Harlan staff

Parkside staff members

We wish to share our view of what we consider is in the best interests of the second graders of the Oelwein Community School District. We hope when you make your decisions, you will consider the slogan which goes out on our communications to parents and the public which is “Putting students first.”

Harlan School has the nickname, “Happy Harlan.” This name is the result of a warm, nurturing environment for students and staff. The coziness of the building allows for all adults in the building, the principal, teachers, paraprofessionals, the secretary, the custodian, and the food server to interact with all the second graders and be able to provide a calm, comfortable, stable learning environment for these younger members of our school community. Given the social issues Oelwein faces, this opportunity to have a sense of community and belonging is invaluable to these children. With the issues of today’s society, moving away from this type of environment is not in the best interest of these young children.

The ability to offer small class sizes is the strongest reason for having the second graders at Harlan. With small class sizes, our district’s children are more able to have the individual attention so crucially needed to be successful academically , socially, and emotionally. Also, at Harlan, the children have space to work in small groups away from one another. They also have the attention of the entire staff in developing social skills.

The partitioned rooms at Wings Park School concern us because of the noises they allow to be heard from room to room. The spacious, sunlit rooms, strong walls and extra available spaces at Harlan School offer second graders the opportunity to learn in a manner suited to young children. Children need to be able to make noise learning: chanting phrases, singing, and choral reading are techniques used at Harlan without the fear of distracting others during their quiet working times. Children have the opportunity to have both the necessary noisy times and the quiet, uninterrupted times used for learning. With the construction and setup of the Harlan building, it allows for low noise levels. It is rare that doors even need to be closed regardless of the style of the lesson or even the comings and goings of other classes and students.

We have already brought up the spaciousness Harlan School affords. Moving the entire second grade to Wings very much concerns us in regards to space, and we are sure the current Wings staff feels the same about squeezing us into their building. Items to take into consideration are: again, most importantly, the ability to keep class sizes small by offering enough sections of each grade level, the ability to control the bullying of 2nd graders by older children especially with the sharing of only two bathroom areas for the entire school, the combining of special education classes into rooms together, the elimination of a place to house a level 2 special education class which realistically will eventually again be needed, spaces for our RSVP workers to work with our students, storage space, shared playground spaces and times, shared classrooms for art and music, and needing again to perhaps have students move from the main building to a portable building.

We would like to encourage you to visit and tour Harlan School to experience the opportunities which are available to second graders in the small school setting. We would also encourage you to visit Wings Park School to view the facilities in order to visualize the effects of what would happen if another 88 or more students were placed into that building. Again, we as a second grade team, encourage you to consider that keeping second graders at Harlan School is indeed, “Putting students first.”

By Shelly Houge

I have the very fortunate opportunity of being both a teacher and a parent of a 1st Grader this year.  My husband and I chose to return to our alma marter to raise our family, in big part because of the stellar school district.

We have recently become aware of the continuing discussion to close Harlan School and to reduce the number of class sections from 5 classes to 4 classes in an effort to fit 2nd graders into the Wings Park Building.

Being on the teaching side of this issue I am no longer surprised by the drastic plans to reduce costs.  But as all of you know, being a parent changes everything.  My views of the issues of class sizes, facility utilization and services provided to students have now become a personal issue.

Our daughter has had a wonderful year thanks to an outstanding teacher who has had more opportunity to teach to a smaller group rather than control a large group.  The amount of curriculum covered in a smaller classroom setting is far greater than that in a large group.  I want my 3 children to have the best education possible from this school district.  It is my personal and professional opinion that a smaller classroom size will provide a better learning environment for students at such a young age.

By closing Harlan, I have great concern that future 2-5 grade classrooms will become larger because of the need to fit all of these students into the Wings Park building.   This would be a great disadvantage to the children, especially those so young in their educational experience. 

It is my hope that the administrators and Board will keep Harlan open as a 2nd grade facility to ensure that future classes will have the opportunity to be in smaller class sizes.  Please understand that my children, your children, and grandchildren’s education should not be measured in dollar amounts, rather in how this school district can best serve them as individuals. 

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By Donise Recker

I am a parent, land owner, tax payer, and first grade teacher at Parkside School.     I am concerned about the usage of Harlan School for the 2008-2009 school year and beyond.

My recommendation is to keep Harlan School open and send our 5 sections of first graders to Harlan to remain as 5 sections. Currently, there are 5 sections of Kindergarten which could also follow the same educational path of 5 sections of first and second grade.

My school year this year started out with 17 students and 1 new student moved in after that. Of the 18 students in my classroom, one-third live with their biological mother and father as a family unit. Two-thirds of my students live in split households. There are concerns about their home life. Some might say that it’s not their problem what these students’ home lives are like, but when they walk through the door, it becomes my problem. It becomes all of our problems because we are all involved in their education.

We want our first graders to go onto 2^nd grade and do well. This is their first year of Basic Skills. We want them to grow up and stay in our school district, not open enroll out. We want them to stay in school and not drop out. We want them to grow up and be responsible, self-sufficient adults.

Please reflect on the dignity of each of these students. Form their future, put the students first, and keep them in 5 sections of 2^nd grade at Harlan School in 2008-2009. There are more students yet to come.

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By Cheryl Saur

1. It has been emotionally healthy for the first graders and the second graders to have their own schools. Harlan is a sanctuary for the second graders, once inside "Happy Harlan" the children do not have to fear put downs or emotional threats that older students seem to enjoy employing.

2. Today's young children require larger amounts of floor or room space per child than the children seemed to require thirty years ago when I started teaching. These children come in stressed out and have difficulty tuning out their neighbors. Young children have difficulty screening out the incoming stimuli whether it be visual or auditory. I have several students who beg for a quiet corner in which to complete their work. Once a class size goes over 20 students, it becomes difficult for a teacher to give those students who need extra space that extra space. Harlan has many spaces for those students needing a quiet area or to work with a volunteer.

3. My daughter, Karla, graduated in '02. Every conference I attended was met with an enthusiastic teacher who said what a wonderful class this is. Karla had 15 students in her kindergarten class. Was Karla's class made up of "better" kids? Most certainly not. The '01 class was large--the teachers could not possibly meed all of their needs. The administration finally acknowledged their mistake and when the class of '01 became sixth graders in 1994, another section was added by hiring another teacher. By that time, it was too late. The '01 class was known as difficult students and although they were a very large class in kindergarten, they were not such a large graduating class. We need to discourage drop-outs by meeting the students needs early. Students who are behind academically by third grade, seldom catch up to their peers and these students have a higher drop-out rate.

When we realigned, we did it with the promise of improved educational opportunities for our students, not just to crowd children, close schools, eliminate staff and to save money. We need to honor that promise made to these students and their families. They deserve that, please don't crowd our future.