Polk parents express frustrations over transition process

So the Polk Elementary saga ends not with a bang, but a picnic.

This evening, at 5 p.m., is the Polk Family Picnic, where Polk parents will meet with staff from several schools where they may choose to send their children this fall. The School Board voted March 12 to close Polk.

Parents have until Wednesday to make a choice. So, for some, this is a pretty pivotal picnic.

Ideally, you might like to have a little more time to both digest your potato salad and vital information on your child's educational future. But, based on what I'm hearing from parents, this transition has hardly been ideal.

“Not only are we grieving the loss of this successful school, we don't even have a smooth transition to work our way through it. It amplifies and exacerbates all those feelings,” said Sue Nading, a Polk parent who has joined with others to try to help families struggling with the process.

I've talked with parents in recent days who expressed multiple frustrations. I've heard of information that never arrived, unreturned phone calls and unanswered questions. Some have lamented what they see as limited opportunities to tour schools and meet with staff. Throw in the disruptions of spring break, Polk's two-week intercession break and a move by administrators into new offices that made them temporarily unavailable by phone and email, and you've got a perfect recipe for frustration. “The whole thing is just such a mess,” said Jen Hill, a Polk parent who was active and vocal in the failed effort to save the school.

I talked with just a small sampling of Polk parents. So I can't say definitively how many are having problems. But I am struck by the fact that among those I've talked with, the problems they describe are consistent. Basically, this is a very big decision for these families, and they don't believe the district has done all it can to help them make the best choice for their kids.

Talking with these folks, I don't hear anger. It's more like exhaustion.

“I've always been a big supporter of public education, but I'm starting to very much lose faith in the Cedar Rapids schools,” said Sharon Cozzolino, who still hasn't received an answer on her request to enroll her son, Orion, in Hiawatha, where the principal and counselor know him and his special needs.

“That surprises me, that they are saying they aren't getting the information that they're looking for,” said Mary Ellen Maske, the district's executive administrator for PK-8. “I guess I'm at a loss to tell you.”

Maske contends district staff has spent considerable time helping scores of parents affected by the Polk closure and other changes. And she said parents who feel they need more time beyond Wednesday will get it.

I hoped that this transition process would be redemptive for these families. But that's not what I'm hearing, and that's a disappointing. Perhaps families hungry for more help will find some at today's picnic.