West / Memorial Forum Audio/Video Archive (11/15/2005 @ Leopold)
Watch this event (about 90 minutes) or Listen (mp3 audio)
A public forum was held to update the community on plans to address overcrowding in the West-Memorial attendance area at Leopold Elementary School Tuesday evening. Troy reports 150 people attended (in the comments, take a look at the video clip for details), rather decent, given some other events I’ve participated in – much more than my quick estimate of 40, which was wrong. [Editor: gotta love the quick feedback loop. Anyone else have a count? :)] In any event, substantive questions were discussed and raised. A number of ideas were shared along with quite a few public comments. I’ve summarized a few below (from my notes) (there were many more – have a look at the video):
- Why does Van Hise Elementary have such a small low income population relative to other schools?
- What data supports the creation of “paired schools” from a student achievement perspective?
- Why are we considering busing children all the way to Marquette / Lapham [map]?
- (this comment was made after the official event closed) Why won’t the MMSD build a school (farther south) in Fitchburg?
- I asked: “Why were no scenarios / ideas presented vis a vis the nearby [map] Wright Middle School Facility?”
This 3 page pdf Forum / idea summary was sent to all Thoreau parents Tuesday. UPDATE: Arlene Silveira mentions, via email, that she thought about 120 attended.
