Shifting students around won’t help them

In response to Jennifer Hemmingsen's Feb. 6 column (“Lopsided schools' impact”) on the redistricting controversy: Like the school board, you're using a hammer on a screw.

Redistricting is a tool to address shifts in demand and the resulting capacity issues, not a tool to help kids perform in class. If we have students who are struggling, we should address those issues with the proper tools. Merely shuffling them to other schools and moving successful students to backfill is not the answer. It won't inherently help the struggling students.

I have repeatedly asked how lowering the concentration of free-and-reduced-lunch students below 49 percent will help these kids and no one, not even Superintendent Lane Plugge, can provide an answer. Plugge's response was that the teachers said that when they get higher concentrations, “things start to fall apart.” You're going to rip schools apart and load kids onto busses across town based on that?

Every school in the district is chock full of talented and dedicated teachers fully capable of providing a top-notch educational experience. The school they attend is not the issue.

These kids who struggle need help, not longer bus rides. I've heard countless ideas proposed at the meetings geared toward helping the kids. These ideas have far more potential to actually help the kids than a change a venue.

There are countless screwdrivers available to a creative school board; Why are we using the hammer?

Duncan Woodward

Iowa City