School enrollment
June 24th, 2009 by 
Alica
When I was in grade school, the school district decided that everyone who lived on my side of the highway had to go to Valley Springs Elementary. So I attended fifth and sixth grade there. At first, I wasn’t very happy about it. I threatened to pitch a tent across the highway and establish residency there so I could stay with my friends at Brandon Elementary. But of course I made new friends in Valley Springs. And in seventh grade, kids from both elementaries were classmates in junior high. So at that point, I knew everyone. Worked out fine.
The school district this year is looking closely at enrollment numbers, juggling them so none of the schools is too full. So far, enrollment is up 51 students from last year. So far, Robert Bennis and Brandon elementaries will be at 70 percent capacity, and the new Fred Assam Elementary will be at 40 percent.
Which school will your student attend? Is that the school you prefer? That your child prefers? Will your student have to change schools this year? If you’ve requested an open enrollment change, why?
Posted in Uncategorized, School business | 
June 24th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
My son is supposed to start Kindergarten at FAE this year based on where WE live, but our daycare is in RBE district and would be a much better fit as far as ease of access for us. We live almost near Renner so Pine Lake Hills is quite a drive. My biggest beef with the school district is that we STILL have not been notified if our open enrollment request is approved or not and school will start in a couple months! I don’t understand why we submitted our request in March but don’t get an answer until right before school starts! We’ve contacted the principle at RBE and Pappone himself and can’t get a definitive answer. As a side note, I’m due to have a baby a mere week before school starts and I’d REALLY like to have an idea of where my kid will go to school!! Why is Kindergarten the only class without answers yet? And when will we find out?
June 26th, 2009 at 6:37 am
am I missing some thing here? two schools at 70% capacity and the third at 40%. My we must be spoiled or rich beyond our wildest dreams!!!!!!!!!
June 26th, 2009 at 8:49 am
#2 I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if the opening of FAE should be held off a year or two. Not sure if it is too late for that or not though.
Unfortunate that our economy soured and the new housing market is so poor. Hard to plan in this economy.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:54 am
to #1 — I JUST received my approved open enrollement application in the mail. However, we live out of the (Brandon)district completely, so I still don’t know which school (my son is starting K). I did note, however, that I didn’t have a preference on which building, and the approval noted “building TBD”
June 26th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Is the difference in numbers because there is only Jr K offered at 2 of the schools?
June 27th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
FAE was the biggest waste of tax dollars this community has ever spent. We did not need that school yet. And with the way building is going in that part of the district I would bet the numbers are going to take a long time to come up to the planned expectations. New superintendant=New agenda. Papone is looking to make a name for himself and his thing is to build, build, and build. The district has always tried to stay a step or two ahead of growth, but this took things a little too far. Most families will not be able to afford anymore tax increases with the current state of the economy. Unfortunately, most school administrators could care less about that. I wish we would have hired a more conservative person to run our schools….just a thought
June 28th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Not sure I agree with your assessment #6. I believe Mr. Pappone as well as our school board were trying to be proactive with the growth of our school district. Unfortunately, the economy decided to sour. I don’t think it was an “agenda”. They all pay taxes too.
However, I do think they probably should have considered not opening the school this fall - wait until the economy and the housing market picks up and then open FAE up. Difficult decisions all around. Hindsight is 20/20.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
@Always listening
Shut ur lips
July 9th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
#8, you must be one of the spoiled big check book havers in our community…..
July 11th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
#9 The person “shut up” is a high school kid.
As far as “spoiled big checkbook havers” is concerned…Have you ever considered how individuals with money may have gotten their money? Yes, a few have inherited but MOST have earned it. I doubt they have earned it by spending it - they have worked HARD, saved, and made wise investments. Those with money also would like to see their tax dollars spent wisely and not just spent on frivilous items or wasted.
Most individuals with money are conservative by nature.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 am
As the mother of 4 children who will be attending school in this district this fall, I have a real interest in what goes on in our schools. My 5th grader will be attending Brandon Elementary, as all my children have and do. My issue with FAE is the fact that they allowed this class of 5th graders the choice to attend their current school or the school of their attendance area with the changes. The result is that the 5th grade class at BE this year will be quite large, while very few 5th graders will be attending FAE. That would be fine, except they are resisting having another teacher, leaving class sizes extremely large for BE 5th graders. I take issue with my daughter having such a large number of students in her class while FAE sits at 40% full. It seems to me if the district were not going to be able to accommodate students from FAE attendance area at BE, they should not have offered the option. The reasoning I have been offered is that these students will have class sizes that large next year at middle school anyway. I find that to be a weak argument as the suggestion is that if a child can handle something a year from now, why not now? We push our children to grow up earlier and earlier all the time. When are we going to stop being more concerned with what our buildings look like and the impression our school district gives and more concerned with the well-being and development of our young people? I think we should really take notice of the behavior of many of the young people in this community and take that as a sign that there may be some adjustments in attitude that need to be made regarding what we place value on here in Brandon. As always, this is just my opinion.