Parents of next year's Washington 6th grade students got an unpleasant surprise this week, when they were informed that 6th grade class would no longer exist after the 2007-2008 school year ended.

Until recently, many Prescott Unified School District (PUSD) parents who did not want to immerse their children into a Middle School environment had the option of placing their students in a more intimate setting with a single teacher at Washington Traditional School. But, now, due to budget cuts and a low enrollment at Washington for the 6th grade class, administrators have decided to drop the option.

No warning was given, and as a matter of fact, only the parents of 15 students who had specifically enrolled in next year's 6th grade class were sent a letter of a meeting that was held Monday night, April 28th at 6 pm. The purpose of that meeting was not to get input from parents, it was to explain the options that exist for 6th grade students within the PUSD. Options that are suddenly much more limited: Prescott Mile High Middle School or Granite Mountain Middle School.

Who made this decision? It was not studied or voted on at any PUSD School Board meetings, it was not on any posted Washington Traditional School Site Council meeting agendas. It was not announced on either the district website, Washington's school website or either of the middle school websites. No press releases were sent.

Evidently, the decision was made by the District Leadership Team (DLT), which is made up of the Principals and Directors of each school, Superintendent Kevin Kapp, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Chris Reynolds and Renee Raskin, the Chief Financial Officer. These meetings are not open to the public, not subject to Open Meeting Laws and the press is not invited. The meetings are not even posted on the district website.

Monday's Meeting

Washington's principal, Harold Tenney, started out Monday's meeting with the parents by saying, "Let me just tell you a little bit about why we're meeting tonight. We meet on a monthly basis as the District Leadership Team, actually twice a month, and every year, when the state legislature comes into session, we get current updates of what's happening with the budget. It started clear back in January, that we started getting news that the state economy was in real dire straits. Sales tax was down, and the reports that we were getting was not good. And so, we started discussing way up front, what's the district going to do to react to this budget situation. Mr. Kapp rightly started to say, 'We need to look at enrollments, pre-registration,' because his goal, number one, was to make sure that if we possibly could that no one in the district was laid off."

Tenney discussed some of the problems neighboring districts are having, noting that in Chino Valley, 24 classified employees were laid off, and they're not done yet. He said that Humboldt had frozen everthing for the time being. PUSD, on the other hand, was the only district that grew, but only by one percent. "And, interestingly enough," he continued, "it did not grow equally between elementary and the middle and the high school."

While elementary schools declined in enrollment, middle schools increased, "Between the two [middle schools, they grew], 110 plus; the elementary declined in enrollment, and the high school was flat between the two high schools. So, we started looking at it."

When Tenney was asked if this was a final decision, he replied in the affirmative.

When Tenney was finished speaking, both Principal Joe Howard, from Prescott Mile High Middle School and Principal Stephanie Hillig, from Granite Mountain Middle School spoke to the parents about their respective programs. 

Was the Decision Made in Secret?

Since it was the DLT looking at it, no parent or public involvement was sought or encouraged. Does that mean it was done in secret? Superintendent Kapp adamantly denies there was any secrecy involved, "...this decision was NOT made in secrecy... we waited to see if enrollment increased in the 6th grade at Washington, which it did not. If we wanted to make a secret decision we would certainly not share the decision with parents nearly a month before the end of school – we’d wait until the last day of school or even until summer."

But, if it wasn't made in secret, Superintendent Kapp was asked, "Well then, who else knew that the decision was being made until after it was a done deal?"

Kapp responded, "You’re missing the point. It is not necessary or even wise to always include affected parties in the process of making tough decisions. I have yet to see an affected party agree with a decision that adversely affects their environment or situation."

So, Now What?

Superintendent Kapp was at Prescott High School for an unrelated event this morning, and was asked if the decision could be reversed if the enrollment increased. At that time, he said, 'Absolutely."

But, then, about an hour after returning to his office, he sent this email, "I came back to the district office and the principals were meeting so I discussed the 6th grade situation at Washington Traditional School with Mr. Tenney. He told me that a total of four parents attended the special meeting last night with regard to this situation and that by the end of the meeting the majority of parents and students were quite comfortable with attending a PUSD middle school next year. In addition, Mr. Tenney explained to me other results of this decision with regard to uses of classrooms at Washington Traditional School and the dire need to use classroom space in a more student-centered fashion."

In a followup email, Kapp added, "And based on the additional information Mr. Tenney shared with me after I saw you at PHS, this decision is now “in the books” and we’re moving forward."

Parent Reaction

However, among the few parents that did attend last night, they may have seemed resigned, but they certainly didn't all appear to be comfortable with the decision.

"Very apprehensive," stated Larry Klempner a parent of a future sixth grader, "I have a harder choice to make, because working as a police officer at both schools, I know the goods and bads of both places, so it's hard for me to make a decision on what's going to fit him the best."

"Yes, we're probably more apprehensive than he is, we weren't ready for this at this time. We still have a lot of work to do. He's going to have to grow up a little quicker than we wanted. Hopefully he'll catch on, he's very smart."

When asked if he wished the District had found another solution, Klempner replied, "Oh, I don't know. It's just scary."

In the meantime, Kapp accepts responsibility for the decision, "The ultimate decision is mine. I’m the lucky person that has the responsibility to make those difficult decisions."

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written by Larry K., April 30, 2008

The 6th grade class idea at Washington has been losing steam for awhile. When I had a boy in it 9 years ago there were 2 full classes (maybe 50 kids) now it's down to 15. I think it was a good idea at the time, but now probably not. Kids in 6th grade are eager for a different classroom structure as well as extracurricular activities such as band and sports teams. I don't think the other 2 districts had 6th grade at a K-5 school at all.

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