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.

 

About three and a half months ago, I became involved in an issue in my neighborhood -- the proposed closing of Crawford Elementary School.  I originally objected to this proposal based upon the effects on my neighborhood and its desirability to young families.  But the more I learned about the issue, the more I came to focus on its effects on the children of my neighborhood and of Terre Haute.

 

I also came to realize that Crawford had a precedent in the closing of Warren Elementary in the year 2000.  Along with Ms. Mell, Mrs. Robinson, and others, I repeatedly asked this board and this administration to provide the evidence that the Warren closing had benefited the children.

 

Tonight, Ms. Mell and I are pleased to present the Warren Elementary Transfer Study to the board and administration, but more importantly, to the citizens of Vigo County.  The study is too lengthy to discuss completely in five minutes.  We have provided an executive summary to highlight the main points.

 

We found that after Warren was closed and students were shifted among programs at Lost Creek, Meadows, and Sugar Grove elementaries, those schools declined substantially in their ISTEP performance.  No matter how we adjusted the numbers for the lower passing rates of Warren students before transfer, for moving of programs like Gifted/Talented from Meadows to Sugar Grove, we found that these schools have declined.  Mr. Hellmann shared some of those numbers with you at the meeting two weeks ago.  This report contains many more like them.

 

We found that educational researchers strongly recommend that at-risk students, like those at Warren, attend small schools of 350 or fewer students.  The National Association of Elementary School Principals endorses elementary school populations no more than 400.  We cannot understand why this administration and this board would place principals like Mr. Menestrina at Farrington Grove and Mrs. Brady at Sugar Grove in a position which is contrary to the recommendations of their professional organization by transferring Crawford students to their facilities.

 

We found that the project management practices used by the school corporation in school closing and transfer issues like Warren and Crawford are inconsistent.  We do not believe they represent best practices.  We believe they are especially weak in involving stakeholders such as parents and community leaders -- a requirement of Indiana Public Law 221 -- and also weak in post project review by measurable assessments.

 

In conclusion, this study provides evidence that the transfer of Warren students and related transfers have been associated with a significant decline in student educational outcomes.  We recommend additional studies to pinpoint the nature of this decline.  We also recommend that the Vigo County School Corporation institute a uniform process for school closing transitions that is consistent with Public Law 221.  Finally, we recommend that the school corporation refrain from transferring at-risk students from schools with populations less than 300 to schools with populations larger than 300, and immediately halt any such transitions that are proposed.  We are specifically referring to the transfers related to the closing of Crawford School, since it is too late to help the former Warren children at this point.

 

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak.  Ms. Mell and I hope that you can use our work, which we are providing to you as a public service, to further improve an already excellent school corporation by correcting a mistake we feel you are making with regard to Crawford School.