Petition Goal: To save vital and to preserve the academic opportunities for the students of Moline High School and Black Hawk Area Special Education Center with crucial public support both online, by phone, letter and in person

§ Saving Our Classes:

Here at Moline High School, students look for a number of opportunities to lead them into future careers. These careers do not always stem from the core classes of English, Math, History and Science. Moline has provided students with an exceptional array of programs that have earned over one million dollars in scholarships for students. The Board has decided that courses will be eliminated based on whether or not a class has twenty students or more sign up. Many students may not be able to attend a class in a six period day because several classes may overlap with each other and stop students from taking their desired classes. Without a flexible seven period day, students will be forced to choose between their desired classes and what the school deems more important. Without these electives, all present and future Moline High School students will be greatly affected. Their schedules will be reduced to a mere one elective, when formerly three were possible all while taking the four core classes. Early Bird P.E, which used to give students and extra class period will be removed and first period will no longer be necessary unless a student is taking engineering, band, choir, or world language, the latter of which is often required for college admission. This will limit incoming students to only one other elective instead of two or three and because the twenty student quota won’t be filled many fine classes, such as art and business, will not be available.

While the deficit problem needs to be dealt with, the board needs to implement changes that will not affect the students’ learning and college decisions that stem from many of Moline’s exceptionally important classes.

§ Saving Black Hawk Area Special Education Center:

A second issue is that the Moline School Board has decided to sever ties with the Special Education center called Black Hawk Area Special Education Center. The Board plans to move about forty-three students from this center into Moline High School or Moline middle of elementary schools. This is a huge disadvantage for forty-three students who need highly trained staff to work with them. These students’ needs cannot be properly met with limited resources at other District schools that cannot accommodate students with more advanced special needs. The Board believes that this action will save one million dollars in spending at the cost of these students’ learning opportunities.

§ Petition Guidelines:

1. This petition is meant to encourage the School Board to preserve Moline’s students’ education without increasing the deficit. We, the student-managers of the petition, encourage that everyone in the Quad Cities sign so that the Board may understand that these threatened programs are maintained as other solutions are put into place.

2. Please sign with your real name; your email address and personal information will not be displayed to anyone (including petition managers), and you will not be contacted unless you choose to be.

3. Please do not use any adverse language in the comments section.

4. We encourage donating to iPetitions, the site that has hosted our petition for free. A page will appear when signing, but we understand that this is not an option for everyone. If you do not wish to pay, but still wish to sign, just click the back arrow and your signature will still be listed without payment.

5. Finally, please call, write or email the board and superintendent to stop the board from hurting the education of all Moline Students. Please help get the word around and contact the board to voice your opinion and tell them to solve this deficit problem properly.

For any questions or if you wish to help, please contact petition mangers: Jessica Carlson, Avery Gott and Jaime McLean at… [email protected]

• Also, please keep up with our blog that is located next to the “sign” button on iPetitions so that everyone can be up to date with related events and further information concerning the Board’s actions.