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Amy Werbel Thank you for visiting my school commissioner webpage, and for your interest in the public schools and school board in Burlington, Vermont. For more information, please visit the Burlington school district homepage: www.bsdvt.org Comments expressed on this website are mine alone, and do not constitute official Board policies or statements. |
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School Board Update. April 13, 2008: Response to Some Thoughtful Questions
One of our Ward 5 neighbors recently wrote to me with the following thoughtful questions (which I have condensed and paraphrased), and I thought others might want to read my responses as well.
Me: Big disclaimer up front: I am speaking based on what I personally know and think right now, which is not Board policy, and also is not anybody’s final verdict since we are in the middle of a “visioning” process that will extend through the summer. Residents can take part in this process by attending the meetings listed on the District website: www.bsdvt.org . All that said, here is my best shot knowing what I know now and speaking for myself.
Neighbor: Wheeler and Barnes students already receive a greater percentage of tax money per student when compared to other schools in the city. This makes sense given the needs of the students, but why are we proposing magnet schools in those buildings?
Me: The school board’s excellence and equity initiatives are driven in large part by the recognition that schools with high levels of poverty do not provide equal opportunities for learning and teaching on the part of students and faculty. This was the conclusion of our task force on removing obstacles to the success of students from low-income families, and a conclusion supported by internal data tracking student success, and by the Burlington Education Association (our teacher’s organization), which argues that we should balance the population at all our schools as soon as possible. Barnes and Wheeler are our only schools in which the demographics of the student population include high concentrations of poverty out of keeping with our district-wide profile. We were faced with two ways to change this situation: re-districting, or using a choice model to attract middle-class families to choose to voluntarily redistrict in order to take advantage of exciting, different programs. After lots of community input, the Board chose #2.
Neighbor: With the current state of economics within our state, and nationally, decreasing our carbon footprints, and reducing the use of fossil fuels, why is the Burlington School District going to encourage families to commute to schools farther from their homes? This doesn’t seem like a very green proposal.
Me: Our current plan to create magnet schools only where we really need significant demographic change is the least disruptive and environmentally-unfriendly way to resolve our demographic imbalance. We also hope that these schools will first of all attract those parents who currently live in the Old North End and send their children to private schools. Over time, if these schools truly are attractive “magnets,” they will encourage new families to choose to locate within the “walk zone” for the schools to ensure that their children have a spot. But yes, we do hope that some parents from the South End, Hill section, and New North End will bring their children farther from home for school. This probably is a relatively small number of families given the capacity of the buildings.
Neighbor: Vermont has a decreasing population, and a population that is aging. Why would we put money into two magnet schools at this point? Why not just one?
Me: Recent data has confirmed what we in the District already know – our population in Burlington, and in Chittenden County, is actually increasing, compared with rural areas in the state which are experiencing significant declining population, and “graying.” Our growth in student population was a large factor in the Board’s decision last year to keep all of our six elementary schools open. Magnet schools have the potential to increase our population even further, as residents who live outside of Burlington but work in town might choose to tuition their children in to our District (definitely an economic good) to take advantage of programs not available in their own communities. A further advantage of magnet schools is that they also attract partners and foundations interested in supporting innovative educational initiatives. Magnet schools have the potential to truly make Burlington a “destination district” for many new residents. I also believe that whatever successful new programs are piloted at the magnet schools will spread to our other schools, benefiting everyone. The visioning process underway right now is considering upgrades at every one of our buildings -- but that's another topic, and I've written enough already! There's lots more on that topic on our district website: www.bsdvt.org
Write to me with any follow-up questions: awerbel at bsdvt.org
Thanks for writing! Amy
About my service on the school board: As Chair of the Curriculum Committee, I am an active advocate for enriched arts education and all initiatives that inspire children by nurturing their creativity, curiosity, idealism and multicultural awareness. I am honored that the Burlington Education Association awarded me the 2006 People's Choice Award for Outstanding School Commissioner.
Brief Bio: I grew up in New York City, where I attended my neighborhood elementary school and then a magnet public middle and high school. After graduation from Harvard in 1986, I worked in museums for a few years and then earned a Ph.D. in art history from Yale in 1996. My two sons who are 14 and 10 attend Burlington High School and Champlain Elementary School. I moved to Vermont in 1994 to take a job teaching art history at St. Michael's College. My specialties are American, African, and African Diaspora art, in addition to special topics courses which focus on Vermont art and/or architecture. My students often construct websites as final projects-their website on Fort Ethan Allen won the Bryan Award from the Center for Research on Vermont. The website on African art is pretty cool as well: http://academics.smcvt.edu/africanart and http://academics.smcvt.edu/africanart2 . Information about my work as a professor can be found on my St. Michael's College homepage. After ten years in the Old North End of Burlington, I moved to Catherine Street in February, 2003. It has been a great pleasure to represent my South End neighbors on the Burlington School Board since 2005.
I write often about the Board, and all those neighborhood updates are posted to the left. Please feel free to check those out, and/or to write to me with any comments and questions you may have at: awerbel at bsdvt.org . Amy