GBAPS

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• What is the actual amount of savings created through the combination of Jefferson and Fort Howard, as this number has seemed to fluctuate?
  • The amount of financial resources that can be reinvested has been fluid as conversations have continued with staff, families and the Board of Education regarding the consolidation. On the low end, the savings are projected as follows:
    • Office of the principal $ 175,475
      Operations $  111,309
      After school programming $   50,000 (fund 80)
      $ 336,784
      
      The difference in numbers shared has been evolving as discussions have addressed issues such as having Jefferson’s principal follow over to Fort Howard, adding hub busing, continuing all student support services and not use the District’s FTE formula to determine staffing at Fort Howard next year. Earlier estimates of financial resources captured through the consolidation had included approximately $100,000 if the FTE formula had been used to staff Fort Howard for the 2020-21 school year. All of these decisions have an impact on the actual dollars captured to reinvest.  

• When will construction start for Head Start, should be Board of Education approve the combining of Jefferson and Fort Howard?
  • The District held a phone conference call with the federal Head Start consultants on October 21, 2019, at 2:30 p.m. to determine if the deadlines in the grant could be extended to avoid having construction during the school year. Based on the information learned in this conversation, should the Board vote to approve the combining of Fort Howard and Jefferson, the District would begin renovation to Jefferson Elementary School after the last student day. 

• How does the consolidation result in more equity and access to services for Jefferson and Fort Howard students?
  
  • Based on feedback, administration has committed to providing the same FTE for student support as is currently provided at each school for the 2020-21 school year. This results in students at a combined Fort Howard/Jefferson having the following supports (see chart below). The increase to FTE for the combined school results in students having access every day to services, where currently those services may only be provided at the school a few days a week.

• 		FTE		Total Allocation Salary/Benefits
  Jefferson		3.53		$301.631
  Fort Howard		4.32		$404,232
  		Jefferson	Fort Howard	Combined FTE
  Social Worker		0.50	0.70	1.20
  School Counselor		1.00	0.60	1.60
  Reading Interventionist		0.50	0.50	1.00
  Math Interventionist		0.50	0.50	1.00
  Literacy Coach		0.50	0.50	1.00
  Library Media Specialist		0.20	0.30	0.50
  Tech Integrator		0.15	0.15	0.30
  CRIS		0.08	0.07	0.15
  GTRT		0.10	0.10	0.20
  Dean of Students - Fort Howard			1.0	1.00*
  Physical Education - Fort Howard			0.50	0.50**

  
  
  • District administration has expressed that for the 2021-22 school year, staffing positions would be determined based on input from the principal and staff to ensure the school is receiving the services needed to best serve students.

• Why is the District emphasizing staff collaboration as a benefit of the consolidation?
  
  • District administrators have heard from Jefferson staff that the inability of not being able to work collaboratively with the same grade level teachers was less than ideal. Having more than one class per grade level enables teachers to collaborate on planning, provide grade-level support, etc. 
    
     
• Where is the transparency regarding the consolidation when information seems to be constantly changing.
  • Until the Board of Education votes on whether or not to approve the consolidation of Jefferson and Fort Howard, this continues to be an exploratory and fluid process. As new information comes forward or as Board considerations for approval are addressed, information continues to be updated. The District website is continually updated to address questions. 
    
     
• How will the District address traffic concerns?
  • The District administration is committed to  working in partnership with the School Transition Team should the Board vote to consolidate Jefferson and Fort Howard to address the student safety concerns identified. 
• There seems to be inaccurate numbers regarding Elmore’s enrollment. What is the actual enrollment for Elmore?
  • This year’s 3rd Friday count for Elmore is 273 for grades 5K-5. The projections for Elmore (5K-5) show a continual decline in enrollment until 2029. 
    

    Year	Actual	Projected
    2011-12	325	323
    2012-13	331	329
    2013-14	333	333
    2014-15	316	315
    2015-16	313	312
    2016-17	332	333
    2017-18	318	315
    2018-19	307	307
    2019-20	275	283
    2020-21		287
    2021-22		274
    2022-23		267
    2028-29		261

     
• Is there any consideration regarding transportation for the after school program at Fort Howard?
  • Each school offering after school programming works with families who have identified that transportation is a barrier to participation. Site directors work with the family to problem solve solutions. Additionally, all schools with after school program budgets are required to allocate funding to support transportation barriers.  
    
