2008-02-05 Change of Plans

Often in life changes that appear to be wonderful can still come with a sense of loss and grief.

My family learned this eight years ago when we moved to a new house. Instead of being happy we had more space, we faced months of grief over the loss of our old house, friends, neighbors, and school. Now that many new friends, neighbors, and schools have become part of our lives it would be hard for any of us to want to go back and undo that move.

We recently found out that we’ll be facing another big change. This one was not by our own choice. When I worked to pass the Indian Prairie referendum to build a third high school it was with the expectation that this school would be built at the Brach-Brodie location on 75th Street west of Route 59. The impact on our family would be minimal as we would not be changing schools and due to the ages of my children at the time of the school opening, they would not be separated from any of their friends. After living through two overcrowded years at Waubonsie Valley, the building would be at or under capacity from then on out.

My family is a Warrior family. We’ve lived in the Waubonsie attendance area since before our oldest started kindergarten and before our younger two were even born. We have attended events at Waubonsie for several years now. My oldest daughter will graduate from WV this spring and her sister will do the same in two years. My son is halfway through Granger and fully expected that he and all the others at Granger would be attending Waubonsie together. We love Waubonsie.

When the jury price for Brach-Brodie came in much higher than anticipated, I hoped the district would still find a way to buy the land as I believed this to be the best possible site for the district as a whole. This did not happen and a new site needed to be chosen.

On Tuesday, January 15 the district announced the administration’s recommendation for the new site for Metea Valley High School along with information about the other sites considered and the advantages and disadvantages of each site including financials. I had heard rumors to this effect but was still surprised to find out the chosen site was the St. John African Methodist Episcopalian land on the east side of the Eola Rd. and Molitor Rd. intersection just a mile from my house.

That afternoon as I drove my son home from Student Council I told him that he may be attending a brand new high school starting in ninth grade. His immediate reaction was negative. He was happy to be headed to Waubonsie, why would he want to attend a different school? He hoped all of Granger would be going with him to the new school. This doesn’t seem likely since some of Granger attendance areas can walk to Waubonsie. The new high school’s colors and mascot had already been chosen by the group of students who would have been attending the school at the Brach-Brodie site. He felt his plans had been changed mid-stream and didn’t know what to make of it.

It didn’t help that on that first day I was lamenting the loss of an established school with excellent programs across the spectrum. I was not happy about the need to start up a brand new school with new everything. The fact that there would be no experienced juniors and seniors to lead the clubs, no varsity sports the first year, no Grammy winning music program, a brand new PTA. Parts of the school will not yet be complete upon opening. I wondered whether we would still have district provided transportation. I wondered how others in the district will be impacted because the new boundaries will certainly cause some areas to go to a further away high school than they now attend, while others of us will have a shorter commute. We have opened new buildings before and would rather not do it again. If the school opens in 2009 I will have one year with a daughter in a very overcrowded Waubonsie and a son in a much under capacity Metea.

The first days were all about grief but slowly shifted to acceptance. I adjusted my outlook to the positives. The new school is close and it will be much easier to get my younger children to and from extra-curricular activities, performances, and games than it has been with the older two. My son and his classmates will get the chance to help shape the school from the beginning. The district may even allow this new group of students to redo the color and mascot choice to give them a feeling of ownership and belonging. The school will have the same excellent curriculum that is taught in Waubonsie and Neuqua.

Having children in two different high schools at the same time will not be greatly different than the preceding year when one of them is at Waubonsie and the other at Granger. My son will experience being in a high school of fewer than 1500 students that first year rather than a building overflowing with more than 3500. The students in this smaller school will have vastly more opportunities for leadership and leading roles in all of the clubs and performing groups.

This school will be created from Warrior families, just as Neuqua was a mere ten years ago. Metea will be great from the very start.