Quandary, NY

In our lesson "Problem Solving",  we pretended to be living in the imaginary community of Quandary, NY.  The Quandary School District was faced with a problem.  The problem had no simple answer. Let's review the problem and proposed courses of action.

Problem:    The Quandary Board of Education had decided that because of major cuts in financial support (money) from the state and federal governments and the decline in population and school enrollment, they will be forced to close one of Quandary's five elementary school buildings. This action will save money and help ease the burden on the taxpayers.  Several possible courses of action were discussed.  It will be difficult however, for the students, faculty, and staff.

  Proposed Solutions:  

All three plans include the following two points:

• Close one K-6 elementary school

• Move 6th graders from all of the elementary schools to QJHS, Quandary Junior High School

The three plans differ in the following ways:

Plan 1

• The children from the school that is closing will be divided into four equal groups and bused to each of the four remaining K-5 schools

 Plan 2

• All of the children in grades K-5 from all five of the elementary schools will be redistricted into four K-5 schools and sent to the school closest to their house

Plan 3

• Two of the remaining elementary schools on opposite sides of town will house grades kindergarten through 2nd grade. The other two remaining elementary schools will house grades 3-5.  Students will go to the school closest to their house that contains their grade level.

Can you think of  pros and cons for each solution?

Pros are arguments for, or in favor of supporting an idea.

Cons are the disadvantages, or arguments against a plan.

 

	Pros Did your idea include this thought?   Click here for ideas Students in 4 of the buildings would not need to be moved. ____________________________________________________________________ Cons Did your ideas include these? Click here for ideas Students in the building that is closing might be bused far from their neighborhoods Click here for ideas Brothers and sisters might be separated to even up numbers in other buildings. Click here for ideas In addition to losing their school, former classmates will be separated
	Pros Did your ideas include these?   Click here for ideas All K-5 children would go to school nearest to their house   Click here for ideas The majority (most) of the children would not need to change schools Click here for ideas Brothers and sisters would not be split up ___________________________________________________________________ Cons Did your idea include this thought? Click here for ideas A few children whose schools are not closing might need to go to another school because of numbers
	Pros Did your ideas include these?   Click here for ideas K-2, and 3-5 schools could be adapted to meet the needs and interests of those grades only Click here for ideas Students would meet more children of their age from the community Click here for ideas Teachers of the same grade level could plan and work together as a grade level team _______________________________________________________________ Cons Did your ideas include these? Did your ideas include these? Click here for ideas Older and younger brothers and sisters would be separated Click here for ideas More busing would be necessary Click here for ideas Since students would only spend 3 years in a school, school spirit would not be as strong

What do you think Quandary should do?  If you were faced with this situation, which solution do you feel would best benefit all of the students in the school district?  No student in Quandary wants to be forced to change schools.  However, sometimes there must "give and take" to solve a problem.

In the next lesson, we will study the solutions and try to find which one is best for the Quandary School District.