Miami School District Negotiation - Coursework Example

?Running head: MIAMI SCHOOL DISTRICT NEGOTIATION Miami School District Negotiation Miami School District Negotiation One of the major changes that affect education facilities in school districts is the redrawing of new school boundaries. This is done with the aim of implementing a long-term solution to overcrowding problems which highly impede provision of quality education. The redistricting of school boundaries ensures that the student population is equitably distributed both in public and private schools thereby curbing overcrowding in some schools while populating sparsely populated ones. The process of redrawing new school boundaries also aims at ensuring that public funds are fairly distributed and effectively utilized. This also controls incidents of school boards misappropriating the funds by engaging in expensive or unnecessary projects. The redistricting of school boundaries also plays a vital role in limiting future bond packages and maximizes utilization of education facilities in the schools (Greene, 2000). As a result, poverty gaps manifested in the education system are eliminated as well as improving the overall quality of education. Conversely, rezoning of the school boundaries implies that a great deal of students change schools and teachers are transferred. This process is also resource intensive with huge portions of public funds going into it. As a result, there is need for dedication from all stakeholders. Therefore, before school boundaries are redrawn all the concerns and recommendations voiced by stakeholders should be considered. For instance, the quality of education is vital in today’s society. This is one of the fundamental principles that parents consider especially when shifting, building and buying their homes in particular school districts. This is because the quality of education that is subjected to children shapes their future as well as molds their personalities, talents and character. Poor quality of education from early stages in life i.e. intermediate and secondary level of education, will adversely affect the livelihood of students (Brantlinger, 2003). Therefore, in the event of redistricting school boundaries parents are usually concerned about teachers’ competence, implemented strategies of accessing and determining quality of education facilities and the standards of education in these schools where they are supposed to transfer their children to. Another factor that parents consider in the event of redistricting school boundaries is the increase in cost and time taken to travel to and from school. Most of the students who should be transferred have to either use the school bus or walk a further distance to get to their new school. Such measures usually disorient students to the extent of adversely affecting their time management and study plans. Moreover, parents also consider that their children will have to be subjected to different environmental factors that may adversely affect their social life (Douglas, Crowson & Shipps, 2006). On the same note, parents fear that their children will have lose ties with friends from the former school which may also affect their social life subsequently affecting their grades. The students too constitute major stakeholders in the education system. The process of redrawing new school boundaries may affect the quality of education they are subjected to especially if the schools they are transferred to have lower quality standards. In addition, they may have to travel long distances, face rejection due to their racial, economic, cultural and religious differences and break friendship ties with their former friends. Conversely, their social life and self esteem may change to be worse. On the other hand, teachers and the other staff will also be affected by the redistricting process because they will also be transferred to a new working environment which also means that there will be a couple of layoffs. Their concern is fitting in and adjusting to the new environment as well as their future and career paths. Their wish is to be transferred to schools that will help them build their careers and not stall them. They may also be faced with traveling problems such as increase in travel time and cost (Greene, 2000). Moreover, they have to adjust to the new economic, social and cultural factors of the new environment in order to be effective. The school redistricting committee consisting of the administrators also forms an important component of the education system stakeholders. They have to be prepared to face countless permutation during the redrawing of new school boundaries. This is partly because they have to thoroughly go through students records to establish those that need to be transferred and those that are attending special education programs as they have to be transferred to schools that offer the same facilities (Douglas, Crowson & Shipps, 2006). Moreover, they have to consider the effects the change will have on the schools for example racial imbalances, and the general future of the involved schools (i.e. will they still be functioning in the future?), political catastrophes and the local economic condition. The community which includes the tax payers also has its role as a stakeholder in the education system. In the event of redistricting schools they are worried about the effective use of the tax money so as to prevent its misuse during the process of redrawing new school boundaries. The tax payers neither see the need of having half-empty school buildings rather seeing it as just a waste of their money nor do they see the need of having overcrowded schools that adversely affect the capabilities of students. The community is also aggressive towards ensuring that all the schools in the district are similarly affected by the process so as to curb adverse socio-economic factors which may result into segregation of some schools (Douglas, Crowson & Shipps, 2006). However, many are fighting for implementation of as minimal changes as possible. Therefore, in order to ensure that the concerns raised by all the stakeholders are addressed in the process of redrawing new school boundaries the following strategies should be implemented: The school boards should incorporate parents into their planning, implementation and evaluation activities through family involvement. This is because parents represent the most important stakeholders of the schools. In regards to the community, administrators and the school staff, they should be acknowledged and appreciated for their effort as well as ensuring they settle their concerns. This will enable the school board to curtail the laments and opposition from these stakeholders by dealing with their concerns and at the same time implementing the school redistricting plans (Brantlinger, 2003). For instance, the above can be achieved by considering the parents who were forced to recently transfer their children to other schools because of unavoidable circumstances like sickness. Also consider parents who have more than two children in the same school. They can be given more time, maybe a year, to adjust before the transfer is made. In general, all parents should be given considerable time to adequately prepare themselves for the transfer. As for the tax payers they will be able to monitor how the tax money is being utilized. To be more precise the above can be achieved by formulation of teams that will operate as oversight bodies. Family focus groups can also be formulated to discuss the critical issues that may arise. This can be conducted hand in hand with mini-surveys to gather the views from the parents, students, school staff and the community at large. Moreover, the school board should ensure it implements an effective communication strategy where it will be in constant communication with the involved stakeholders. This will help the school board to effectively explain the steps it is taking in regards to the process of redrawing new school boundaries and the steps it plans to undertake so as to consider the concerns of all stakeholders (Brantlinger, 2003). Lastly, the school board will be required to outsource a company to oversee the demographic study and thus develop a viable and effective formula that will be used in the creation of boundary proposals. In order to ensure that all the ethical and cultural factors are considered during the formulation of the redistricting process, a committee constituting representatives from each branch of stakeholders should be formed to study the boundary proposal that the school board plans to enact. Factors that the committee should ensure are catered for include: creation of similar classroom sizes in all schools and similar school facilities so as to ensure all the schools provide similar quality of education and extracurricular activities. Also, the new school boundaries should impose as little change as possible. This will enable the school board to cater for most of the raised concerns. In addition, the redistricting plan should minimize the need for students to use buses to travel to and from school thereby reducing the travel time and lowering of costs for parents. In fact, it should provide provisions for the students to go to school either riding bicycles or just walk. On the other hand, the schools should effectively serve the neighborhood as well as balance the issues of race and other socio-economic status issues. There should also be the deployment of benchmarking strategies especially when conducting the surveys. The most appropriate and ethical method of collecting the required data pertaining to students would be the use of census that makes accurate estimations of the demographic characteristics of the school district. The census will also enable the school board to collect information regarding gender, age and other socio-economic variables of the population. References Brantlinger, A. E. (2003). Dividing classes: How the middle class negotiates and rationalizes school advantage. New York: Routledge. Douglas, E. M., Crowson, L. R. & Shipps, D. (2006). Shaping education policy. Oxford, UK: Taylor & Francis.   Greene, R. W. (2000). GIS in public policy: Using geographic information for more effective Government. Redlands, CA: ESRI, Inc. 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