Polk transition process flawed

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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It's been a rough month for families with children attending Polk Elementary School in Cedar Rapids.

The School Board voted on March 12 to close the school next fall and send its children to other schools in an effort to trim costs. The decision was a jarring defeat for parents who fought hard to save the school.

The district pledged to make the transition process for these families a smooth one. On the plus side, officials allowed Polk parents to choose from several elementary schools, including Taylor Elementary, which has a year-round academic calender like Polk's.

But the district's intent and its plans for an orderly transition process didn't match up to the reality experienced by some Polk families.

The biggest problem was timing. The district originally gave families until April 4 to pick a school for their children. Trouble is, between the board vote and the deadline were spring break, Polk's two-week intercession break and the district administration's move into its new headquarters. All three events contributed to communication breakdowns between some families and officials who could provide key information. Working parents said they struggled under the compressed timelines to schedule school tours.

A Polk Family Picnic, intended to bring families together with staff from several schools, wasn't held until April 3, the night before the deadline. The district said 255 people attended the event.

The district, responding to criticism, suggested that only a few families had difficulties. However, as of April 9, five days after the deadline, only half of Polk parents had made a final school pick. Thankfully, officials listened and moved the deadline for families to April 18.

Basically, these families deserved a better transition process, one that realized the impact of spring break and other disruptions. The one-one-one contact with school staff provided at the family picnic should have been at the front door of this process, not at the end. And a district with vans and buses should have had no trouble figuring out how to make sure parents had a chance to visit every school on the list. The timeline should have better reflected the needs of families, not just the district's desire to make staffing decisions.

Many district staff members have done a great job working with parents through this process. They should be commended. We're not suggesting that anyone set out to frustrate families. But the overall transition framework had flaws that could have been avoided.

It's important that the district learn from these mistakes, because without a change in declining enrollment trends, more closures are likely in the future. And the first step in healing the pain of closure is a transition more sensitive to affected families.

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