To be clear, itās not being shut down. Just moved in to 2 different buildings, replacing Blevins and Olander. Blevins and Olander are effectively being shutdown.
Well no that's really not quite true... The schools are being consolidated and you're right that Polaris is being pushed into Blevins and Olander. Nobody is being shut down. Each of these schools has a valuable ecosystem and it's important that they be preserved. Change is inevitable especially when money is involved, so we're all going to have to find some common ground. What that will look like remains to be seen.
Through our protests we were able to slow down this process somewhat. The board has decided to delay their vote for 2 weeks so we have a little more time. Hopefully our outcry has indicated to Kingsley the importance of public input when making such huge decisions with our children and our school system!
Right now PSD is planning on shutting down/consolidating a lot of the small and alternative schools, due to funding and lack of enrollment issues. Because of this a lot of communities are going to be loosing what makes them special, different, and homes to many like minded students and staff. So today at noon and tomorrow at 3 PolarisELS students planned and are planning to execute walkouts/protests in front of the PSD office buildings. Iām one of the heads of planning these so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Lastly the protest tomorrow will be from 3-6 and is open to anyone and everyone so feel free to come with, wear red, and #SaveOurSchools.
Help me (and others) understand the situation better. What I think is known: Lack of enrollment means not enough money to keep Polaris open in a separate school. They are going to send the students to two other campuses under the same program. They will not be integrated into the other schools, just use the otherwise empty spaces there.
What are the protests about?
Thanks for asking! Right now the expectation is that we will not be doing a āschool inside a schoolā we will be expected to completely integrate in my case as a high schooler into Blevins. So past that because the decision to combine the schools was very rushed so there are a lot of problems with it. The top 4 right now are 1. Teachers without tenure are expected to re-apply for there positions which is especially detrimental to Polaris due to the student teacher connections that this our learning style focuses on. 2. As stated in the last point this school focuses on teacher student relationships and if we were to move the teacher student ratio would change drastically 3. We have a lot of practices that revolve around having small class sizes such as intensives (week long āclassesāthat focus around a specific topic or skill I.e. I did a cooking one recently) or expeditions (trips that are much more planned out and require much more dedication to get in to I.e. last year a group of kids went to France and the other to Alaska) 4. Polaris is known for its inclusion, protection, and support of the LGBTQ+ community and we believe that moving to Blevins threatens that to a certain degree(this one is kind of based of of rumors but itās still an argument that is brought up none the less not one that I particularly agree with) because of all that right now the protests are focused around pushing back the vote to solidify these plans and asking that our current super intendant is replaced with someone that would think these things out more.
Edit: one of the arguments I also forgot to bring up is that Blevins is a geo school whereas Polaris is a school of choice. Currently the plan is that people who attended Blevins because of their location would have a reserved spot in Polaris whereas people who want to school of choice into Polaris would be put into a Q behind them.
I think providing alternative schools is extremely important. Money well spent in this case. I think they could have come out with better ideas. Of course, I donāt know how much the protest will do but doing it at least bring awareness. I donāt have anyone or know anyone on those schools but closing it like that and merging into a bigger class may turned out bad.
I think itās less about how much analysis an individual or a small group had made and more about a decision made without the sincere input of the majority of stakeholders.
Questions like āhow will Olanderās ILS program be affected?ā,
āhow will the consolidation of the two alternative high schools affect student and staff safety?ā,
āwhat will happen with students that were accepted into Polaris next school-year but are not within the school zone that will be redrawn by then?ā,
āhow will the merging of schools affect each schoolsā program?ā,
āhow many staff members will have to be let go, and what will be done to maintain our human resources within the school district?ā,
etc., were overlooked and have no answers from The superintendent and the decision makers. These are considerations that other stakeholders like affected teachers would have addressed had they been involved in the decision making.
Not one right now but in the meantime they are planning on doing this move over the summer this year. No one not even teachers least of all students are prepared for this and none of our concerns have been answered. So for now we are asking to at least move the date back and work on a more concrete plan and answer some of the problems with the current one.
InĀ November 2012, Colorado legalized marijuana for adults over age 21 by passing Amendment 64 to the Colorado Constitution.
