Boundary changes draw complaints in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD — Boundaries.

They separate us; tell us where to go; keep us in our place.

And when it comes to school districts, they not only tell you which school to go to, they create years of tradition and rivalries that are not easily changed.

“My biggest issue is I bought a house out there so my kids could go to Thurston High School,” said Ken Locke of the Mohawk Valley, addressing the Springfield School Board at a town hall forum Tuesday night at Agnes Stewart Middle School. “You see, I still wear red and black,” said Locke, who was wearing a Portland Trail Blazers jacket, but was referring to Thurston High’s colors. “Those are my school colors. I can’t imagine my kids wearing blue and white.”

Sending Mohawk Elementary students to Yolanda Elementary, as part of recommended school closures to deal with a projected $10 million funding gap for the 2011-12 school year, is not only upsetting parents and students who may lose their rural school. It could turn Thurston Colts into Springfield Millers, whose colors are blue and white.

Mohawk Elementary students feed into Briggs Middle School, which currently sends students to both Thurston and Springfield high schools. Agnes Stewart Middle School students also split between the city’s two public high schools. But among the recommendations is to create “clean feeders” by sending all Briggs students to Springfield High, and all Agnes Stewart students to Thurston High.

Questions about boundary changes were among the biggest concerns at the forum, the first of two to address concerns over the cost-cutting recommendations.

“I was most surprised about the number of comments about boundaries,” school board chairman Garry Weber said after the two-hour meeting, which drew more than 100 people. “And we’ve got to take a better look at that as we look at possible school closures.”

The earliest that the board will vote on the closures and other recommendations will be at its Feb. 28 meeting, Weber said.

Last week, a 33-member facilities advisory committee told the school board that it should close five of 16 elementary schools and also Springfield Middle School in the face of declining enrollment and decreasing finances.

The committee recommends closing Mohawk, Goshen and Camp Creek elementary schools this fall, as well as Springfield Middle. Closing before the 2012-13 school year would be Brattain and Moffitt elementary schools, which would merge to form a new elementary school on what is now the Springfield Middle School campus.

Those who came to the forum were encouraged to write down their questions, comments and suggestions on STOP sign-shaped pieces of orange, blue and green paper, then stick them on the walls of the middle school cafeteria next to the various recommendations printed on large sheets of white paper.

“Don’t close SMS!” Yolanda fifth-grader Han­nah Baehler wrote on a green note that she stuck by the “Close Springfield Middle School” sign. Hannah’s mother, Sherry Baehler, teaches sixth grade at Springfield Middle.

“A lot of kids go there,” Hannah said. “Kids care about it. A school’s like a home or a family.”

Many of those who showed Tuesday were from the district’s small rural schools targeted for closure.

“You guys ought to be kind of irritated and ticked off as taxpayers,” Darcy Hulse told the crowd. Hulse attended Camp Creek Elementary as a boy and now has a niece and cousin there.

“I still think it’s a fine school. Don’t shut down my school,” Hulse said, looking at the board members and Superintendent Nancy Golden. Stephanie Ellis, a 1988 Thurston High graduate, said she had to change grade schools as a kid in Springfield, and it had a negative impact on her. “Do not change the high school boundaries,” Ellis implored the board. “You are upheaving a ton of families.”

Weber said the board will go over as many questions as possible in the next week and try to bring answers at the next forum next Tuesday.

“I’m thankful that the community came out to give us their input, because there are some things we need to think about,” Golden said.