Proposal Considers Moving Rumsey Station Elementary to La Vista Junior High and High School
The challenges facing growing communities and school districts are indeed managing and accommodating growth. For the Papillion-La Vista Schools, those challenges include anticipating and trying to stay ahead of overcrowded situations in our buildings; while being good stewards of patron tax dollars. Maintaining balanced student enrollment at the junior highs and high schools is a concern the Papillion-la Vista School District is facing. As the majority of our District growth is occurring in the southern portion of the District, the need to balance attendance areas at the junior high and high schools is recognized. The Papillion-La Vista School Board is considering a change in the assigned elementary buildings that feed into the secondary schools.
The proposed change being considered is moving the Rumsey Station attendance area, north of the Papio Creek, to feed into La Vista Junior High and Papillion-La Vista High School.
The Papillion-La Vista School District is curious to know what patrons of the school district think about the proposed change. Do you have any comments or questions you would like shared?
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This site updated by PLV Schools.
This blog was created for Papillion-La Vista School District residents to voice their opinion on issues that affect our district and community. All comments are moderated. Any comments deemed inappropriate for general audiences will not be posted.
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This site updated by PLV Schools.
5 comments:
Dear School Board members and District Administrators,
Thank you for allowing parents to provide input on this issue. As my husband mentioned in the Rumsey Station meeting on May 22, we would like to see this proposal revised to include a grandfather clause for Rumsey students whose siblings already attend Papillion Junior High and Papillion South. The addition of this clause makes obvious sense as parents would appreciate the opportunity to have all their children graduate from the same high school. Rumsey parents are some of the most involved and active in our District and have taken the time to get to know the administrators and teachers at both south schools, and continuing these well-established relationships is very important to us as we continue to send our children through the Papillion Schools.
Secondly, asking for transportation is not an unreasonable request. The Omaha Public School system buses all students who live outside a 1.5 mile radius from the school. I believe the School District either can apply for federal funds for transportation (or currently receives federal funds for transportation) and at the school board meeting, I would appreciate an explanation as to where these funds are currently being spent within our District (if we are currently receiving this money).
Thirdly, there is a new development in the works at 72nd & Cornhusker that includes the addition of 300 houses. I have heard the elementary school that was supposed to be built in that development is now “on hold.” Where is the bond money that was supposed to be used to build that school and why can it not be used to add classrooms on to either the junior high or high school? In addition, where will these future students be attending school? It seems to us that another overcrowding issue will be looming on the horizon on the north side of the District once the economy and housing market improves.
Finally, we are forward thinkers in our house. I attended Central High School in downtown Omaha – a school not necessarily located in the best part of Omaha (20th & Dodge) yet, students from all over the city clamored to attend that school. Why? The school and its administrators had built a renowned reputation for offering the best education to all its students and also specialized in several areas. Central High School had English and Journalism departments that no other local school could beat (and still does today) with educators on board that encouraged excellence. I have a friend who lives on 156th & Ida who sends her son to North High School because of the reputation that school has built for itself to be the best in providing a math and science education. A bus comes to her driveway every morning to pick up her son for school at no cost. As a forward thinker, I wonder how the Papillion School District can make Papillion La Vista High School more attractive to students no matter where they live just as these two OPS schools have done.
Thank you and we look forward to providing more input at the June 9 meeting.
Vicky and Jerry DeCoster
This is very disappointing and troublesome. Our two older kids will be going to South but our youngest will not be able to follow in their footsteps and graduate a Titan. One of the main reasons we chose the Eagle Hills subdivision was because of the Jr. High and High Schools. Now we will have to consider moving in order to allow all of our children the opportunity to attend the same high school - the high school we thought we were signing on for when we built our current home.
Papillion-La Vista School District Response
Grandfathering Siblings
At the June 9th School Board meeting a recommendation will be made to include siblings in the move of Rumsey Station. After hearing the input from the parents at Rumsey Station, the enrollment numbers were further evaluated and it makes sense to include siblings. No one liked the idea of families having to decide whether or not to split between two schools.
Transportation
The District will be recommending to the School Board at the June 9th meeting to have a committee study transportation options throughout the school district. The current law requires school districts to transport students if they live over 4 miles. The Papillion-La vista School District has followed this law at the junior high and high school level. There is no state or federal money provided for transportation, all transportation costs must be absorbed into the school district budget. Increasing transportation will mean either increasing the budget or decreasing some other area in the budget.
Elementary School in Settlers Creek
Yes, there was land given to the school district by the developer of Settlers Creek (72nd and Giles) to build a school in that area if one was warranted. However, the current enrollment in the area does not justify a new school. When the last bond issue was passed there was money in the bond issue for two new elementary schools. It was decided to build one in the Shadow Lake development and one in the Grandview development. Both of these schools are being built. The District continues to have the land gifted by the developer of Settlers Creek, however, there currently is not a plan to build on that land nor has there ever been a specific plan to build on that property.
Promoting Papillion-La Vista High Schools
The School District is currently discussing the potential need for a marketing plan of our high schools. At this time we have not made a decision how far to move forward with this idea, primarily because we have been in a position where we have not needed to attract outside students to our District. We currently have two outstanding buildings and due to growth we have not needed to draw students to either location. We have been growing at a steady rate without bringing in additional students. PLV has not wanted to get into the practice of offering major programs at one site but not the other. We want our students to be able to continue receiving well-balanced quality programs regardless of which HS they attend.
What consideration, if any, was given to ceding the land in Bellevue back to the Bellevue school district? This seems like a more logical way to reduce overcrowding in the southern half of the district, but would involve putting aside politics.
Dear School Board,
The issue of moving Rumsey Station to the 'old" high school is very troubling. I am ashamed at the comments made by parents at the meeting held at Rumsey Station. It appears that many of the parents feel they are better than the families that feed into Papillion High. This should be a district decision not a parent decision. If we have unequal high schools than the district needs to take steps to solve that problem.
A Concerned Parent
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