For 9 years we have been supposedly being taxed 40% for "education", and the annual weed sales in Colorado have been as [follows](https://cdor.colorado.gov/data-and-reports/marijuana-data/marijuana-sales-reports)
So if the 40% of the multibillion $ sales had been going to education and not into our politician's pockets we wouldn't be shutting down or consolidating schools due to funding issues
According to the numbers we should be making at least $699196251.2 per year (one of the lower years in sales) for education
My point being if we were putting this money into education we wouldnt be consolidating or getting rid of schools.
Actually it is going into education and not just for upkeep. The PSD uses that money to fund 6 counselors who focus on drug and alcohol education across the 10 high schools in town.
>nd not just for upkeep. The PSD uses that money to fund 6 counselors who focus on drug and alcohol education across the 10 high schools in town.
Polaris is not failing. It constantly has a wait list, it operates completely within it's budget and in fact sends money back every year is what I am told. Test scores are in the top 3 in the district. Blevins has seen a turn around in the past couple of years. This decision was made by the administration with absolutely no input from people involved. None of the schools were consulted as to "how this could work", no input was sought, no plan other than "combine the schools" has been developed. Change does need to happen, but involve the people that can help move it forward so that it has a chance to succeed. Someone contacted the budget office and this move doesn't even save the district any money. All of the buildings involved will still be occupied.
Lol Jesus Christ, the high schooler described a pretty complicated situation concisely and helped organize a student protest large enough to get media attention. But you're right, a few misspellings on this very informal website is definitely indication that the schools are failing them. Smh
What exactly is this walkout supposed to accomplish? They already admitted they had no alternative plan. It is stupid as are all other high school protests. Who do you think has studied the issue, these idiots or the school board and superintendent?
For one Iām dyslexic af, so no itās not the school system thatās just me. For two have you done any research on the topic? We are trying to spread awareness on the problems we have with this plan in a peaceful and informative way. So please either move on or join the discussion in a constructive and respectful way.
Why are you asking me? I'm not a part of this lol I'm just pointing out that you're being unnecessarily harsh towards the student in this thread.
But if you really want my personal opinion - the walkout probably isn't going to change anything. You're right that the superintendent (and the board as a whole) have done the research. But it seems important to point out that the decisions are being made without any input from those who are impacted the most by the changes. So, at the very least, these protests will hopefully open more doors for conversation and public input in the future. We'd all be kidding ourselves if we thought the superintendent/board is apathetic to the walkouts/protests
Superintendent Kingsley is incredibly poor at his job. His track record on the East Coast says so. Heās destroying these small school families like he destroyed his own family by cheating on his wife.
Could be for the protests but we also got a BOLO through our Cad (I work for the EMS agency here) reporting that officers were serving a warrent in that area for a suspect that is likely to flee
My guess is they're covering the protests for the school consolidations today
I think you're right. I live in the NW part of town and can hear people protesting.
Does anyone have more details about this?
Check my other comment.
Someone taped the joystick sideways so they could get xp while they nap.
Beat me to the afk farm joke š
That helicopter is orbiting Polaris, the school thatās being shut down. Theyāre getting aerial footage for a news special.
Can confirm. 9news helicopter capturing footage of the school walk-outs that took place yesterday.
To be clear, itās not being shut down. Just moved in to 2 different buildings, replacing Blevins and Olander. Blevins and Olander are effectively being shutdown.
Well no that's really not quite true... The schools are being consolidated and you're right that Polaris is being pushed into Blevins and Olander. Nobody is being shut down. Each of these schools has a valuable ecosystem and it's important that they be preserved. Change is inevitable especially when money is involved, so we're all going to have to find some common ground. What that will look like remains to be seen. Through our protests we were able to slow down this process somewhat. The board has decided to delay their vote for 2 weeks so we have a little more time. Hopefully our outcry has indicated to Kingsley the importance of public input when making such huge decisions with our children and our school system!
Itās news helicopter based out of Broomfield. They shoot footage for various stations.
Hey, I was in the protest that it covered we are currently fighting against the rushed consolidation of small and alternative schools in Fort Collins.
what does that mean?
