Sohn: Let's tally the unseen costs of mega-schools

Staff photo by Doug Strickland / A ribbon marking Falling Water Elementary School as a National Blue Ribbon School hangs outside of instructor Nelle Ward's 3rd-grade class last September. in Hixson, Tenn.
Staff photo by Doug Strickland / A ribbon marking Falling Water Elementary School as a National Blue Ribbon School hangs outside of instructor Nelle Ward's 3rd-grade class last September. in Hixson, Tenn.

What is it about our outcomes-oriented society that makes us turn our backs on common sense - even when the outcomes demonstrate the common sense is right on target?

Falling Water Elementary School is a perfect example.

The 104-year-old school that serves 200 students in a close community where five generations of families learned their ABCs, multiplication tables and playground manners is slated to close next month. In the fall, most of the youngsters will be bused to the new $29 million, 1,000-student Ganns Middle Valley Elementary School - a mega-school.

All in the name of "reducing operational costs," some county pencil pushers with spreadsheets decided that Falling Water - a school that has won national honor for closing the achievement gap - was too small to spend more money on. They decided that moving students to the new mega-school was the best economies-of-scale solution.

There's just one problem. Children do not fit neatly into one-size-fits-all boxes to be warehoused or mass-produced.

Parents and teachers at Falling Water know this, and they have said they are afraid students' test scores will go down when they are sent to much larger schools.

Studies show they are right to be concerned.

Looking at performance in a range of schools in Georgia, Ohio, Montana and Texas, researchers working for the nonprofit Rural School and Community Trust found that smaller schools help students from less affluent communities narrow the academic achievement gap with wealthier peers. What's more, the research found that the correlation between poverty and low achievement is as much as 10 times stronger in larger schools than in smaller ones in all four states.

Falling Water Elementary itself further proves this point. Last year, 56 percent of its students were considered economically disadvantaged. Still, the school was named one of just 285 Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education last year. What was the prestigious award for? The school's success in closing achievement gaps among students.

"This means regardless of the students' economic background or race, they are each improving," said Principal Lee Ann Burk. "We are working on whatever each student needs. Some need help with math, reading, writing, and others need food."

The students, parents and teachers have a relationship that was built in this small school over years - even decades. All of the teachers and the principal know the names of every student, and often the names of their parents and siblings.

Burk recently told Times Free Press reporter Kendi Anderson that she knows Falling Water, with its creaky, wood-floored hallway, doesn't have the newest technology or fancy facilities, but what makes Falling Water successful are those relationships.

"School is not about the equipment in the building. You can have all the equipment in the world and not make progress," Burk said. "But if you have the relationships and know where kids are [emotionally and academically] and where they need to be, you can make progress."

With a small staff - two teachers to each grade - she has been able to be innovative, to customize learning so every student could meet benchmarks. And call parents if they weren't.

Hamilton County school board member Rhonda Thurman, who represents the district where Falling Water students live, has said she's proud of the school's success, but feels the building's needs are too costly to be affordable. She said county leaders want to have "mega-schools" that reduce operational costs because they are less expensive to staff, operate and maintain.

The question perhaps is whether those "economy-of-scale" spreadsheets include the extra costs of students who are likely to be lost in the achievement gap at those larger mega-schools. We already have a gaping and growing gap.

Just in case anyone has missed it, about 60 percent of all Hamilton County third-graders do not read on grade level, and systemwide our students tested below the state average in nine of the 10 TCAP categories. Local employers say they can't find educationally qualified applicants for thousands of jobs in Hamilton County.

Yet now we've built a new $29 million mega-school for 1,000 K-5th-graders, and their new principal will be hard-pushed to know all their names - let alone their needs and their parents.

Our wise and pragmatic parents and grandparents used to tell us we could buy a lot of oil or gas for our hand-me-down cars when we wanted to trade them in for shiny new ones with better gas mileage and no knocks.

Next time, shouldn't we look again at how many extra teachers and window replacements - or even new small schoolhouses - another cool $30 million that might buy in communities where children can still walk to class and principals know their names?

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