Moline unveils school restructuring options

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By Sheena Dooley | Monday, August 4, 2008 8:17 PM CDT | () comments

Construction of the new gym is well under way as part of the expansion and renovation of Bicentennial Elementary School in Coal Valley, Ill. Bicentennial would remain open under any of the four options a committee has put together to deal with the district’s facilities. (Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

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A committee studying Moline-Coal Valley schools wants to close nine elementary buildings, combine the district’s two middle schools and open three 1,000-student elementary schools.

The proposal is one of four scenarios the group of appointed parents, community members and staff came up with to reconfigure buildings in the school district. All but one of the options includes closing at least eight schools. Two call for a new elementary school in the Stephens Park area and doing nothing with the high school and middle schools. The last option maintained the status quo.

But the group’s favorite solution for what to do with Moline’s schools is perhaps the most dramatic, creating three nine-section elementary schools, which means they would have nine classrooms for each grade. It would put more than 1,000 students under one roof.

“I am pretty intrigued with that possibility,” said Brett Fetter, a committee member who is also a parent with a son at Moline High School. “The overwhelming majority supported the nine-section elementary schools. It goes back to providing a greater amount of flexibility for educators and gives students greater learning opportunities.”

More specifically, that scenario calls for Wilson and John Deere Middle schools and the Coolidge Building to house the three elementary schools. Bicentennial would continue to serve Coal Valley children, and middle school students would either move to the high school or a new middle school. The district would lose nine elementary schools and one middle school. Only one of the current elementary buildings would still be used to house Moline’s kindergarten through fifth-graders.

To make those changes a reality, the committee will have some convincing to do. Among those who will have to be swayed? Superintendent Cal Lee.

Lee said he is uncomfortable with the idea of creating elementary schools with 1,000-plus students because they would make it harder for teachers and staff to establish personal relationships with students and their families.

“I am certainly open to being convinced,” he said. “Right now, without seeing the data, I am uncomfortable with an elementary school that large. I want to use our resources and personnel efficiently, but I don’t want schools to be so big that kids can’t function and their parents don’t feel like they are a part of the school.”

Illinois’ average elementary school enrollment is just more than 450 students per building. Currently, Moline’s average size is almost 320 students. More than half of the district’s elementary schools have at least one grade with only one class. That forces teachers to work in isolation and gives students few options if they have problems with their teacher, Moline educators, committee members and board members said.

Lee also, however, recognizes some advantages to the set-up, which committee members said made the option appealing. Those include added flexibility, allowing district leaders to reduce class sizes and more evenly distribute students, better opportunities for teacher collaboration and added classroom time for teachers who currently travel between schools. Specifically, schools would have full-time nurses, counselors, and physical education, art and music teachers.

Darryl Schneider, Moline’s director of facilities, said the nine-section elementary schools would use a “school-within-a-school” concept in which students are broken into smaller learning communities. School leaders can group them by their interests, ability and grade, among other things. One example of the approach is the freshman academy at Moline High School.

Breaking students into the smaller learning communities allows for a more personal relationship between staff, students and parents, Schneider said. The larger buildings also would cut down on the district’s operating expenses, which include maintenance costs, heating and electricity, among other things.

“Just because it’s a large school doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be a large school,” he said. “It’s like the Sears Tower. Within those four walls, how many businesses do you have operating? It’s taking that concept and applying it schools.”

School board members appointed the committee almost two years ago and charged them with studying what to do with the district’s aging and underutilized buildings. Their work is part of the board’s strategic plan, which focuses on student achievement, facilities and technology, community and parent involvement, continuous improvement and sustainability.

Whether the board decides to follow the committee’s recommendation remains to be seen. Members will meet Monday and discuss what steps to take next. Most likely, the board will narrow the list to two options and then send it back to the committee for cost estimates, which were not included in their report.

The group’s other three options were:

- Doing nothing and maintaining the district’s current configuration of schools.

- Leaving the high school and middle schools alone and turning Coolidge into a seven-section elementary school with an estimated 840 students. Bicentennial and Hamilton Elementary schools and a new elementary school built in the Stephens Park area would become four-section elementary buildings, and five-section elementary schools would go into the Butterworth Elementary School and Jefferson Early Childhood Center buildings.