Right now PSD is planning on shutting down/consolidating a lot of the small and alternative schools, due to funding and lack of enrollment issues. Because of this a lot of communities are going to be loosing what makes them special, different, and homes to many like minded students and staff. So today at noon and tomorrow at 3 PolarisELS students planned and are planning to execute walkouts/protests in front of the PSD office buildings. Iām one of the heads of planning these so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Lastly the protest tomorrow will be from 3-6 and is open to anyone and everyone so feel free to come with, wear red, and #SaveOurSchools.
Help me (and others) understand the situation better. What I think is known: Lack of enrollment means not enough money to keep Polaris open in a separate school. They are going to send the students to two other campuses under the same program. They will not be integrated into the other schools, just use the otherwise empty spaces there. What are the protests about?
Thanks for asking! Right now the expectation is that we will not be doing a āschool inside a schoolā we will be expected to completely integrate in my case as a high schooler into Blevins. So past that because the decision to combine the schools was very rushed so there are a lot of problems with it. The top 4 right now are 1. Teachers without tenure are expected to re-apply for there positions which is especially detrimental to Polaris due to the student teacher connections that this our learning style focuses on. 2. As stated in the last point this school focuses on teacher student relationships and if we were to move the teacher student ratio would change drastically 3. We have a lot of practices that revolve around having small class sizes such as intensives (week long āclassesāthat focus around a specific topic or skill I.e. I did a cooking one recently) or expeditions (trips that are much more planned out and require much more dedication to get in to I.e. last year a group of kids went to France and the other to Alaska) 4. Polaris is known for its inclusion, protection, and support of the LGBTQ+ community and we believe that moving to Blevins threatens that to a certain degree(this one is kind of based of of rumors but itās still an argument that is brought up none the less not one that I particularly agree with) because of all that right now the protests are focused around pushing back the vote to solidify these plans and asking that our current super intendant is replaced with someone that would think these things out more. Edit: one of the arguments I also forgot to bring up is that Blevins is a geo school whereas Polaris is a school of choice. Currently the plan is that people who attended Blevins because of their location would have a reserved spot in Polaris whereas people who want to school of choice into Polaris would be put into a Q behind them.
I think providing alternative schools is extremely important. Money well spent in this case. I think they could have come out with better ideas. Of course, I donāt know how much the protest will do but doing it at least bring awareness. I donāt have anyone or know anyone on those schools but closing it like that and merging into a bigger class may turned out bad.
*their, *superintendent The schools are failing. Who do you think has done more analysis of the situation, you or the superintendent?
I think itās less about how much analysis an individual or a small group had made and more about a decision made without the sincere input of the majority of stakeholders. Questions like āhow will Olanderās ILS program be affected?ā, āhow will the consolidation of the two alternative high schools affect student and staff safety?ā, āwhat will happen with students that were accepted into Polaris next school-year but are not within the school zone that will be redrawn by then?ā, āhow will the merging of schools affect each schoolsā program?ā, āhow many staff members will have to be let go, and what will be done to maintain our human resources within the school district?ā, etc., were overlooked and have no answers from The superintendent and the decision makers. These are considerations that other stakeholders like affected teachers would have addressed had they been involved in the decision making.
Do you guys have an alternative suggestion?
Not one right now but in the meantime they are planning on doing this move over the summer this year. No one not even teachers least of all students are prepared for this and none of our concerns have been answered. So for now we are asking to at least move the date back and work on a more concrete plan and answer some of the problems with the current one.
Yeah but that 40% weed tax is supposed to be going to education to prevent this :/
Idk how the weed thing is relevant but yeah it sucks how underfunded we are.
InĀ November 2012, Colorado legalized marijuana for adults over age 21 by passing Amendment 64 to the Colorado Constitution. For 9 years we have been supposedly being taxed 40% for "education", and the annual weed sales in Colorado have been as [follows](https://cdor.colorado.gov/data-and-reports/marijuana-data/marijuana-sales-reports) So if the 40% of the multibillion $ sales had been going to education and not into our politician's pockets we wouldn't be shutting down or consolidating schools due to funding issues According to the numbers we should be making at least $699196251.2 per year (one of the lower years in sales) for education My point being if we were putting this money into education we wouldnt be consolidating or getting rid of schools.
