The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By DAVID GRIMES for The Quill
BIGGSVILLE - Individual concerns about school consolidation can be as varied as reasons for pursuing a merger.
The Committee of 10 working toward a Southern-Union consolidation ballot question for November's election made presentations to Southern High School students last fall and to Union students last week.
The sessions included a formal presentation similar to those made by committee members during the 12 community information meetings throughout the two school districts last fall.
Those presentations were followed by question-and-answer sessions.
Last week's session - conducted by Union committee member Steve Lumbeck and Southern committee members Brian Heap and Karen Jack - was a good opportunity for picking up on consolidation fundamentals as well as addressing particular student concerns, according to three Union High School students.
Union senior Kelsey Olson, Carman, said her modern problems class gave her a head start on the consolidation presentation and a good grasp of how the process works.
"We'd had a section in class that dealt with consolidation," she said.
In addition to the information session, the question-and-answer time brought out some interesting concerns and remarks, according to senior Rebecca Van Tine, Gladstone.
"Some people asked about issues like teachers losing their jobs, sports and team names and uniforms," Van Tine said.
Sophomore Aaron Landers, Biggsville, expressed concern about retaining his point guard position on the basketball team and wondered about the level of competition at larger schools if a consolidation ballot question succeeds.
Blending the information portion of the presentation with requesting input from the students was a good idea, Olson said.
While the fact-by-fact approach is important, she said, "Kids don't necessarily care about tax rates and land values. They're more interested in issues like school colors and imaginary lines (that define a district's identity)."
Other matters the three expressed concern about included reconciling differences between the way the two districts view grading scales, the status of independent and dual-credit courses and opportunities for expanded extracurricular programs.
"They asked some great questions," Jack said. "One of the best dealt with how we would deal with the different grading scales."
All three students said they had not realized before the meeting how important each detail of the reorganization process is in seeing consolidation through to successful completion.
Olson and Van Tine said they have mixed feelings about a newly formed district. Taking their current school identity with them after graduating will be fulfilling, but not being around to experience being a part of a new student body carries some degree of disappointment, they said.
"We definitely need to begin including student council members in discussions," Jack said.
"These kids are thinking of things we never thought about at this age."