4J

The Eugene police auditor and pothole measures and the 4J schools and LCC money measures appear likely to pass.

All held substantial leads by 10 pm with about a quarter of the votes counted.

Here’s the yes vote on the measures:

Police Auditor- 65%
Potholes- 58%
4J Levy- 65%
LCC- 56%

Eastside alternative elementary parents who have strongly opposed a merger with the poorer and browner Harris neighborhood elementary have verbally "beat up" their own teachers to the point where half may no longer want to work at the school, according to 4J Superintendent George Russell.

"I worry now how Eastside can be Eastside if half or more of the teachers are deciding they don't want to be Eastside," Russell said at a school board meeting today, March 8.

"It's not right for the teachers to get beat up by parents," Russell said of the Eastside teachers who have supported talking with Harris teachers about a merger or some other collaborative hybrid. Harris is 67 percent free and reduced lunch (FRL) and 25 percent Latino while Eastside is 5 percent FRL and 1 percent Latino.

Russell said given the opposition of Eastside parents to a merger with Harris, he may want to close both schools. "Probably the way I feel now, I'd make a recommendation to close them both."

Several school board members shared Russell's dismay at the parents at Eastside, one of the whitest and wealthiest schools in the entire state. "I was disheartened by what I heard from the parents of Eastside," said board member Alicia Hays. "I don't think Eastside is viable because I don't think they are going to be able to diversify."

"To the extent there is an exodus of teachers, that suggests to me a viability question," said board member Craig Smith. The merger/collaboration offered Eastside parents the opportunity to show their "good faith" commitment to diversify, Smith said. "What we're hearing is they don't want to do that."

Russell said that some Eastside and Harris teachers are talking about another meeting on Tuesday to further discuss mixing the two schools. Some board members said they would like Russell to meet with the teachers to see if the merger still has any chance of success.

Board member Yvette Webber-Davis said, "I think there is at least some sentiment on the board for trying to give Eastside and Harris a chance."

Eugene 4J School Superintendent George Russell has recommended that the district kick the poor kids at Harris neighborhood elementary school out of their building to make room for wealthier kids from the Eastside and French Immersion alternative schools.

Harris is 67 percent free and reduced lunch while Eastside is 5 percent and the French Immersion school is 10 percent.

The recommendation is part of Russell's "Shaping 4J’s Future" report on school closures and moves. The 4J School Board will meet to discuss the report on Wednesday, February 13, at 6 p.m.

Here's Russell's summary of the key recommendations:

—"Close Harris Elementary School for the 2008 – 2009 school year and redistribute students to Edison and Parker elementary schools. Redraw the attendance boundaries for Edison and Parker. Relocate Eastside Alternative School from Parker into the Harris building for the 2008 – 09 school year. During 2008-09, make additions to the school that will allow it to accommodate adding the French Immersion school for the 2009-10 school year.

—Move Meadowlark students to a new school at the Kinney Loop site in 2011-12. Buena Vista would then become a K-5 stand-alone school at the Meadowlark site.

—Close Coburg in June 2011, and relocate students to the new school at Kinney Loop site in 2011-12, and reassign middle school students from Cal Young to Monroe.

—Close the Fox Hollow building and move the French Immersion School to join Eastside in the Harris building in 2009-10.

—Move the Family School and establish it as a 1-8 school sharing the facility with the Arts and Technology Academy at the Jefferson building for 2009-10.

—Implement a differentiated staffing ratio based on the percentage of free-and-reduced lunch students, English Language Learners, and special education students (excluding students receiving only speech and language services). Schools serving higher percentages of these students would receive more staffing then other schools.

—Limit transfers for middle and high schools. Each middle school could accept up to 5% of the middle school students residing within the boundaries of another region. No school could accept transfers that would result in a student enrollment that exceeds the middle school size maximum enrollment target of 600 students. Each high school could accept up to 5% of the high school students residing within the boundaries of another region. No school could accept transfers that would result in a student enrollment that exceeds the high school size maximum of 1500 students.

—Transportation. There may be some additional transportation costs related to boundary adjustments and school consolidations. I recommend that we also consider providing transportation within each region to alternative schools in that region.

Another option that I [Russell] considered, but am not recommending at this time is:

—Consider closing Twin Oaks Elementary in June 2011 and send students to McCornack and Crest Drive."