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45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, January 24, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 23, 2004 Families beg not to switch schools Medford boundary committee hears testimony, will submit recommendation May 4 By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune Parents, grandparents and one student pleaded their cases Thursday night before a committee drafting changes for Medford’s elementary school attendance areas. They asked that their neighborhoods not be shifted to other schools and sought ways for families to continue at schools. "You think that you’re changing boundaries, but you are also changing friendships and lives," said Kaitlyn Furnish, a fourth-grader at Griffin Creek Elementary who would move to Oak Grove. With the change, she wouldn’t get to use library chairs, computers and a climbing wall that she and her family helped raise money for, she said. Her Girl Scout troop would be split. A 36-member boundary committee started work in December to redraw lines to help match the number of students with the size of school buildings, promote neighborhood schools, encourage diversity and keep kids together through their school careers. Advertisement In the most recent proposal, committee members targeted developing neighborhoods for switches, partly in response to comments from past hearings, co-chairwoman Kim Wallan said. The proposal called for moving 24 kids from crowded Abraham Lincoln Elementary to Hoover Elementary. Danna Gibson visited many schools before buying in the neighborhood near Hillcrest Road so her children, now in first and fourth grades, could attend Lincoln. "Will these few kids affect your goals enough to disrupt their lives this way?" she asked. Other parents questioned a split of the Lincoln area along McLoughlin Road, which would be served by buses from Lincoln and Kennedy elementary schools. "Kids on opposite sides of the road will go to different schools," said Buddy Pickard. In the Griffin Creek neighborhood, the committee also recommended shifting a developing area rather than an established one. Pamella Stevens thanked the committee for considering her neighborhood’s concerns and not moving its students. From the developing neighborhood selected instead, Erica Speeding asked for a reprieve, noting that the changing neighborhood needed the stability of a link to one school. "The kids get off the bus in front of my house, and they all said ‘we don’t want to go’," she said. "They are happy with where they are and don’t want to change." The residents of Hampton Place, a development that would be switched from Jacksonville Elementary to Oak Grove, continued to fight the change. "You didn’t consider the information before you," Hampton Place resident Paul Cano said. "I transferred schools as a kid and I know how hard it is," he said. "It affects you socially and academically. This change isn’t necessary." The need to stop change to protect the happiness and success of students echoed through the evening. Several parents asked for broader grandfather clauses. The current proposal gives the option to families who will have a sixth-grader next year. The boundary committee will consider and plans to submit a recommendation to the school board May 4. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers