Big Story? What big story? Morrison Post Editorial..

Big Story? What big story? Editorial by Ben Wolf from The Morrison Post

Morrison Post Editorial..Week of September 24th, 2007. Big story? What big story? Maybe that should be the title of my editorial this week. Last Tuesday I attended the meeting held by River Bend and Morrison school districts to review the reorganization feasibility study. I truly expected there to be some controversy and the start of some real gut wrenching decisions for the two districts. I certainly did not get that. First off, either the public knew something I didn’t, or they were all going to wait until later to voice their opinions. There just was not much of a crowd at this meeting.

The next thing that occurred to me as I listened to the report was that there is very little difference between the two districts as you look at the numbers. Often times, one district is in trouble, or has crummy buildings or is much smaller. That just wasn’t the case here. Neither district stands to gain much more than the other. In fact, the consultants concluded that there was very little to gain for either district fiscally by consolidating. There would be at least one facility that could be closed, but sometimes that doesn’t really gain the district much. It isn’t always easy to sell a closed school building, so the district still has to maintain the building. The largest expenses for school districts are staff, and since class sizes are about as high as they can reasonably go, no staff reductions would be made. There could be some savings by reducing the number of administrators, but often those savings are overstated and never come to reality. The consultants stated that transportation costs would be about a wash. I’m not sure I understand how that can be, since some students would be transported significantly further than they currently are. I think we can at least say that the districts wouldn’t save any transportation money by consolidating.

The only real recommendation that the consultants made was this: If there would be curricular or instructional advantages for both districts by consolidating, then it would be worth considering. They didn’t say that there would be those advantages, but if there were, then take a look at it.

One advantage of a weekly newspaper is that I can often see what other papers write before we publish. The Daily Gazette headline was “Merger Offers Academic Gains.” I didn’t hear that. I heard that that possibility should be looked at since more advanced placement classes could possibly be offered. The Clinton Herald went even further with their headline, “Consultants: Fulton, Morrison should seriously pursue consolidation plan.” Really? I was sitting right there, and those consultants were not going to stick their neck out with a strong recommendation like that. They gave their information and suggested looking at the possibility that the students may gain some advantages from consolidation because of the extra classes that could possibly be offered. I never hear them say that the districts need to “seriously pursue consolidation plan”. I don’t think there even is a plan at this point.

Please do not think that I am either for or against consolidation. My initial thought was not positive, because I think that a community loses some of its identity when they consolidate with another community. However, it brings those two communities closer together. I have also seen the result when area districts consolidate, and it never seems to be as painful as many people imagine it will be.

What I really like about this process, is that our two districts have been open minded about the possibility of consolidation. The meeting concluded with the mention of the idea of the two districts working separately but cooperatively to offer classes that are not currently offered. Talk about open-minded! Will the consolidation happen? There are a lot of things to look at before jumping to that conclusion. Regardless of the outcome, the two districts have an open line of communication that is bound to benefit students in both districts.

Speaking of River Bend: Did you know that hundreds of Fulton residents are now picking up The Morrison Post at Fulton businesses? Did you know that we will soon be a mature enough publication to publish legal announcements from attorneys and municipalities?

Thank you to all of our advertisers for your support us and thank to everyone who reads The Morrison Post. Oh, and thank you also to those who submit news and pictures to our newspaper.

(by Ben Wolf, Guest Columnist)