Middle School/High School Changes

["Melynda Huskey" <mghuskey@hotmail.com>]

I'm just beginning to think about the proposed changes at the secondary 
level for Moscow School District, and I'm dismayed.

A quick review of the research on high schools demonstrates, as Tom Gregory 
puts it, "since 1970, essentially all research favors the creation of small 
high schools."  Some advantages of small schools? Less crime and violence, 
fewer discipline problems, lower student tardiness and absenteeism, and less 
substance abuse and tobacco use by students; lower dropout rates and higher 
graduation rates; and higher and more varied extracurricular participation. 
Small schools are more effective in poorer communities and make achievement 
dramatically more equitable. Research suggests that many schools are too 
large to serve students well, and smaller schools are widely needed, 
particularly in impoverished communities. (This information is drawn from a 
number of studies reviewed in the ERIC database--search keywords "high 
school" "size" and "research" for much more information.)

Why are we planning to build a bigger, more isolated high school when the 
research is clear that a smaller, centrally located school would serve 
students better?  And why would we spend millions of scarce dollars on a new 
building instead of wisely using the one we already own?  If enrollment 
numbers are declining, do we need a larger school?

I'd like to hear from school board members, or anybody else in the know, 
about the research that's gone into the school usage decisions of the last 
year or so--from ending neighborhood elementary schools in favor of the new 
age-segregated schools, to increasing the junior high population by adding 
another grade to a school many students and parents already experience as 
large,impersonal, and unresponsive, to building a new isolated facility for 
the 9-12 graders.  All of these decisions appear to be deeply 
counter-intuitive, as well as unsupported by research findings at a national 
level.

I have never voted against a levy since I first exercised my franchise, but 
unless the district can produce some superb justifications for these 
proposals, I expect to check the "no" box for the first time.

It's not a feeling I like.

Melynda Huskey


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