Board-Appointed Committees

Configuration Committee
Archive
2006-2010

Members of the district’s Legal Budget Committee were appointed to the Configuration Committee. The School Board appointed additional patrons through an application process.
Member Roster

The Configuration Committee was appointed in October 2006 and serves in an advisory capacity to the School Board.

School Board Charge to the Configuration Committee:

Overarching Purpose

The overarching and guiding purpose of all economically driven strategic changes is to provide the students of Lake Oswego with the highest quality educational opportunities possible with the available resources.

Economic Purpose

The economic purpose of strategic changes is to minimize the cost of facilities infrastructure while providing essential non-teaching support staff such that, to the extent possible, district resources can be concentrated on the classroom.

Committee Charge

The School Board charge to the Configuration Committee is to develop school configuration options that best accomplish the district’s overarching and guiding purpose within the constraints of the district’s economic limitations.  It is expected that the committee will consider several options and bring to the School Board options considered to be most reasonable. 

Definitions

Reasonableness: Reasonableness in the context of school district configurations should be determined in relation to two critical attributes.   The first test of reasonableness should be the desirability of the option in meeting the district’s overarching and guiding purpose.  The second test of reasonableness should be the feasibility of accomplishing any recommended change in relation to operational viability; in short, functionally it must be able to work.

Competing Values – Values are what we care about and hope, want and hold to be true.

For many decades the district has held to its belief in the importance of relatively small neighborhood schools in a north and south side of the lake configuration.  The district has two relatively small high schools, two relatively small middle schools, and nine relatively small elementary schools.  In an economic recession, small schools are quite simply an economic liability because the district cannot take advantage of economy of scale. Therefore, the district’s commitment to small neighborhood schools is in competition with the district’s need to take advantage of economy of scale to achieve its overarching and guiding purpose. It will be up to us to determine how to reconcile these kinds of competing values.

Program Integrity – Integrity is being true to your word through intention and action.

Because the district would not be considering closing or combining any of its schools if the economic conditions did not require such consideration, only options that will work in conjunction with the integrity of the district’s evolving academic, athletic, and visual and performing arts programs should be considered. Additionally, in determining reasonable options consideration must be given to the costs that would be associated with improving or reconstructing facilities when closing or combining schools. For example, no district secondary school currently has the science facilities necessary to accommodate a significantly larger student population than it is currently serving. Facilities will always be important to the quality of educational opportunities the district can offer its students.

Adaptive Change – Change is a process by which anything becomes different.

The Configuration Committee will need to be aware that the economic conditions will require the district to change and adapt its educational programs and services. Thus, to some extent, the Configuration Committee will be working in parallel with district processes to assess program and service offerings with the goal of providing the most value for the available resources. In short, to some extent, the Configuration Committee will be trying to work in concert with the district’s adapting and evolving educational programs and services.

Committee Expectations

The Configuration Committee is being asked to consider a number of factors with the following expectations.  The committee should:

1. Develop both short-term and long-term configuration options, ranging from the option of no change, to closing a single elementary school and combining school populations, to combining the district’s two high schools and two middle schools in addition to reducing the district’s number of elementary schools.

2. Consider size of school populations that would make any recommended configuration a viable and therefore reasonable option.

3. Take into consideration enrollment patterns to best determine time frame opportunities and constraints relative to configuration options.

4. Take into consideration educational program and services in relation to space and facilities needs in determining configuration options.

5. Represent the Lake Oswego community by providing the School Board with well-reasoned options for configuring its schools to provide the most educational value for the available resources.

Timeline:

The Committee is expected to present its recommendations to the School Board following the conclusion of its Fall 2010 meetings.

Should the School Board determine that economic conditions necessitate school closure, additional public process would be initiated before decisions were made.

Reports to School Board:

Draft Configuration Committee Report, 02-07

Configuration Committee Report, 12-06-10

Quick Meeting Updates :

September 20, 2010

The Configuration Committee met for its first meeting of the school year on Monday, September 20. Superintendent Korach provided committee members with an overview of the school board’s charge to the committee, and provided additional perspective that included the following key points:

• The district values all of its small neighborhood schools.

• Any decisions in the short term or long term to close schools would be driven by economic necessity.

• Economic conditions may dictate sacrificing facility in favor of providing educational program

• The committee is being asked to develop options that, if needed, are desirable and feasible; the committee will present these options to the school board for further consideration.

• Key variables and economic indicators that the School Board will be watching include the November state revenue forecast, the state allocation for schools for the next biennium, and contributions to the Foundation.

