Bexley K-6 for Strong Kids Petition to the Board of Education

I don't think it's smart or a good idea for our children to be moved into the middle school

I see no justifiable reason to make this change and I think a few just want to make a name for themselves. The points the stood out for me were that 6th graders would be included in the education portion of middle school, but would be excluded from middle school sports and be housed in a separate wing of the school! We were even shown the floor plan of the area where the 6th grader rooms would be. I just can't follow the thought process of "let's add 6th grade to the middle school, but keep them segregated". I vote no.

I don't necessarily oppose the idea of a grade reconfiguration, but I fully support a committee of stakeholders would be a good first step to what has otherwise been poorly executed and inconsistent planning from the administration.

I am not sure this is the right move for the kids. There are a ton of factors and issues raised at all of the meetings within the community. I hope they leave it alone. It is not broken.

As a former educator, I support parents who want to keep their 6th graders out of an older middle school environment.

Having a seventh grade student in the middle school this year, I am not in favor of pushing our children to grow up faster or having them deal with teen/adult issues any sooner than necessary. I haven't seen the quality or quantity of research either academically, socially, mentally, or especially emotionally that moving sixth grade to the middle school is necessary. I'd like to think that the strength of our district is we generally make decisions considering most aspects of a situation not just the curated ones that serve a few, change the bottom line, or follow the leader. Please consider ALL aspects of our children when looking at the consequences of this move. Our community's children are worth more than grades. Bexley doesn't follow the pack. Let's lead by graduating students who are balanced emotionally, mentally, AND academically.

The current configuration is working well - why change it just to be changing it? From experience as a Bexley graduate I know students are exposed to a lot more peer pressure to participate in undesirable risk taking behavior and have less supervision than in elementary school. Please let our kids be kids as long as possible. There is no need to push them towards experimenting and exposure to bad behavior and habits even earlier in life.

I believe I am like most people that are opposed to this move. These kids have enough to deal with, why put one more thing on their plate? Why make them grow up faster? Why put them somewhere that is overcrowded? What is the urgency? I can say that one of the reasons we moved to Bexley from another school district is because elementary was K-6. I have had one child experience 6th grade at Montrose and another that will next year and it is truly an amazing year of growth. My 2 younger children would be affected by this move and are disappointed that they may not be able to experience the traditions at Montrose. I don't know very much about Cassingham and Maryland, but I would imagine 6th grade at those schools is somewhat the same. Just want my kids to be kids for as long as they can....

No reconfiguration

I just want to make sure the process for these decisions are open and transparent. To many times, to few people are making decsions that affect the majority.

Why move more students and teachers to the already overcrowded Cassingham complex? My kids were educated K through 8 at St. Catharine's, two in college now, one national merit scholar so no one can convince me there's a massive educational benefit to this move. Seems a bunch of people just want a change for the sake of making a change. One extra year of Maryland and Montrose kids having to cross Main and Broad Streets to get to school.

We have seen no clear answer to why this change is needed, and we have seen little, if any, response to the many drawbacks and concerns. The middle school offers many wonderful things, but we have seen no evidence that these things are necessary or even good for sixth graders. The question of space has been largely ignored. Why would the district wish to expend all this effort and energy, not to mention money, to solve a problem that does not seem to exist? We keep waiting for the administration to articulate a clear problem or concern that this move would remedy. If we knew what the problem was, we would be able to work together as a community to find a better solution. As it is, we know we don’t like this solution, but we have nothing to offer in response because we are not hearing the problem.

I believe the administration has a responsibility to make decisions based on what is best for all, or the most, students, and to make decisions based on more than one factor, such as the school's performance index. There are many things to consider when making a change of this magnitude, and the administration has not addressed the drawbacks to this proposal, let alone how they will mitigate them. I expect that when an issue as significant as this one is considered that the administration would carefully look at all the ramifications instead of just the one area they are hoping to improve. The administration's proposal has been focused on one area of improvement, and even that has not been adequately supported by research or data. It is disappointing that the administration is not demonstrating a thorough understanding and concern for all the issues related to this proposal.

I am strongly suggesting that if this indeed passes, that people make sure to not vote those same school board representatives back into office if they supported the change to middle school from junior high.

I am not against the idea of 6th graders in Middle School but there should be clear justification for undertaking such a significant change. That justification has not been made, and it's not even close. The Administration has reinvented the impetus for this decision multiple times and manipulated the public input process. They have presented no real research to support the decision, and it's abundantly clear they have not looked thoroughly at feasibility, cost, integration or other basic matters of planning. I came to the issue undecided and open to being convinced why this would be better for our kids, but watching this unfold has caused me to be firmly against it.

I've seen the 11-12 year olds at Montrose embrace, appreciate and seemingly acknowledging that soon, their elementary years will be over. These young people love being leaders in the elementary setting while feeling the freedom of being a kid... no pressure to "grow up" as they would if they were in the middle school setting. We need to allow them to be children during these delicate transitional years.

This process has eroded community trust of the BCS administration and a majority of the board. I am extremely disheartened that over such a large change, so little is being done to truly engage the concerns of stakeholders and find opportunities to collaborate in order to assuage mounting criticism and find the path to more robust alternatives.

I believe our elementary schools as configured our the backbone of this community and although I do not have children who will be affected by the proposal, I think it is wrong for our community and its children.

Let them be kids!!!

I am VERY unclear why a change is needed to the unique system that is Bexley Schools. Our students deserve the opportunity to serve as leaders and role models in their respective elementary schools at a time when they are developmentally able to do so. Pushing students to progress before they are developmentally ready is not beneficial. 6th grade students have the opportunity to change classrooms and become better organized prior to the middle school environment which is much more demanding. As the parent of a current 7th grader I can attest to the importance of the 6th grade year in the elementary school. My daughter had the opportunity to grow and mature in an environment that was safe and known to her. She was surrounded by loving teachers and staff, as well as families of fellow students. She practiced organizational skills that did not come together until mid-way through 6th grade. She had them mastered by the end of 6th grade. She assisted younger students and participated in activities she wouldn't have otherwise done had she not been able to master some of the other skills she needed to acquire. As a result, she is thriving in middle school and had made the Distinguished Honor Roll for two quarters while participating on a school athletic team in addition to outside extracurricular activities. Without concrete reasons as to why this move is necessary that benefit ALL students in the district, I cannot support this proposed change.