Kate McCaffrey

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

NEW & FAR BETTER BLOG IS NOW UP!!!

Please visit the new blog as this one is no longer being updated.

www.HomesOfAlameda.com/blog

Thanks!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Alameda Open Homes | January 19th & 20th

Wood Middle School Could Face Closure

http://alamedasun.com/editorial/11330-wood-middle-school-could-face-closure

As written in the Alameda Sun...

Wood Middle School Could Face Closure

Written by Alameda Sun Published: FRIDAY, 18 JANUARY 2013 01:41

We ask friends and parents to attend the Jan. 29 school board meeting where this important issue will be discussed.

Members of the Wood Middle School Parent Teacher Association would like to update the community on a very important issue facing Wood Middle School.

The charter middle/high school Alameda Community Learning Center (ACLC) requires a new location beginning in the 2013-2014 school year.

In its search for a new location, ACLC has chosen to relocate to the Wood Middle School campus to take over some of the facility to house its charter school.

There are other options for the relocation of ACLC and we believe the school should be considering those options.

Alameda passed the Measure A parcel tax on the knowledge that Wood Middle School would be allowed to continue to remain open. The decision of the voters indicates the belief that the East End and the West End of Alameda should each have a traditional public middle school.

Allowing a charter school to move to the Wood Middle School campus would lead to the exact result outlined in the Master Plan Scenario B that the passing of the Measure A parcel tax promised to avoid.

Wood and Lincoln middle schools are currently the two traditional public middle schools in Alameda. There are a number of charter/magnet schools drawing enrollment away from the traditional middle schools and may or may not be an option for many students.

As ACLC grows, it will increasingly require more of the Wood Middle School campus. The Alameda Unifi ed School District (AUSD) administration is counting on Woods' declining enrollment to enable ACLC to grow and cause the complete elimination of Wood Middle School as a public school option. That would mean that the East End would have Lincoln Middle School and the West End would have no public middle school.

Although AUSD Superintendent Kirsten Vital says that she is not recommending the closure of Wood Middle School, Wood is in danger of eventual closure if ACLC is allowed to relocate to the Wood campus. We believe Vital is fully aware of this.

We believe the school board is set to vote on whether or not to allow ACLC to move its school to share space at the Wood Middle School campus. We believe this will occur at the Tuesday, Jan. 29, school board meeting.

We are asking concerned friends and parents to send an email and/or call Vital and school board members urging them to vote no on letting ACLC move to the Wood campus. We also ask friends and parents to attend the Jan. 29 meeting where this important issue will be discussed.

Let the school board members know in writing or in person at the meeting that you support having at least two traditional middle schools in Alameda.

Tell them that you believe that this move will lead to Wood Middle School eventually being given completely over to ACLC and lead to the inevitable the closure of Wood Middle School as a public school option for West End students. Tell them that closing Wood Middle School is against the implications of the existing Measure A parcel tax.

We are doing what we can to keep the Wood community up to date on the issues surrounding our school and thank you for your support.

Jane Grimaldi is a member of the Wood Middle School PTA.