My name is Michael Misovich.  I live in the Farrington Grove Elementary attendance district, and my daughter attends there because we believe in neighborhood schools.  I am also a member of the Crawford/Farrington Grove transition team.

 

I support the sale of Warren Elementary; however, my support falls under the heading of "making the best of a bad situation." I regret not speaking out for Mrs. Robinson and the other Warren and Meadows families two years ago.  When you voted a month ago to close that school on South 5th Street, Mrs. Robinson came to the meeting and spoke in our support.  I should have been there for her.

 

Tonight's discussion is about buildings and money.  It is not about children.  When you voted to close Warren, you said it would benefit the children.  At each of the last three school board meetings, someone has asked for an explanation.

 

On December 10, I asked the administration to include in the Crawford School Study, "some evidence that the performance of the former Warren students has improved in a statistically significant amount since being transferred to Meadows and Lost Creek."  No evidence of any kind regarding the educational outcomes of the Warren children was provided in the study.

 

On January 14, the day you voted to close that school on South 5th Street, I showed you an empty binder and asked, "Why isn't anyone studying what happened to the Warren, Meadows, and Lost Creek children?"  All of you listened politely, but no one made a motion to direct the administration to study the issue.  The same evening, Mrs. Robinson also questioned why no one had studied this issue which directly impacted her children.

 

On January 28, Ms. Mell stated to you, "As for Warren, if it was such a success, then prove it."  I haven't seen any proof yet.  Maybe she's hiding something from me?

 

All I keep hearing is that the former Warren students are doing well -- and that I shouldn't refer to them as the "former Warren students" because that is impeding the excellent transition process that many people worked to promote.

 

Let me tell you about a Lost Creek 5th grader that I met last week.  Ms. Mell and I were at Warren School to shoot some photos -- for the record, I'd like Mrs. Correll to know the children we planned to use were volunteers and not professional models.  Before our children showed up, a young man approached the schoolyard, and began walking slowly past us on the playground.  I was too shy to talk to him, but Ms. Mell asked him his name and where he went to school.  "Lost Creek," he said, then added that he used to go to school at Warren and had liked it better.  In the interest of promoting a good transition, I told him I was sure he liked it at Lost Creek too.  He replied with a half-hearted, "Yeah," then continued to walk until he had circled completely around the empty school building before heading away from the desolate schoolyard.

 

Not only have we seen no evidence about educational outcomes after the Warren closing; we haven't seen any evidence about the supposedly excellent transition process to Meadows and Lost Creek either.  I can tell you that as a member of the Crawford/Farrington Grove transition team, I intend to make sure we don't have any children like that young man wandering around 5th and Deming St. two years from now.

 

In summary, I hope you do not believe that the sale of the Warren building is the end of the story.  I believe you have a moral obligation to the children now at Meadows, Lost Creek, and Sugar Grove, that were affected by the Warren closing and transition two years ago.  Until you can verify that their educational outcomes have improved, I believe you also have a moral obligation to all the children in Vigo County to suspend any other similar proposals.  I am asking that you reconsider Mr. May's motion from the January 14 meeting to delay the closing of that school on South 5th St. until all the evidence is in.

 

It is a privilege to have the opportunity to speak before the board of one of the finest school corporations in the state.  But even excellent institutions sometimes make mistakes.  I will end with a paraphrase tonight, "Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."  Pretty erudite for an engineer -- thank you for letting me speak.