Keep Davis open for all!
Valley Oak should remain open like every other neighborhood school in Davis.
If you agree with this statement, please sign the petition below.
Here are ten reasons for keeping Valley Oak open, please feel free to add your own in an e-mail to davis.open@gmail.com
1) Every child deserves a neighborhood school.
2) The closure of Valley Oak Elementary School (VO) will cause a disruption of relationships and a change of learning environment will have a negative impact on children’s academic performance, psychological wellbeing, and social development. The rumors about closing Valley Oak have already caused anxiety among the students, their families, and the staff, disrupting a peaceful environment that is conducive to learning and teaching.3) The Valley Oak neighborhood can support Valley Oak. The Valley Oak area has the largest development potential in the next decade in Davis with plans under way for Cannery Park (610 residences), the East Eighth Street development/infill project (see the pdf file under “City of Davis, East Eighth Street Corridor Improvements” on http://www.sacog.org/regionalfunding/fundingprograms_commdesign.cfm), and the potential development of the PG&E site.
4) Valley Oak is NOT rundown – it is the most recently renovated school with over four million dollars invested over 6 years (1999-2005). 5) Current enrollments in the district do not justify school closure. In 1999, the projections used by the Board to justify building two new elementary schools (Montgomery and Korematsu) predicted enrollments of 4,450 K-6 students in 2006-2007 (Final 1999/2000 to 2009/2010 Enrollment Projections, April 20, 1999, p. 43). We have 4,378 K-6 students as of October 2006. If 4,450 kids predicted for 06-07 was enough to justify building two new schools in 1999, for a total of 9 elementary schools, then the 4,378 K-6 kids who are currently enrolled in 06-07 should be enough to keep all 9 of these schools open.
6) Closing Valley Oak would create waves of disruption in the lives of students and parents all over Davis. VO neighborhood program students would most likely be transferred to Birch Lane because the current VO attendance area is outside the 1-mile walking area of Korematsu, and railroad tracks separate the VO attendance area from North Davis. Birch Lane cannot handle this enormous influx of VO students, and it would undermine education for all children involved due to over crowding and transportation problems. The successful Montessori program at Birch Lane would probably be moved elsewhere.
7) Valley Oak is the only school that has the central location and facilities to allow the two strands of the GATE program to remain together. If VO were to close, the GATE program would be split in two and sent to two different sites, making it impossible for GATE children to enjoy the social and academic benefits of class differentiation.
8) Valley Oak has the most successful English Learner (EL) program in Davis.
9) Valley Oak serves the school district’s most economically and ethnically diverse population well, and is a leader in Davis efforts to close the achievement gap. 10) Valley Oak can bring money to the district by accommodating inter-district transfers, each one of which brings more than $ 6,000 in state funds. Davis Organization of Parents for Education in the Neighborhoods (Davis-OPEN)
For more information visit http://www.daviswiki.org/Davis_OPEN
Soon we will have our own website at http://www.davisopen.org
Valley Oak should remain open like every other neighborhood school in Davis.
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