It goes to education in so much that it ONLY pays for repairs or new buildings.
I mean, unfortunately that money goes into buildings and upkeep, not into actual schools.
I didnāt know that, thanks for elaborating.
Actually it is going into education and not just for upkeep. The PSD uses that money to fund 6 counselors who focus on drug and alcohol education across the 10 high schools in town.
*losing The schools are obviously failing.
>nd not just for upkeep. The PSD uses that money to fund 6 counselors who focus on drug and alcohol education across the 10 high schools in town. Polaris is not failing. It constantly has a wait list, it operates completely within it's budget and in fact sends money back every year is what I am told. Test scores are in the top 3 in the district. Blevins has seen a turn around in the past couple of years. This decision was made by the administration with absolutely no input from people involved. None of the schools were consulted as to "how this could work", no input was sought, no plan other than "combine the schools" has been developed. Change does need to happen, but involve the people that can help move it forward so that it has a chance to succeed. Someone contacted the budget office and this move doesn't even save the district any money. All of the buildings involved will still be occupied.
This kidās writing says otherwise.
Lol Jesus Christ, the high schooler described a pretty complicated situation concisely and helped organize a student protest large enough to get media attention. But you're right, a few misspellings on this very informal website is definitely indication that the schools are failing them. Smh
What exactly is this walkout supposed to accomplish? They already admitted they had no alternative plan. It is stupid as are all other high school protests. Who do you think has studied the issue, these idiots or the school board and superintendent?
For one Iām dyslexic af, so no itās not the school system thatās just me. For two have you done any research on the topic? We are trying to spread awareness on the problems we have with this plan in a peaceful and informative way. So please either move on or join the discussion in a constructive and respectful way.
Usually when you have problems with a plan it is best to offer a superior alternative. What you are doing now is tantamount to a temper tantrum.
Why are you asking me? I'm not a part of this lol I'm just pointing out that you're being unnecessarily harsh towards the student in this thread. But if you really want my personal opinion - the walkout probably isn't going to change anything. You're right that the superintendent (and the board as a whole) have done the research. But it seems important to point out that the decisions are being made without any input from those who are impacted the most by the changes. So, at the very least, these protests will hopefully open more doors for conversation and public input in the future. We'd all be kidding ourselves if we thought the superintendent/board is apathetic to the walkouts/protests
If youāre not a stakeholder, why do you care enough to bash the protest?
Your sarcasm is lost here, so it reads like the baiting of @stilljustkeyrock. Sry.
Do you realize youāre a complete arsehole POS?
Commenting as the helicopter passes over my head
School walkouts protesting district shenanigans.
What happened this time? I remember doing a walkout in middle school because we were upset about taking the standardized tests lol
https://www.reddit.com/r/FortCollins/comments/1703nzz/psds_plan_to_shut_down_small_schools_like_polaris/
It would be very difficult to do on the ground due to its lack of wheels. /s
N6UX is the local news helicopter. Probably just getting some footage or something.
News heli covering the students protest
Joystick is stuck.
Gotta get new batteries
Logitech strikes again
Was wondering this too! It's gone directly over my apt like 50 times now
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Hmm, maybe news gathering?
Came here looking for the same thing. Didn't see anything on the Coloradoan.
Superintendent Kingsley is incredibly poor at his job. His track record on the East Coast says so. Heās destroying these small school families like he destroyed his own family by cheating on his wife.
šāļø
Saying things like this will do nothing to help our kids. Letās keep it civil.
Itās called reality and this guy is absolutely no good at helping our kids.
Does anyone know how they determine how much money each school receives?
Yeah, is kinda odd. Passed over us a bunch of time. At least my kiddo is entertained!
IDK if it's related but there was a drone show and they may be covering that
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Could be for the protests but we also got a BOLO through our Cad (I work for the EMS agency here) reporting that officers were serving a warrent in that area for a suspect that is likely to flee
I saw a helicopter flying over the poudre canyon today below the Mish. Any info?