    The District does have one school, Doty Elementary, that has a hub bus transporting students who attend the After School Program. Doty has a large geographical area, and transportation was identified as a barrier to participation for many students and a bus was warranted. Students who take the hub bus at 5:30 p.m. are required to have someone pick them up at the hub location.The cost of the single bus is $17,000 per year for Doty. 
    
    The District will be forming a task force around extended learning programs this school year.  Transportation is one of the areas that will be looked at with our community partners and all options will be explored and vetted fully for all schools. 
     
• What will the combined staffing resources look like should the Board decide to consolidate?
  • The District administration is committed to combining the current staffing resources as listed below for the first year (see chart below). Working in partnership with the Fort Howard building leadership team, a needs assessment will be conducted in the spring of 2020 to determine staffing resources for the next year based on school and district needs, similar to how other school leadership teams work to determine the desired resources using Title I funding. 
    
    The chart reflects the current reality if the FTE/dollars were combined.
              

  		FTE		Total Allocation Salary/Benefits
  Jefferson		3.53		$301.631
  Fort Howard		4.32		$404,232
  		Jefferson	Fort Howard	Combined FTE
  Social Worker		0.50	0.70	1.20
  School Counselor		1.00	0.60	1.60
  Reading Interventionist		0.50	0.50	1.00
  Math Interventionist		0.50	0.50	1.00
  Literacy Coach		0.50	0.50	1.00
  Library Media Specialist		0.20	0.30	0.50
  Tech Integrator		0.15	0.15	0.30
  CRIS		0.08	0.07	0.15
  GTRT		0.10	0.10	0.20
  Dean of Students - Fort Howard			1.0	1.00*
  Physical Education - Fort Howard			0.50	0.50**

• * The Dean of Student is a full time FTE, .50 FTE is funded through Title 1, .50 is paid through District funds
• **Phy.ed teacher has a 1.0 FTE at Fort Howard, ½ time phy.ed, ½ time social/emotional (paid through Title 1)
  

• Was there an error in the capacity for Fort Howard reported?
  • Mike Stangel, the original architect for Fort Howard Elementary, confirmed that Fort Howard Elementary was built to ideally serve 350 students with a maximum capacity of 400 not 269 as was shared in the Facilities Master Plan Study conducted by PRA. It should be noted that enrollment at Fort Howard, as recently as 2013 was at 300 with even larger student enrollments in prior years without overcrowding. Mike went back to the Facilities Study, conducted by PRA, and determined that they used 13 classrooms (which was the number being utilized at the time of the study) to come up with a maximum capacity of 269. Mike identified 18 classrooms. 

• How will construction impact Jefferson students and staff?
  • Construction will not begin until after the last student day for the 2019-20 school year. As we have done with many of the referendum projects, there will be compensation determined for addressing staff moving their classrooms.
• Would we be consolidating if it were not for the Head Start Grant?
  • Yes. With approximately 1,000 empty classroom seats in our westside schools, we have been seeking to address these capacity issues for quite some time, starting with our Boundaries Taskforce in 2017-2018. 
    
    Repurposing Jefferson school to serve our youngest students through Head Start programming was seen as an opportunity to have our neighborhood children well supported and prepared for kindergarten and beyond. 

• Why was Jefferson chosen versus another west side school for Head Start?
  • A list of considerations regarding Jefferson Elementary and Keller Elementary for a potential Head Start Learning Center are available here. No other schools were seriously considered because after reviewing each school’s capacity, all the remaining west side locations with capacity would require multi boundary changes to make enough room to house all of Head Start. Splitting up Head Start in multiple locations results in missed opportunities for staff collaboration and student access to services and community partners. 

• What is the farthest distance Jefferson students would need to walk to get to Fort Howard?
  • Jefferson students would have a maximum walk of .73 miles. A crossing guard is available at the corner of Mather and Ashland. Fort Howard students have a maximum walk of .76 miles and have a crossing guard at the corner of Walnut and Ashland and Dousman and Ashland. 

• What is the cost if students were shuttled to and from Jefferson and Fort Howard for the beginning and the end of the school day?
  • Hub Busing
    • Minimum cost for hub bus (assuming combination with two other morning and two other afternoon routes)
    • Minimum Annual Cost - $15,486
    • Maximum cost for hub bus (assuming standalone route in morning and afternoon)
    • Minimum Annual Cost - $44,432

• Why consolidate Jefferson Elementary with Fort Howard and why now? 
• Since 2016, the Board of Education and Administration have been engaging the community in conversations about the future of the District and how to address enrollment and facility inequities. With the April 2017 referendum, the District was able to address overcrowding issues on the east side of the District. Since a Board retreat in January 2019, District administration and the Board of Education have been conversing about how to address the under capacity of schools on the west side.