- Leaving the high school and middle schools alone and converting Coolidge into a seven-section elementary school. Bicentennial would become a two-section elementary school, while Butterworth, Hamilton and Washington Elementary schools, Jefferson Early Childhood Center and a new school built in the Stephens Park area would serve as four-section elementary schools with an estimated 480 students.

For the most part, board members remain open to all four scenarios until they have more information, they said.

In the coming months, the board will hold discussions with the community about what shape it wants its schools to take and further study the options, said Kathy Weiman, the board president. Lee said he expects the board to vote on a final recommendation before the end of the upcoming school year.

“At this point, it’s difficult to make a decision on the recommendations alone because there is no financial information,” said Jim Kopel, a board member who is also a retired educator.

“I would be interested in knowing whether increasing the size of elementary schools is going to improve students’ educational performance. I am much more interested in trying to make sure we see an improvement in the quality of education than necessarily providing larger facilities for students.”

By the numbers

1,080: The enrollment of the largest elementary school proposed by Moline facilities subcommittee

452: The average enrollment in Illinois elementary schools

314: The current average enrollment in Moline elementary schools

7 of 13: The number of Moline elementary schools that have at least one grade with a one-section class

296: The total number of students the Moline-Coal Valley School District lost in the past five years

10 of 13: The largest number of elementary schools that would close under the facilities subcommittee’s proposed restructuring scenarios

62: The average age of the Moline-Coal Valley School District’s buildings in years

Proposed scenarios from the facilities subcommittee

Option A

- The district would continue to use Moline High School and the two middle schools in their current capacities.

- The Coolidge building, which houses the district’s alternative high school and other programs, would be converted into a seven-section elementary school with an estimated 840 students.

- Bicentennial and Hamilton Elementary schools and a new elementary school built in the Stephens Park area at 7th Street and 15th Avenue would hold four sections of students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

- Butterworth Elementary School and the Jefferson Early Childhood Center would become five-section elementary schools with an estimated 600 students.

- The alternative high school and possibly the administrative offices would move to the Roosevelt Elementary School building.

- The preschool program and other district services currently housed at Coolidge would move into other district facilities that are left available. Those include Jane Addams, Ericsson, Franklin, Garfield, Lincoln-Irving, Logan, Horace Mann, Washington and Willard Elementary schools.

Option B

- The district either would build a new middle school or high school, depending on programming needs. If a new middle school was built, students from John Deere and Wilson Middle schools would attend the new school and high school students would stay in their current building. If a new high school was built, John Deere and Wilson students would move into the old high school.

- John Deere, Wilson and the Coolidge building would become nine-section elementary schools with an estimated 1,080 students enrolled at each building.

- The alternative school, currently housed at Coolidge, would move to the Roosevelt Elementary School building.

- The Jefferson Early Childhood Center would remain at its current site.

- District offices and some programming would move to the Washington Elementary School building.

- Buildings that would be left vacant include the Jane Addams, Butterworth, Ericsson, Franklin, Garfield, Hamilton, Lincoln-Irving, Logan, Horace Mann and Willard Elementary schools.

Option C

- The district would continue to use Moline High School and the two middle schools in their current capacities.

- The Coolidge building would be converted into a seven-section elementary school with an estimated 840 students.

- Bicentennial Elementary School would be used as two-section elementary school with an estimated 240 students.

- Butterworth, Hamilton and Washington Elementary schools, along with the Jefferson Early Childhood Center and a new school built in the Stephens Park area, would serve as four-section elementary schools with an estimated 480 students.

- The district would move its alternative high school into the building housing Roosevelt Elementary School.

- The preschool program and other district services housed in Coolidge would move into facilities that are left available, including Jane Addams, Ericsson, Franklin, Garfield, Lincoln-Irving, Logan, Horace Mann and Willard Elementary schools.

Option D

- Maintain the district’s current 13 elementary schools, two middle schools and high school. No changes would be made under this option.

Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.