Brunswick elementary school teachers plead for levy passage

BRUNSWICK — There is less than two months until Brunswick Schools once again tries to pass an emergency operating levy and district officials are back on the information campaign, hosting an in-person and virtual town hall to answer questions and talk about the impact on elementary education. Issue 8 is a 10-year, 5.9-mill levy that would bring in $7.53 million a year and cost homeowners $17.21 per $100,000 of property valuation. If the issue should fail May 4, the district would be forced to close one of its seven elementary schools as one of several cost-saving measures. Other steps to balance the budget could include reducing busing to outside of the two-mile state minimum and cutting dozens of jobs between teachers, support staff and administrators. As in last May and November, district Treasurer Mark Pepera once again emphasized that the district is in "crisis mode." The last time the district received new operating money was in 2006. "Each time we have a levy fail, we miss a year of collection," Pepera said. "Had this levy being proposed by our school district passed the first time out, we would have collected the monies in the following calendar year. Now we've missed two years of collection and we haven't significantly raised the millage in the levy. "We're trying to make ends meet." Three elementary school teachers — Applewood's Amren Fowler, Crestview's Jamie Schulke and Towslee's Claire Trujillo — all spoke about the importance of building sound relationships and having traditions that have endured at each building. While each talked about how hard it is to think about those traditions and relationships going away, they were most passionate about the individual and small-group learning styles that are currently used in each elementary school. Should one school be forced to close and those students redistricted, that option would go away as class sizes would increase. "(Redistricting) affects all seven buildings. Not just that one building that will close," Schulke said. "We have to move staff members (and) students and that would impact other buildings moving children and staff. That impacts the relationships and bonds that we have built over so many years." Trujillo said beyond even just the camaraderie and relationships that are built through more individualized teaching, in some cases, if students are falling behind, losing that aspect could lead to those students falling further behind. "We provide feedback in small groups,'" Trujillo said. "The great thing is, when (a teacher) meets with that next group of students, she's doing a different lesson because she's designed it for those individual learners. We have students that are 'here' and students that are 'here' (indicating some students are more ahead than others) and we have to make sure that they all grow. "That's why we can't just teach the same thing to everybody. It has to be individualized. That level of individualization is going to be very hard if we have bigger class sizes." When asked how the decision would be made about which elementary school would be closed, Mayell said a number of factors are being considered including the number of students enrolled in each building and the locations of each building. "It's kind of like a snowball effect," Mayell said. "If we close a building on the outside of our school district, you only have three options with students. If you move students to those options, you have students on the far end of the district, that building becomes overcrowded and now we have to push those students out to a couple of other buildings. "It's not what we want. … We really don't have much of a choice at this point." Mayell said if busing is cut to state minimums, the two miles would be tabulated based on the routes, rather than the radius from the building. Also, he and Assistant Superintendent Jason Niedermeyer said open enrollment would have to end to avoid class sizes getting even bigger following the redistricting. Finally, of the would-be vacant elementary school building, he said there would be no plans to sell the land or demolish the building until they were 100 percent sure neither would be needed in the future. One of the questions dealt with if/when the state would have to intervene and take control of the district. By law, Pepera said, the district is required to submit a cost reduction plan that includes the cuts already outlined. He said that is "step one" and that if the district continues to fail to get new money, it could be looking at a "fiscal state of emergency" down the line which Pepera called "much more serious." Mayell said the levy has gotten closer and closer to passing each time. He urged school-aged parents to get out and vote as, prior to November's ballot, only 10 percent of that group voted for the levy. "This levy will pass if our parents get out and vote. There are over 10,000 parents in this district. If our parents get out and vote, this levy will pass. We need to motivate people to understand how this is going to impact their families, their district (and) their home values. "We need to have additional funds. Sooner or later, it has to happen," Mayell said. "We're not going away. We'll be back again. The further away this gets from us, the more millage that's going to have to be." Contact reporter Jack Kopanski at (330) 721-4063 or jkopanski@medina-gazette.com.