhood schools.

I am Roanoke CIty resident, as well as a teacher for RCPS. It is unfortunate that the budget crisis is so dire ;however, the situation will not improve without major changes within the system.  As a parent of a child who will attend Roanoke City Public schools, I think that Dr. Bishop and the school board are doing the very best they possibly can to come up with thoughtful resolutions to this difficult problem.

The two proposed plans for closings will save a tremendous amount of money for the system.  I personally like the idea of the second plan, in which Woodrow would become an elementary school building for both Fishburn and RC students. I don't think that sending students from Raliegh Court to two different schools  makes much sense at  all.  We need to provide students with a plan that involves as little change as possible.

Everyone involved in the decision-making process want our children to be successful.  WIth that in mind, I am confident that they will makes choices that are best for our children.  Change is never easy; however, it is an absolute necessity in this situation!

As a Roanoke City resident I don't like the idea of closing schools. I believe these actions to balance the budget will only inflame many parents who will move out of the City. If there is no alternative the suggestion of closing Huff Lane and Round Hill to be at the top of the list.

 I guess they could follow the model of every other business....fire bad employess, freeze salaries and cut useless programs that make liberal teachers feel good about themselves.

This sounds like a pretty good idea  in terms of property being sold to help with the losses to the school system budget.   VWCC is too crowded and their needs to expand with little property left close to make that happen would be a win situation for both systems.

I think that some of the parents in the Raleigh Court Area want to preserve their childrens schools, then be sensitive to those parents who live in the Ruffner area where their children will have to be bussed farther away and some of those parents don't have transportation in case there are emergency situations, similar to the situation at Forest Park.  While my child attended Ruffner years ago, it is a shame that no updates or repairs have been done to that building and returning to visit you could definitely see the lack of care of the property.  With William Fleming having a great new property coming, standing alone would make that situation safer I think for all the students. 

As far as teachers not having their health insurances backed that is a sad situation.  Perhaps some of the administrators should take some cuts in their salaries and benefit packages creating some savings for those teachers who have spent their lives making a difference in all our childrens lives and futures therefore keeping those benefits in tact for retirees.

 I guess my biggest question is how do they know it is best to close the two schools they are closing since they don't even know where the kids will go to school next year.  Would it not have been better to have complete plans to vote on?

dholla:

This sounds like a pretty good idea  in terms of property being sold to help with the losses to the school system budget.   VWCC is too crowded and their needs to expand with little property left close to make that happen would be a win situation for both systems.

I think that some of the parents in the Raleigh Court Area want to preserve their childrens schools, then be sensitive to those parents who live in the Ruffner area where their children will have to be bussed farther away and some of those parents don't have transportation in case there are emergency situations, similar to the situation at Forest Park.  While my child attended Ruffner years ago, it is a shame that no updates or repairs have been done to that building and returning to visit you could definitely see the lack of care of the property.  With William Fleming having a great new property coming, standing alone would make that situation safer I think for all the students. 

As far as teachers not having their health insurances backed that is a sad situation.  Perhaps some of the administrators should take some cuts in their salaries and benefit packages creating some savings for those teachers who have spent their lives making a difference in all our childrens lives and futures therefore keeping those benefits in tact for retirees.

If they expand, it would help the house values here go up. I know many people like to live close to college. But Is virginia western willing to buy it?

 Walker:

You say that the City Official who have made this decison are incompetant yet you chose "not to participate". Sounds to me like you are part of the problem and not part of the solution. If you know so much, then get involved in City politics and try to  do things your way. Please...don't move to Roanoke County. We have a budget crisis just like everyone else and we really don't need any more whiners.