Smaller is better!

Numerous national studies have shown that smaller-sized districts are better able to re-create the intimacy and personal attention needed to boost graduation rates and achievement.

School closures that were driven by the need to save on costs were built on false and incomplete data. BVSD’s hasty decision to eliminate small schools failed to recognize what was working within those now-closed schools. Their successes should have been a model to spread throughout the district. Instead, they were dismantled with the false promise that they could be recreated elsewhere. Effective schools will have a higher profile and be appropriately valued in smaller districts.

Smaller districts produce a more effective flow of information, reversing the process now in place. Currently, the chasm between teachers and BVSD is huge because of mandates from central staff and school board that are out of sync with effective teaching methods, special needs, productive costs and savings potentials. The Board and staff are just too far removed from the realities of our classrooms as experienced by our children and their parents.

In smaller districts, rather than following procedures dictated by a large bureaucratic administration, teachers are empowered to communicate what works and what does not work for any given child or school. They are working with real information, not compilations of raw data. Staff knows how to administer, but teachers know how to teach and students know how to learn.

Smaller districts will allow us to differentiate between what works in our different schools. What works for children in a mountain school may not work for those in a more urban or in a more suburban setting. What works for our ESL population may not work for non-ESL students. What works for special needs students may not work for other students. It is not possible to optimize solutions for these populations when you are working with data rather than with hands-on experience and exposure to the schools and students. “One-size-fits-all” solutions cannot work no matter how sincerely they are applied.

Children that are engaged, challenged and free to push the educational possibilities are less likely to turn off to school and stagnate. Giving them hope and engaging their curiosity carries forward to their productive and satisfying years in society. We need every child to be educated and prepared for the challenging roles of adulthood.

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