• Should the board determine that economic conditions necessitate school closure, additional public process would be initiated before decisions were made.

• Board decisions would include identification of school or schools to be closed, as well as boundary changes for some or all remaining schools.

• The district’s strategic planning efforts are focused on being prepared for conditions we may be facing. This does not mean that those actions will be necessary.

• It would be challenging to complete a school closure and boundary process, as well as other logistic and program considerations, for the 2011-12 school year.

The committee also reviewed a number of enrollment and building capacity documents, which are available online in the information packet for this meeting.

The committee’s task for the evening was to work in small groups developing frameworks and initial ideas to explore. Group reports included suggestions and ideas like the following:

• Identify indicators and parameters (financial, class size, school capacity, etc.) to guide the development of options.

• Differentiate between short-term and long-term. If the school board determines that change is necessary, for example, closing an elementary school might be more easily accomplished in the short term, while consolidating or reconfiguring middle schools or high schools would be a long term solution.

• Identify where you have the best facilities and economies of scale, and build from there. For example:

  • Could LOHS serve as a grades 10-12 high school campus, with Lakeridge being converted to a grades 7-9 middle school?

  • Could the Waluga/Bryant complex and LOJHS (which has greater capacity than Waluga) serve as grades 6-8 middle schools?

  • Could multiple elementary schools be consolidated at Waluga/Bryant or LOJHS if high schools and middle schools were consolidated?

At its next meeting, the Configuration Committee will continue shaping ideas into a package of options that it will study further and present to the School Board.

September 30, 2010

The Configuration Committee met on September 30 to continue its work toward developing recommendations for the School Board regarding options for short term and long term school configurations. The committee engaged in discussions that encompassed the following:

• If the decision to close schools is driven by economic conditions, closing one elementary school may not be enough to realize sufficient economic gains, although this could be a short-term step as part of a long-term strategy

• The committee should develop short-term and long-term recommendations that are aligned, i.e., avoid a short-term recommendation that would have to be undone by implementation of a long-term recommendation. Likewise, short-term options should not constrain long-term options.

• What is the history behind the district’s current school configurations?

• What are the criteria that the committee should consider regarding class sizes, school capacities, and program implications?

As a result of its discussions, the committee narrowed its focus to continued study of the following closure and reconfiguration scenarios that could become the basis for recommendations to the School Board.

• Close 1 elementary school

• Close 3 elementary schools
  Reconfigure remaining 6 elementary schools to grades K-5
  Reconfigure 2 junior highs to grades 6-8 middle schools
  No change to high schools

• Close 1 elementary school
  Close 2 junior high schools
  Reconfigure 8 remaining elementary schools to grades K-8
  No change to high schools

• Close 3 elementary schools
  Reconfigure 2 junior high schools to 1 school grades 7-9
  Reconfigure 2 high schools to 1 high school grades 10-12

At the next meeting of the Configuration Committee on Wednesday, October 13, the committee will receive information from district administrators regarding program implications and additional classroom utilization considerations. Agendas and meeting summaries are available online.

October 13, 2010

During the Configuration Committee Meeting on October 13, committee members received additional scenario modeling information, and heard presentations from district executive directors regarding program implications – both positive and negative – of the various scenarios being explored.

Following these presentations, committee discussions led to the removal of Scenario D from consideration, and the addition of Scenario F. The committee discussed the challenge of being prepared for potential worst-case economic conditions while making recommendations for potential short-term transitional steps. The committee currently considers scenarios E and F (one high school) to be least desirable. The committee asked for additional cost savings analysis for its next meeting, as well as the impact of adjustments in teacher:student ratios on potential scenarios.

Following is a summary of the scenarios being explored to date:

November 1, 2010

The Configuration Committee met on November 1. One of the goals of this meeting was to arrive at a group consensus regarding configuration scenarios that will be presented to the school board as committee recommendations for consideration.

The committee continued its analysis of the scenarios still under exploration:

Discussions included classroom utilization analysis, estimated savings, and class size ratio analysis for all scenarios, as well as the costs, benefits, and flexibility afforded by the various configurations.

At the conclusion of its discussions, committee members arrived at the following general consensus regarding potential scenarios:

The committee appointed a subcommittee that will write a report of its work for presentation to the School Board. The committee has added an additional meeting on November 18 for members to provide feedback on the report before it is presented to the School Board at its meeting on December 6. (The Nov. 18 meeting was subsequently rescheduled for Nov. 29.)

November 29, 2010

At its meeting on Nov. 29, the Configuration Committee reviewed, edited, and approved its final report for presentation to the School Board on Dec. 6.