• What has been the enrollment at Jefferson, Fort Howard and Elmore schools?
  • The following chart shows what the 7-year enrollment has been at all three schools using third Friday count numbers, grades K-5.

• Is school choice a reason for declining enrollment at Jefferson Elementary?
  • 43 Jefferson attendance area students (5k-5th grade) choose to attend another District school, a parochial school or open enroll out. 

• Were students denied through intra-district transfer to attend Jefferson, and does that account for the low enrollment?
  • Three students applied for the 2019-20 school year. One student was denied, due to the size of the class. In 2018-19 we had three (3) students apply for intra-district transfer and all three were approved.

• Why isn’t Jefferson a 4K-5th grade site? 
  • Jefferson and Fort Howard 4K students are currently served at the Cornerstone Encompass (a model III 4K site), which also provides families wrap-around daycare.

• What is the History of the Fort Howard/Jefferson/Elmore attendance boundaries?
  
  • Prior to 1988, Fort Howard Elementary served K-5. The Fort Howard attendance area included both the present Fort Howard Elementary attendance area as well as the current Jefferson Elementary attendance area.
    • At that time, Jefferson was called Jefferson School and served students with special education needs.
    • Beginning in the 1988-1989 school year, grades K & 1 Fort Howard students were transitioned to Jefferson School to address the overcrowding at Fort Howard.
    • In 1989-1990, 2nd graders from Fort Howard were moved to Jefferson Elementary to address overcrowding.
    • 1992-1993, Jefferson served 107, K-4 students.
    • A plan was made to put additions on to both Jefferson and Ft. Howard.
    • School boundaries were redrawn establishing separate boundaries for Jefferson Elementary and Fort Howard.
    • The choice boundary area located north of Velp Avenue, sometimes referred to as the “gray area” – according to records in the Facilities Department - has always been in the Elmore boundary attendance area. When the new boundaries were drawn for Jefferson and Fort Howard, the Board of Education offered the “gray” school choice attendance area to students/families living in the Elmore attendance area.  
    • Between 1993-2014, families living in the  “gray” boundary area were afforded choice between Jefferson and Elmore. The Elmore attendance choice “gray” area was discontinued at the end of the 2013-14 school year because the District had an intra-district transfer policy, enabling families choice. This year there are 15 students who live in that area, 1 student chose to intra-district transfer to Jefferson. 

• What does low enrollment mean?
  
  • Low enrollment means that the number of students enrolled in a school is below the capacity of students a school can educate. Jefferson has a capacity of 165 students, but has 115 students enrolled.  

• What would be the benefits for staff should the Board vote to combine Jefferson and Fort Howard?
  
  • Increased opportunities for professional development and job embedded professional development
  • Increased collaboration time with job alike colleagues
  • Increased administrative support 

• What is going to happen to the ID program at Jefferson?
  
  • Based on current enrollment and student needs, there is room for the entire ID program to relocate to Fort Howard. If enrollment shifts beyond what we know today, we would need to reassess. 
    
    
• Will all Jefferson staff be guaranteed a position that maintains their current role at the same staffing level and salary?
  
  • Yes. The District is committed to working with all staff as part of the transition plan. 

• What additional transition considerations have been identified to strengthen and/or support the consolidation of the two schools?
  • Co-Principal 1st year
  • Transportation - hub busing from Jefferson Elementary to Fort Howard
  • Cohort classrooms - Jefferson students stay together in classrooms 

• What is the per pupil expenditure by school?
  
  • The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires school districts to report per pupil expenditures by school to the DPI. As a frame of reference, below are the Total Per Pupil Budgeted Expenditures submitted to the DPI for Jefferson, Fort Howard and Elmore Elementary schools for the 2018-19 school year.  

  Jefferson Elementary $18,752
  Fort Howard Elementary $16,922
  Elmore Elementary $12,867

  • To see the complete report of the rest of GBAPS and Wisconsin’s schools, visit DPI ESSA School Level Reporting (https://dpi.wi.gov/sfs/reporting/slr) and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on 2018-19 School Level Budget Data to view all schools.
    
