Nadie de BVSD le presentó el plan al Concejo Municipal de Lafayette. Lo hicieron las familias de Douglass, que llenaron la sala el 15 de septiembre. El Concejo tomó un plan que no estaba en su agenda y, en quince minutos, encontró lo que las familias de todo el distrito vienen diciendo: cuenta a los niños de Lafayette en Douglass, pero nadie consultó a las familias de Lafayette, nadie modeló los límites de Lafayette y nadie le preguntó a la ciudad por las viviendas que está planificando.
Un concejal tras otro señaló el mismo problema. Sin una sola objeción, acordaron escribirle a la Junta y pedirle que haga ese trabajo antes de decidir. Las citas están en inglés, tal como se dijeron.
“This is entirely BVSD's decision, but just tremendous appreciation for all of the parents and family members who came out this evening. I'm agnostic on the substance because I want to learn more about it, but it does seem to me it's very clear there was a process foul here. So I would be interested in whether us sending a letter to BVSD is an option. I think these folks certainly deserve a response and some action from us.”
Concejal Kyle Beaulieu 1:33:19
“Douglass is the neighborhood school in my neighborhood. There was a list of criteria and a list of schools that met that criteria that were being considered for closure, and there was a process for the school district to meet with those schools and the parents and the families. Because Douglass didn't meet those criteria, they didn't do the kind of outreach that they were doing with other schools, or listen to the parents. They also did not gather data on the impact on Lafayette, because they weren't doing Lafayette schools. So they made the assumption that Douglass was really a Boulder school and didn't consider Lafayette impacts. I think there are a lot of procedural problems in how they handled this.”
Concejal Annmarie Jensen 1:34:05
“Here we are hearing that Lafayette schools were actually impacted. It turns out we weren't briefed as the Lafayette City Council. So I don't think it would be out of place for us to ask BVSD to slow down. They're giving our residents short shrift.”
Concejal Adam Gianola 1:36:43
“I work for BVSD and I had no idea up until Friday that Douglass had a small part of Lafayette zoned for it. I do think closing Douglass could potentially in the future also have implication for our Lafayette schools. Lafayette Elementary, I believe 39 open-enrolled out of Lafayette Elementary. If those students were to come back to Lafayette Elementary, it could have a pretty big impact on class sizes. I do think a conversation with the school board would be beneficial, especially with a plan for monitoring our Lafayette schools' class sizes in the future.”
Concejal Crystal Gallegos 1:38:11
“All we can do is advocate on behalf of the residents of the city of Lafayette. I hear process and procedural problems, and I think that would be the vein that I would like this letter to go.”
Alcalde Saul Tapia Vega 1:41:08
“The Lafayette City Council respectfully requests that the Board remove Douglass Elementary from the Resilient Schools proposal before its September 22nd vote, and that the district commit to including Lafayette families and the city in any future process that would relocate Lafayette children. Although the city has no jurisdiction over district decisions, a majority of Douglass's resident students live in Lafayette, where portions of the city fall within that attendance zone, and many additional students open-enroll there. Because the district counted these students in assessing Douglass's enrollment while treating Lafayette as outside the scope of the study, Lafayette families had no structured engagement, Lafayette boundaries were not modeled, and the city was not consulted about planned growth that bears on future enrollment. We believe a boundary analysis that includes Lafayette may offer an alternative to closure, and we ask that Douglass's future be decided only after that analysis is completed and published. We would welcome the opportunity to connect district staff with the city's planning staff.”
El borrador leído en el acta por la concejal Jensen 1:43:09 El Concejo pidió suavizar la solicitud inicial de “retirar” a una sugerencia, y mantuvo el resto.
“I did hear from one of the phone calls that I made that the reason that we weren't in that is because technically it doesn't fall within the city limits of Lafayette, and the schools that are closing in the other cities do. I don't know that to be true, I just heard that. That's a choice. Again, procedural questions, process problems.”
Alcalde Saul Tapia Vega 1:45:32
“Is there any councilor that would like to lead this? Councilor Jensen, I see your hand up. Fantastic. Is all of Council okay with moving forward with Councilor Jensen? Fantastic.”
Alcalde Saul Tapia Vega 1:46:46
La discusión completa de 15 minutos, en inglés.
Por qué importa
Las familias tenían razón, y ahora lo dice una ciudad.
Confirma lo que las familias vienen diciendo desde hace tres semanas. Las familias de Douglass, Flatirons, Mesa y Birch le dijeron a la Junta el 8 de septiembre que el distrito abandonó el proceso de alerta temprana que creó su propio comité asesor y les dio 25 días. El Concejo de Lafayette llegó a la misma conclusión desde el otro lado de la mesa. Al alcalde le dijeron que Lafayette quedó fuera porque Douglass “técnicamente” no está dentro de los límites de la ciudad. Contar a los niños de una ciudad y dejar a la ciudad fuera del estudio es el patrón, no un accidente.
Deja al descubierto un hueco en el “enfoque regional”. El 15 de septiembre, el superintendente le dijo a la Junta que el enfoque regional estuvo “muy al frente y al centro” del proceso de participación del distrito. Una ciudad de 30,000 habitantes que, según el propio conteo del Concejo, es hogar de la mayoría de los estudiantes residentes de Douglass no tuvo un lugar en ese proceso. Si el plan pasó por alto a Lafayette, pregúntese qué más pasó por alto.
Pide exactamente lo que pide la coalición. No “nunca cierren una escuela”. Primero el análisis, las comunidades afectadas en la sala, y la decisión después. Esa es la diferencia entre un plan completo y el actual.
Dígaselo a la Junta
Primero el análisis. Las comunidades en la sala. Después la decisión.
La Junta vota el 22 de septiembre. Dígales que un concejo municipal ya pidió lo mismo que las familias: terminen el plan antes de votarlo.