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May 2, 2011 in News, City
East Valley to close middle school, lay off teachers
The East Valley School Board has decided to close Mountain View Middle School and lay off 25 teachers in the district as part of budget cuts totaling more than $1 million.
The board Friday declared a fiscal emergency due to state funding cuts. In a statement, Superintendent John Glenewinkel said the district is expecting known cuts of almost $1.05 million and could see another $1.76 million in cuts still being considered by the state.
In light of these cuts, the board Friday approved the following measures:
-Restructure attendance boundaries.
-Move the staff from Skyview Elementary to Otis Orchards Elementary; Students at Skyview will be asked to enroll at Otis Orchards, Trentwood or the Continuous Curriculum School.
-Current fifth grade students at Trent, Trentwood, Otis Orchards and East Farms elementary schools will stay at those schools for sixth grade.
-Mountain View Middle School will close and all current seventh- and eighth-grade students will attend East Valley Middle School next year.
-Twenty-five teachers have been notified they will be laid off, based on the collective bargaining agreement with the teachers’ union.
-There will be cuts made to the administration and the classified staff.
The board will host a series of community meetings in the next couple of weeks.
“These meetings will not be forums to discuss the actions already identified that must happen,” Glenewinkel said in his statement. “They will be meetings to talk about how to make the changes in a way that is least disruptive to students.”
The meetings will be held May 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Mountain View, 6011 N. Chase; May 11 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the district offices, 12325 E. Grace Ave.; and May 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Trent Elementary School Auditorium, 3303 N. Pines Road.
For more information, call the district office at (509) 924-1830.
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reservedparking on May 02 at 3:16 p.m.
Happy now, Duane?
ChefGus/ John Olsen on May 02 at 3:18 p.m.
Much thanks and Kudos to MR DUANE ALTON>>> MF j
ChefGus/ John Olsen on May 02 at 3:20 p.m.
Oh…. MF that is as in “My Friend”….:))
Thoreau on May 02 at 3:36 p.m.
The union rationalizes the “benefits” of membership through a Chicken Little / Sky is Falling scenario: “You NEED the union, or else you may lose your job.”
Well, these teachers paid their dues, and they lost their jobs.
The teachers union is impotent on all levels.
What a waste of money. I’ll bet the the WEA administrators are still collecting paychecks in Seattle. Crooks.
Mike1950 on May 02 at 4:33 p.m.
Closing the school and laying off 25 teachers. Didn’t read anything about the administrators at the school. Will they get soaked up into district positions so it’s the teachers who take it on the chin again?
rob_brewer on May 02 at 5:42 p.m.
Mike1950 - try reading the whole article. The sixth bullet reads: -There will be cuts made to the administration and the classified staff.
DickAdams on May 02 at 6:50 p.m.
I`ll wager some way or other, there will a ballot issue. Count on it. Its the same sort of blackmail the city of Spokane uses when the first thing out of their mouths saying police and fire fighters will be laid off even before any other cuts have been made when deficit spending occurs. The spend thrifts who handle the check book can`t balance the public drawn checks. Spend like no tomorrow. And remember the bloat of administrators are the drunken sailors spending the loot.
eagleproducer on May 02 at 6:52 p.m.
thoreau: As a card carrying member of the WEA, I couldn’t agree more with your statements. The union long ago stopped caring about their rank and file and most of their efforts went to gaining political power. Sadly, the local leaders also abdicated their responsibilities for protecting teaching positions at the urging of state leaders to not “rock the boat.” Well, the boat is sinking now and it’s going to take a lot more movement to get it rocking. I’m thinking something like a statewide strike in September until sanity is restored. It’s the only bargaining chip we have left and if our leaders don’t chose to use it they are going to be removed and a possible decertification vote looms on the horizon. I’ve talked with enough of my colleagues to gauge their investment in such action and with the right leadership, they’d be on board.
What good is it to pay dues to an organization if all they do is roll over anytime they are confronted with a chance to help their members?
As for those who want to blame Duane Alton, look in the mirror or at your moronic neighbors first.
reservedparking on May 02 at 7:19 p.m.
ep: I have never voted against a school levy. Ever. Let others look in their mirrors.
The Alton gang spread lies, alleged ‘typos’ and just numbers pulled out of thin air to scare enough taxpayers in to voting ‘no’. As he gloats, I’m sure.
And just to prove I’m not in total disagreement with you: yeah, a statewide teacher’s strike might just get the job done.
Common_Sense on May 02 at 9:12 p.m.
The way eagleproducer whips out fake credentials, one would think he’s related to daisy and hawken.
Jeff33 on May 03 at 2:11 p.m.
What does Duane Alton have to do with the East Valley Board members vote of closing the school? Read the article.
“The East Valley School Board has decided to close Mountain View Middle School and lay off 25 teachers.” it say nothing about Duane Alton making the decision.
Duane Alton may have voted no on the bond but so did many other people in the district. with the way the economy is, with the housing market not increasing the home values, houses not selling ect. the taxes that were coming in over the last five years were mis appropriated and over spent now the money is no longer coming in at the same rate. It is a mismanagement problem with funds with the state and the school district.
Jeff33 on May 03 at 2:34 p.m.
Maybe the administrators should learn to manage money better before writing a bond and asking for money! who in there sane mind would approve giving millions of dollars to individuals who cannot operate a school district without overspending the money and misappropriating money? It is good that the bond failed! It is not bad that the school is closing. If there is room at other schools to move students into the classroom, then why was the school needed in the first place? If there is room in the classrooms now to be able to close a school and have a place for the kids to go then why did we need a construction bond in order to make the schools bigger. Maybe they should have wrote it for a technology bond. It may have passed then. but then again maybe all of the people in the East valley School district should have planned there own finances better so they could afford to pay for the bond that they denied.
eagleproducer on May 03 at 3:33 p.m.
jeff33: Yeah, that extra $1.23 per month for property owners would have really broke the bank.
Jeff33 on May 03 at 4:06 p.m.
if your only paying $1.23 per month then your house is valued at less than $20,000.
If the bond would have passed, the district expected $32.5 million in matching state funds.Taxes would have increase 86 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value, making East Valley’s total bond and levy tax rates $4.39 per $1,000 in property value.
The median home price in the east valley school district is approx. 165k which would put the approx. raise in property tax at $143 a year for 20 years.
“Enrollment has declined. In 1999, East Valley had 4,647 full-time equivalent students. As of January 2011, there are 4,398 FTE students, but only 3,754 students attend school in the buildings. Many students are enrolled in alternative or online programs”
so tell me again why we need to raise taxes and build bigger buildings and hire more teachers?
Visstil on May 08 at 4:50 p.m.
Jeff it wasn’t about building bigger buildings but repairing those that are in desperate need. Along with that it was for getting the school district ready for the k-8 program.
In regards to Mr. Alton he is the major funder of an organization that has been documented as misleading the public on several occasions for several bonds. That is why in many cases he has been blamed. It was true that the school had already voted to close the school however this was earlier then they planned so its forcing them to relocate before the school district goes about their restructuring.
A final note in regards to the dropping enrollment. Mt View was built over 20 years ago when it was needed but economic problems mixed with outdated zoning laws have decreased the enrollment here while CV’s has continued to rise.