Citizens for a Better Norwood 3

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Allison Elementary Petition

School Board Members:

We, the undersigned parents, students, neighbors and concerned citizens, request that you VOTE NO on September 18th, on the resolution to propose closing Allison Street Elementary.
We are not convinced that the potential cost savings of moving forward with this plan now clearly outweigh the potential harm to children and to the school system.

Before proposing to close any school, the board must be able to answer at least the following nine questions:

Financial/Academic Concerns
1. What are the expected financial and academic benefits of closing the school? A detailed accounting of cost savings, not generalizations, should be provided.
2. How and why was this particular school selected for closure?
3. Why were other “rightsizing” possibilities (such as downsizing buildings or sharing space) rejected in favor of closing this school? Instead of closing a school, why not move central administration offices into schools and close headquarters?
4. How will the academic programs of the two schools be combined? What will be the course offerings? What will be the expected class sizes? Will there be sufficient teachers, staff and counselors?

Detailed Planning/Information Sharing

5. What are the detailed plans, with timelines, to ensure that the receiving schools (facilities and educational programs) will be ready for the large influx of students?
6. What are the plans for the school building that will be closed? What impact will the close building have on surrounding property values?
7. Have the plans been developed in conjunction with the stakeholders, and has enough transition time been provided, to ensure that departure from Allison Elementary by parents and teachers will be minimized?
8. What attendance zone boundary changes are being proposed, and has the required analysis of demographic data and impact on the school system been conducted?

Safety Concerns

9. How far and across how many heavy-traffic roadways will children attending the receiving school be required to walk, to go to school?

We do not believe that closing Allison Street Elementary will be beneficial to any of our Norwood City School students or that it will create long term savings for our city. We look forward to continued dialogue, including a public roundtable where these and other questions can be addressed. We firmly reject the closing of our school.
Thank you.

By signing below, I am in favor of the Norwood City School Board to conduct further analysis and answer the nine questions provided above be answered before making any final decisions on closing a school.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

2008 Fall Semi-Annual Yard Sale Directory

Friday only:
1933 Delaware

Friday and Saturday:
2215 Adams
5347 Carthage
2135 Cleneay
2140 Cleneay
1927 Crown
2117 Dale
1917 Elm
2076 Elm #7
2117 Feldman
2232 Feldman
2240 Feldman
3752 Floral
4100 Floral
3915 Forest
3940 Forest
2751 Harris
2349 Highland
2357 Highland
1741 Hopkins
1934 Hopkins
2335 Indian Mound
2420 Indian Mound
2517 Indian Mound
4317 Ivanhoe
2321 Jefferson
3829 S. Jefferson
2036 Leslie
5031 Linden
2267 Madison
1962 Maple
2001 Maple
5043 Marion
5045 Marion
2544 Melrose
2553 Melrose
2555 Melrose
2043 Mills #5
2263 Monroe
2515 Moundview
2260 Norwood
2409 Norwood
2260 Norwood
2409 Norwood
4818 Oak
2231 Park
2157 Quatman
2613 Robertson
2639 Robertson
5253 Rolston
2241 Ronda
5242 Section
5346 Section
5520 Section
2500 Sheridan
1703 Sherman
2201 Slane
2209 Slane #2
5250 Warren
5719 Warren
2261 Washington
1927 Waverly
4916 Wesley #1
2214 Williams

Saturday only:
5354 Carthage
5362 Carthage
4045 Catherine
2217 Cleneay
1840 Cleveland
5603 Fenwick
3816 Floral
3931 Floral
2362 Glenside
2265 Harper
3806 Hazel
2209 Hudson
1940 Maple
2540 Melrose
2506 Moundview
3828 Regent
5311 Warren