Boards meet to discuss study

The feasibility study for Nauvoo-Colusa, Hamilton and Warsaw school districts, made public March 28 at a community meeting in Hamilton, is available through each school district. Hamilton and Warsaw residents can call their superintendent's office for a copy of the 103-page study. Nauvoo-Colusa School District has added the study as a PDF to its school Web site at www.nauvoo-colusa.com. It is listed along the left side of the site and can be read on-line or printed by anyone.

“We put the complete copy on-line,” said Terry Knoke, Nauvoo-Colusa School Board president. “The more people who can read it, the better.” After the March 28 public meeting with the three school boards present, the next step is for each school board to take it back to their constituents for discussion.

The Nauvoo-Colusa School board regularly meets the third Monday of the month, but this month it met April 10, because the third Monday, April 17, was considered a holiday.

The Hamilton School Board meets at 7 p.m., the third Wednesday of the month. Its upcoming meeting is tonight Wednesday, April 19.

The Warsaw School Board meets at 7:30 p.m. during daylight-saving time and at 6:30 p.m. during standard time on the fourth Thursday of the month, with an upcoming meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27.

The consultants of the study, Bob Rogers and Lynn Hartweger suggested the next step would be for the three school boards to “sit down, discuss the study, decide yes or no to pursue district reorganization and which option to consider.

“You basically have a year, with May 15 as a deadline,” said Rogers. “You can pick a Committee of 10 which can be composed of board members, district staff, community members and study the curriculum, finances and buildings.”

At the March 28 meeting, Nauvoo-Colusa Superintendent Kent Young said the study would be discussed in April with perhaps a recommendation ready in May.

“We talked about it at our Monday meeting,” said Knoke Wednesday. “We didn't reach any conclusions.”

Warsaw resident Linda Savage said she was disappointed after the March 28 meeting.

“The presentation didn't highlight anything in-depth,” she said. “I'd like to have heard more about the curriculum in each district.” Hamilton resident Laura Buckert agreed.

“I had more questions about the curriculum, but I talked with a board member and got some answers,” she said. There is a six-page section on curriculum in the feasibility study.

“Curriculum and financial advantages are probably the two most important reasons why schools consider consolidation,” the report says. “Students in all three school districts would benefit greatly from the more extensive combined curriculum through consolidation.”

A table in the study puts the high school curriculum of each district side-by-side for comparison.

Under agriculture classes, Warsaw offers 11 courses, Nauvoo-Colusa offers seven and Hamilton none. Combining the three high schools would offer students 12 courses (Nauvoo-Colusa and Warsaw have many of the same courses) in agriculture.

In business classes, Hamilton offers four courses, Nauvoo-Colusa has two and Warsaw, none. Combining the three districts would give students four business courses.

In computer education, Warsaw offers six classes, Hamilton three and Nauvoo-Colusa two. Combined, the three districts could offer nine computer-related courses.

Each district has English I, II and III; Hamilton and Warsaw take it to English IV. Hamilton also offers English composition I and II, technical English and journalism. Nauvoo-Colusa adds speech and yearbook. The combined districts could offer 10 high school level English classes.

In Family & Consumer Science, Nauvoo-Colusa and Warsaw each offer five and Hamilton offers one class. The combined districts could offer seven consumer science classes.

In fine arts, which includes band and chorus in each district, Warsaw has seven courses, Hamilton has six and Nauvoo-Colusa has three. Hamilton is the only district offering French as well as Spanish among the three districts. Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa offer Spanish for three years. Hamilton has Spanish for two years and four years of French. Each district offers health education.

In industrial technology Warsaw has seven high school courses, Hamilton has four and Nauvoo-Colusa offers none. The combination of the three districts would give students eight courses.

For math, Warsaw and Hamilton both offer six courses but they are not the same. Nauvoo-Colusa has five math courses for high school students. Each district has algebra I, geometry and algebra II. Only Warsaw offers algebra III. Hamilton and Nauvoo-Colusa both offer calculus. Only Warsaw has trigonometry. Nauvoo-Colusa and Warsaw have technical math. Only Hamilton offers analytical geometry and advanced math. The combined districts can offer nine math courses.

Each district offers physical education; only Warsaw has adaptive P.E. For science, Nauvoo-Colusa had seven courses and Hamilton and Warsaw each offer six. Combined, the districts could have 10 science courses. In social studies Warsaw has six courses, Hamilton has four and Nauvoo-Colusa three. The combined districts could offer nine social study courses.

Only Nauvoo-Colusa offers work study but the Hamilton School Board has discussed adding it to the curriculum.

Each district also offers dual credit classes through Carl Sandburg College. Warsaw has 13 dual credit classes taught in Warsaw, including: physics, psychology, music appreciation, statistics, interpersonal communications, government & politics, sociology, speech, medical terminology, composition, art appreciation, college algebra and first aid.

Warsaw is in the process of adding vocational-tech CSC dual credit classes to its curriculum. Hamilton students can take CSC dual credit classes speech and psychology at Hamilton. Nauvoo-Colusa students are offered English IV as a dual credit college class.