12/20/2006

Students offer their opinions

Teens assist with the master planning process

By Christine Finger

cfinger@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Kent Roberts, a consultant hired by Traverse City Area Public Schools works with students as they discuss ideas about the future of Traverse City Area Public Schools at a student focus group in December.

TRAVERSE CITY — It was a tough sell getting students to give up some of their summer vacation to plan for the future of Traverse City Area Public Schools, Jerry Ruskowski said.

He should know. Ruskowski, a senior at Traverse City West Senior High, is one of four high school students serving on a 100-person steering committee appointed to guide the district's master planning process. He got involved when the school's principal asked him to help recruit young members.

"I offered it to a whole lot of people first, and there weren't a lot of takers,” he said. "When I first heard about it I thought it would be different. It's actually going a lot slower than I originally thought it would.”

Members of the steering group started meeting in August and spent much of the last four months digesting data about demographics, trends and challenges facing the district.

The year-long master planning process comes on the heels of three elementary school closures in recent years, including Oak Park this year and Sabin Elementary in 2005.

The panel's work heading into 2007 will get down to specifics, said Assistant Superintendent Dave Dean. A second public forum is scheduled for Jan. 15.

"Now we're really preparing to analyze what options there are and which ones are best for the community,” Dean said.

The group will develop final recommendations by May for the district's superintendent. The district paid $58,000 to hire a consultant team led by Kingscott Associates, a Kalamazoo-based architectural firm.

Consultants met in early December with student focus groups at Central and West.

Ruskowski said some of the student feedback surprised him, including his peers' strong opposition to moving ninth-graders to the high school buildings.

"I definitely think they have an opinion,” he said. "A lot of them had different opinions than I thought they would.”

The long-range plan will re-evaluate the scheduled order for reconstruction of elementary schools, study efficiency and enrollment trends at individual buildings, explore potential grade reconfiguration and create a plan for housing the growing Montessori and elementary talented-and-gifted programs located at Central Grade School.