If you live outside of the magnet school zones and want your child to attend one of the four alternative schools, be prepared to wait in line.
Last Tuesday, despite protest from a number of concerned parents and teachers over the past few months, the members of the Bend-La Pine school board chose to keep in place the current rules that determine how children are admitted to Amity Creek, Highland, Westside Village and east side magnet, Juniper Elementary School.
At the December 13 meeting, board member Beth Bagley made a motion to amend the magnet school zone policy, but her fellow board members failed to second the motion effectively killing any possibility of revising the magnet school admission policy.
As it stands today, those living within the determined walking zones of the schools are given first priority in the admission process. Children with siblings already attending a particular magnet school are similarly advanced to the top of the wait list, leaving little to no room for the kids of families who don’t satisfy the two criteria above. Last year Amity admitted just two children from the waiting list.
Critics say those numbers don’t square with the district’s policy, which states that, “the magnet school will provide equal opportunity for all nationalities, races, ethnic groups, abilities and genders within Bend-La Pine Schools.”
Bagley, an attorney who is campaigning for a judgeship, said she fears that the current policies surrounding admittance to the popular schools aren’t meeting the stated guidelines.
“I don’t see that being served right now,” Bagley said, reiterating that the magnet schools are not neighborhood schools, and thus, follow different admission principles.
Four of the five community members who spoke during the public comment period voiced their disapproval with the current magnet school zones.
“They’re not creating space for everyone,” said Meg Burkholder, a retired teacher. “They need to have a policy more open to all.”
This article appears in Dec 22-28, 2011.
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The impact of our community's decisions on magnet schools has much more intrical implications and impact on our local community and economy than it may first appear. As we acknowledge that our greatest asset to our community is the People themselves, we can't turn a blind eye to the fact that the diversity of our population, economic self sustainability, the future of the whole populous, and pragmatic responses to current day issues that reflect a mature and responsible community, is in the best interest of everyone of us. Through our elected officials and procedures of legislator we do have the choice in such impactful matters as the fair and non-prejudicial education of our children, and responsibly acknowledging the preventative benefits of maintaining class diversity in this present day Bend Oregon, right now for our children and local social psychological relationships forming the foundation of the energy and consciousness of the People that make up Bend Oregon. When a Community continuous to respond to the issue of devaluing human ethics and life standards for the sake of economic growth or ease of temporary gains, then we are not responding to the heart of what we need and deserve as human beings for the future and this short-term manner of thinking was the obvious mistakes of our past that has lead to wide spread collapse of many economic and social structures throughout the United States, as well we know in Bend Oregon.
Are we to continue to use our mistakes to respond to our current problems?, or can we reflect a maturing and practical society by utilizing our precious natural resource of human minds and hearts , by making a better choice and making the important small steps of becoming a more responsible and sustainable society. When we marginalize the upper class, making education quality prejudicial, and focusing our sustainability on short-term or in-the – box economics alone we risk the very foundation of our community itself, the empty houses of second home owners and the unavailability of housing markets for the middle and lower class, directly destroy us as a community, taking diversity and a preventing a solution of elevated community relationship and self efficient economic and environmental sustainability. I ask that we take our time to respond to what is most important to us as a maturing and responsible people looking to our most obliviously beneficial future, let's make sure our Bend Oregon magnet schools are accessible, and fairly non- prejudicial to reflect our choice of concern for ourselves and each other as a community of the future by representing and advocating for our children now. Thank You Ericka R Hogg