One Westside Parent Not Against Change

PARENTS WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT CHILDREN, TEAMS

— Editor’s Note: The Rogers School District is considering attendance zone changes to accommodate the introduction of the new Darr Elementary School into the system. As part of that plan, students within Westside Elementary’s boundary will be shifted to Oakdale Middle School, putting them on track to attend Heritage High School, rather than Rogers High.

In the world of change, I am what they call an early adopter. Unlike many, I like change. I like the new challenge.

After I met the principals at Oakdale, I could get excited about the idea of my son walking the same halls as his mom did many years ago.

I really like what I hear about the direction of Oakdale and would love to be involved.

I like what I hear about Heritage and like the idea of being a War Eagle.

Yet, I am also the guy who has been married for 25 years to the same Rogers girl (who, by the way, went to Westside Elementary, Oakdale Junior High and Rogers High School in the old high school we now call Heritage). I was one of the guys who brought my chair and sat up on the hill at Gates Stadium and watched the Mounties when my son was a little guy and I was scared to death that he would bust his head on the concrete blocks down by the fence. I still remember the Mountie jersey I gave him on Christmas morning when he was 3 and we used to go to Gates on Saturdays to play football like the Mounties.

So even though I cheer for Heritage as a Rogerian, I love the Mounties. And I love stability.

So am I for it or against it?

Yes!

Contrary to what some opinion writers in this newspaper say, Westside parents aren’t just spending time polishing our public debate skills to try to buck the system. We go to work, pay our taxes, invest in our children, volunteer at our school, help them with their homework, feed them dinner and put them to bed every day of their lives. We are their advocates. We are the ones who voice our concerns in a professional and thoughtful way when the administration asks for feedback. We are the ones insulted when editors decide to take potshots at us because we did.

But before we move attendance zone patterns again, let me make few things clear. I share the concerns of many current and former Westside parents.

1) Does the proposal make fi nancial sense (demographically speaking)?

We are not sure this decisionis best for the Roger’s district. Our numbers show that with Westside going to Heritage, there is a 13 percent dift erence in number of kids receiving free and reduced-price lunches at the elementary level between Rogers High and Heritage.

Our contention is these are the best indicators as to the afi uence level within a boundary, not high school numbers where student selfreport. And with the current proposal, that gap will widen. We are confused about the talk of equality when there may be a growing gap occurring between the feeder schools. Can the two most afi uent schools in the district go to the same high school and keep demographic equality?

2) Are we going to be asked to change again in a few years? Nobody knows how many times for sure, but the last 20 years families attending Westside have moved attendance patterns several times because of their central location. Thatis not good for our kids or our boundary stability. Try selling an older house in the fl ip-fl op boundary.

3) Can we fi nish our feeder pattern? We want our secondary students to be able to finish their feeder patterns. There is not an immediate need to move Westside families, so what if our current sixth-, seventh-, eighth-, ninth-, 10th- and 11thgrade students were allowed to finish at Rogers High School. We suggest picking a grade currently at Westside and make those students the first class to graduate at Heritage.

4) Can we get a few family grandfather exceptions?

Since there is only one school moving to a new feeder pattern, what if families with kids currently in sixth through 11th grades were allowed to not only finish their feeders but also bring their little brothers and sisters to the same secondary schools. We know the schools, teachers and routines and our secondand third kids through will benefit from our familiarity.

Do we really need to have families with kids in two dift erent feeders?

There are no bad school options in Rogers and for that I am very thankful.

The Westside family will be fine. Mountie or War Eagle?

Oakdale or Elmwood? In time, we will love either.

We love the things our kids are involved in. We invest ourselves in the things our kids are involved in. We will do what we have always done. We will support our kids. We will serve our schools. We will support our teams. We will support our teachers and principals.

We will support our community.

We are proud Westside Warriors and we accept the challenge!

TIM HOWINGTON HAS LIVED IN ROGERS FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS WITH HIS WIFE, TERRI, WHO GREW UP IN ROGERS, AND HIS SON, JOSHUA, A FIFTH-GRADER AT WESTSIDE ELEMENTARY.

Opinion, Pages 13 on 02/17/2013

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