Letter to the Editor: Wolf's Crossing Should Not Be Moved from Bednarcik

Dear District 308 Board Members:

It has been encouraging to see the level of passion, commitment and debate displayed by so many throughout this difficult process.  Each person from the Homestead community who has spoken over the last few weeks, has not only spoken for their own community, but each and every point made represents the same thoughts and feelings that have been expressed consistently by families from The Wheatlands and Wolfs Crossing communities.  

I truly understand the situation the district finds itself in with the current levels of enrollment, and am hopeful the district hears the voices of the Homestead community and makes a decision to keep them at Bednarcik with The Wheatlands and Wolf's Crossing communities.  These three schools and the surrounding neighborhoods have formed a strong bond with each other that would be unfortunate to have broken to simply make the numbers work.  For the good of the families, neighborhoods, and district as a whole, let's keep all three schools at Bednarcik.  However, if it is determined that one of the schools must move,  and I will reiterate there is no optimal option to choose from, the one school that it is clear should not be in the discussion is Wolf's Crossing due to fact that there is an opportunity to make Bednarcik a walkable school, as well as the following reasons:

1. Wolf's Crossing shares a campus with Bednarcik Jr. High.  The students at each school interact with each other formally/informally almost every single day.  There may also be levels of interaction between Bednarcik staff and students and other elementary schools as well, but it cannot be to the same level due to the physical proximity and campus feel which has forged a deep emotional connection between the schools.  Parents, students and even staff do not view the two schools as separate institutions of learning, but as a holistic academic/social experience.

2. Bednarcik would lie outside of its attendance boundaries.  I have not come across a case in any other district where the Jr. High actually lies wholly within the attendance boundaries of an elementary school that does not attend the school. Further, as reiterated above, the elementary school whose boundary Bednarcik lies within shares the same physical campus! I do not believe another situation could be identified where either (a) the Jr. High was located within the attendance boundaries of an elementary school that did not feed it or (b) an elementary school literally shared a campus with a Jr. High, but sent students to another Jr. High 20 minutes away.  This would reflect very poorly on the district from a planning and organizational standpoint.

3. The reasons presented tonight against moving one of the other schools in favor of moving Wolf's Crossing is that they are further away and they would have to pass-thru Bednarcik's boundaries and even the school itself to get to Murphy. These arguments seem logical in a vacuum, but not when compared to Wolf's Crossing, since Wolf's Crossing would be in the exact same situation, as evidenced by the hundreds of emails, signatures and people attending meetings over the past month.  If you review a map of the area, the difference in travel time is negligible (1-3 minutes) at best as the only route to Murphy is via Eola-Heggs or Wolf's Crossing/Route 30 which 95% of the populations that go to the three schools would have to use.  In addition, using these justifications, Lakewood Creek should not attend Traughber either.  When you review the map, they have to cross through Thompson boundaries to get to Traughber. 
4. Amber Fields is currently split between two elementary schools (The Wheatlands and Wolfs Crossing), if Wolf's Crossing is sent to Murphy, Amber Fields will be split between four schools and the children of the community will not be attending school together wholly until high school.  This does not make sense and would be an unintended, yet unfortunate outcome if Wolf's Crossing was sent to Murphy undermining the guiding principle of neighborhood schools.

A point that has been brought up that speaks to the fact that considering moving Wolfs Crossing would not be logical is the following example. When a reasonable person looks at the Wolfs Crossing and Bednarcik campus they believe the schools have a relationship with each other.  Let's take a family that is looking to move into the area and they ask their realtor "Where are my kids going to attend elementary school?" "Wolfs Crossing" is the answer given by the agent.  The family then follows-up with the statement "I assume the school next door is the Junior High?"  However, the agent would be forced to tell the family, "Yes that is a Junior High, but no, that is not the Junior High your kids would attend.  The Junior High your children will attend is located in Plainfield."  This hypothetical conversation would not take place at either Homestead or The Wheatlands with a switch to Murphy, since these schools do not share a campus with Bednarcik.  However, this would be a common conversation that all prospective families looking to move into the Wolfs Crossing community would have and the result would not be positive for the neighborhood, or the perception of the district.

Overall, when you truly step back and review the positives and negatives of moving either Wolfs Crossing, Homestead or The Wheatlands to Murphy it is clear that none of the schools are a good choice to move, but it is even more clear the best option of the school NOT to move is Wolf's Crossing.  Thank you for your consideration.

Robert Marvin, Wolf's Crossing Elementary Resident