    
• What would the school size be should the Board vote to support the consolidation of Jefferson and Fort Howard? Where would the combined school line up in size as compared to all the District’s elementary schools? 
  • Elementary School Size According to Third Friday Count

  • Current: Jefferson	115
    1. Wequiock Elementary	131
    2. Lincoln Elementary	154
    3. Keller Elementary	170
    Current: Fort Howard	183
    4. Beaumont Elementary	222
    5. Tank Elementary	223
    6. MacArthur Elementary	232
    7. Leonardo da Vinci	248
    8. Kennedy Elementary	250
    9. Elmore Elementary	273
    10. Webster Elementary	283
    11. Martin Elementary	293
    12. Jefferson/Fort Howard	298
    13. Langlade Elementary	300
    14. Doty Elementary	301
    15. King Elementary	302
    16. Howe Elementary	306
    17. Chappell Elementary	356
    18. Jackson Elementary	360
    19. Aldo Leopold Elementary	369
    20. Nicolet Elementary	383
    21. Red Smith	389
    22. McAuliffe Elementary	434
    23. Eisenhower Elementary	463
    24. Danz Elementary	485
    25. Baird Elementary	488
    26. Sullivan Elementary	605

• What are class sizes now, and what will they be should Jefferson and Fort Howard be combined?
  
  • The following chart illustrates current class sizes for Jefferson and Fort Howard (2019-2020):

  • School	Kindergarten	Grade 1	Grade 2	Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 5
    Jefferson	16 students	20 students	18 students	30 students	15 students	16 students
    	1 teacher	1 teacher	1 teacher	2 teachers	1 teacher	1 teacher
    	16 per class	20 per class	18 per class	15 per class	15 per class	16 per class
    Fort Howard	26 students	34 students	28 students	33 students	32 students	26 students
    	2 teachers	2 teachers	2 teachers	2 teachers	2 teachers	1 teacher .5 teacher to support guided literacy groups
    	13 per class	17 per class	14 per class	16/17 per class	16 per class	26 per class w/ literacy pull-out

  • The following chart illustrates projected 2020-2021 class sizes if Jefferson and Fort Howard were to combine as one learning community:
    

    Combined School	2020-21 K	2020-21 Grade 1	2020-21 Grade 2	2020-21 Grade 3	2020-21 Grade 4	2020-21 Grade 5
    Jefferson & Fort Howard	TBD based on enrollment	42 students	54 students	46 students	63 students	47 students
    	TBD based on enrollment	3 teachers	3 teachers	3 teachers	4 teachers	3 teachers
    	TBD based on enrollment	14 per class	18 per class	15/16 per class	15/16 per class	15/16 per class

• What are some considerations the Board may wish to explore if there is an opportunity to redirect resources? NOTE: The list is not intended to be a comprehensive list but rather reflects what we have heard from parents, community, Board members and administration.
  • Combined School: Jefferson/Fort Howard
  • Transportation
  • Mental health provider
  • Revisit the additional 30 minutes of time for the student day 
  • Co-principal for transition year
  • District-wide
  • Reduce class sizes
  • Provide additional after school programming across the district for more students
  • Mental health support/expand social and emotional curriculum 

• How does the Head Start Grant fit into the discussion regarding combining Jefferson and Fort Howard?
  
  • This past winter, the District had the opportunity to submit a grant to extend Head Start services on the west side. When the grant was being written, the discussion was whether to purchase and renovate another building on the west side (as was done on the east side) or to use existing space within the district. When reviewing enrollment projections and under capacity on the west side, it was determined that the grant should request Head Start funds to renovate an existing space. This recommendation was consistent with the results of the spring facilities survey. When discussing how best to repurpose Jefferson Elementary School, should the consolidation move forward, it was proposed to serve as the new westside Head Start location for several reasons:
    
  1. Many Head Start families live near the center of Green Bay, reducing the ride time to send Head Start students to Southwest High School and Keller Elementary, where westside Head Start is now housed. 
  2. Parent engagement is a significant component of Head Start, which makes a downtown location easier for parent access and transportation.
  3. By co-locating the west side programs into one facility, there is greater opportunity for collaboration (e.g., teachers, community partners, etc.), and increased services for students. 
  4. A proven, successful Head Start program in Jefferson Elementary, with community spaces, keeps the immediate neighborhood vibrant, and enables Jefferson Elementary to serve our youngest learners. 
  5. Since Head Start could stand alone at Jefferson Elementary, all building operational costs could be paid for through the Head Start grant, which would free up District resources for other purposes.
  6. The Head Start Center requires approximately 10 classrooms. Jefferson Elementary is the right size to serve this need.

Considerations for Westside Head Start Early Learning Center