Woodland Hills School District

WOODLAND HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT

The Problems with Consolidation

“Woody High” Suburban Pittsburgh – just east of the city Encompasses TWELVE municipalities:

Braddock (2,912) Braddock Hills (1,998) Chalfant (870) Churchill (3,566) East Pittsburgh (2,017) Edgewood (3,311) Forest Hills (6,831) North Braddock (6,410) Rankin (2,315) Swissvale (9,653) Turtle Creek (6,076) Wilkins Township (6,917)

Combined population 52,876

Compare this to Canon-Mac

CANON-MCMILLAN WOODLAND HILLS

3 municipalities (Canonsburg, Cecil, North Strabane)

Total population – 28,420 Demographics:

94% White 6% African-American and

other minorities

12 municipalities Total population – 52,876 Demographics:

61.4% African-American 37.5% White 1.1% Other

History

Result of a merger, just like Canon-McMillan, but much later 1981, in fact.

Edgewood, General Braddock, Swissvale, Churchill and Turtle Creek school districts were merged as part of a federally-mandated desegregation order.

Enrollment

52,000+ people would mean a huge school, right? Think again – their total enrollment is 4,023 in

2010, with an average class size of 309 Canon-McMillan in 2010 – and enrollment of

4,745, with an average class size of 365. In ten years, C-M’s enrollment will be over 5,000,

while Woodland Hills’ enrollment will be around 3,200. Just five years ago, WHSD was over 5,000.

Why the difference?

Many in the district did NOT like the consolidation.

The differences in income and ethnicity between the towns and boroughs is striking.

Thus, there has been an exodus from the school.

Result

Certain parts of the district are distinctly more “rich” than others: Churchill – median family income: $74,969, 3.1% of the

population below the poverty line Braddock – median family income: $20,669, 35% of

population below the poverty line Population in most part is ageing and people aren’t

moving in to replace them. People are simply moving out of the district because

of their perception of the schools.

What Can We Learn From This?

We have to analyze how the community will take the consolidation. Many in WHSD simply moved because they didn’t like the school.

Test scores on the PSSA’s at WHSD have been low – they rank 107 out of 123 districts on the 11th grade PSSA’s according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Unfortunately, the social/cultural/ethnic differences have sometimes blown up into violence.

NOW ITS

TIMETO

TALKPROJECT

Project Background Governor Corbett has

made me an offer I can’t refuse. He has asked me to prove that Canon-McMillan students are smarter than anyone else. He has asked the following… and you know you can’t say no to the Governor! Governor Corbett

What the Governor has Asked

You and two partners are going to come up with a way to consolidate the 14 School Districts in Washington County into as few districts as you see fit and possible.

You will determine the size and geography of each consolidation.

You will establish a set of guidelines to explain how you came up with your plan and determine the major transportation routes within each district.

FORGET ABOUT FUNDING FOR NOW

So How Will You Be Graded / What Will You Have To Make and Turn In?

The assignment has three parts. The only way you can fail this assignment is if you

do not do one of the sections! You should have plenty of time to complete this

assignment as long as you work diligently Your project will be due on Monday, May 16th If a group member is present on that day, then

that is when the project will be due. 5 pts. will be deducted each day late.

Part 1 – The Map You will be given a map (which will also be available on the

wikispace). On this map, you will show the new boundary lines of your new districts

Also on this map, you will need to show the location of the high school for each district. No district may have more than 2 high schools! If you have a district that has 2 high schools, you must include a brief footnote as to why you could not combine them into one.

Also, you must show the major transportation routes in the district. Think I-79, I-70, Route 19, etc.

Include anything else you deem necessary for the district. This map is worth 30 points

Part Two – The Charts

You will create a sheet of charts focusing on enrollment data. There will be two sets of charts.

The first set of charts you will create will indicate the current total enrollments of each of the 14 school districts in Washington County. This can be a chart, graph, or other form of depiction of your choosing, but it must indicate precise enrollments and where you found the numbers.

The second set of charts is slightly more detailed.

Part Two – The Charts

The second chart you create will indicate the total enrollments in you new/projected districts.

Also, you will indicate a breakdown in total students per grade for each school. This would be done easily in a chart.

Finally, give an estimate for average class size for each grade in the high school. To do this, you will take the total high school enrollment and divide it by the total number of teachers the new high school would have (even if it is just the number of teachers present in each high school added together).

Part Three – The Paper

Type a report that is a minimum of 5 paragraphs (1.5 spaced) that describes the problem facing schools – you should know this from the article and class discussions – your proposed solutions to the problems, and the costs vs. benefits of your proposed school system. Anticipate problems with the various communities finding

out that they are no longer going to be Big Macs, or Rangers, or Indians.