Why Franklin?

On Thursday, news broke that the Kent City School District plans to close one of its five elementary schools at the end of the current school year because of enrollment declines. While no specific school has been officially announced, the article indicated that some people believe it will be Franklin Elementary School. I also believe Franklin will be the one closed and am not surprised for a number of reasons. An article on Friday, January 31st, however, made it sound as if Franklin (and the former Central Elementary School) closing is a done deal, even while board members insist no formal decision has been made.

Let me start out by saying this blog should not be construed as an endorsement of closing any of the schools or advocating for one school or the other to close. I'm simply looking at the "why"s and answering them to help people understand the situation better and move beyond the simple emotional aspect of the situation. If people really want to potentially stop this closure, saying things like "Franklin is the best!" and "I love Franklin!!" may sound nice, but they aren't going to sway any votes. We all need to understand the facts, so we can argue facts with facts, particularly the economics of the situation. While I did not attend Franklin as a student, I have worked there multiple times as a substitute over 3 years (so am familiar with the students and faculty), plus I know how upsetting it would be to me to have one of my schools close, especially if I were still a student there. That said, from an enrollment standpoint, which seems to be the main driver here, the district is completely justified in closing an elementary school. Kent simply does not have enough elementary-aged students to warrant spending money on five buildings when we have the student body that could fit in four, even three.

My concern as an alumnus of the district and now as a resident is how this has come about. Even in being, what I consider, justified in terms of enrollment (Kent does not need five elementary schools with the current enrollment), I feel the way the news has broken and the seeming disagreement in statements about whether or not it's Franklin, looks really bad and reflects poorly on the Board of Education. Voters in Kent just passed another school levy this past May that is due to generate $4.25 million in additional funds. Yes, that money has not yet come to the district, but it is coming, on top of the local tax money the district already receives. Kent has the highest property tax rates in the county and is among the highest in the area. Levies are hardly ever (if ever) voted down here. The schools are supported very well by residents and have been for pretty much ever. Announcing cuts, no matter how legitimate the reasons, so soon after a levy approval like that just does not look good.  I hope it spurs more residents, whether they have kids in the schools or not, to be more involved and to really analyze how the district does business rather than simply assuming the best and basically writing blank checks all the time. Kent does a lot of things very well, but it could definitely use improvement in other areas.

Enrollment

Why the decline in elementary students? The district speculates the rise in rental housing, which is heavily related to the growth of Kent State University. The population of the city of Kent is higher than it has ever been in its history and is growing (along with Franklin Township), yet the school district has been declining. While I think the conversion of family housing to rentals is part of that, it's not the entire reason. I believe Kent has a lot of empty-nesters who have remained here. Nothing wrong with that (generally means they like it here and see no reason to leave), but it's going to have the obvious effect of lowering the student body. The neighborhood my Ridinger grandparents live in just east of KSU is a prime example. My dad remembers the neighborhood being full of kids, but now, and for the last 10-20 years, it has far more senior citizens and retired couples than it does kids as the kids have grown up and moved on. My grandparents themselves are part of that. Add that to the fact that Kent has had very little construction in the way of family housing (i.e. housing developments), and there you go. The neighborhood I grew up in also had that to a degree, and I've seen that here in the neighborhood I live in now in Kent.

Another valid point that I've seen others raise is the issue of taxes. While there hasn't been a whole lot of new housing available for families in Kent, I know of at least a few who have either decided they can't afford to live here because of the property taxes, or nearly didn't buy their house in Kent because of the high property taxes. In other words, in our desire to fund our schools well, we may be pricing out many of the very people the great programs the schools offer are designed to help the most. Of course, there hasn't been a formal study by the city or district (all anecdotal observations) as to exactly why and there are likely other factors too, but in the end, the result is we have far less elementary-aged students now than we did 10 and 20 years ago and the numbers have been declining for some time. Each elementary school outside Davey (which houses all preschoolers, so has a larger enrollment), has about 200 students. Franklin itself only has 192 this year. I'm not sure the capacities of each elementary school, but my guess is they are optimal around 350 student each (in the early 1990s, Walls had as many as 495 one year), give or take a few. Davey is the exception since it is a former high school and middle school, so it obviously has a larger capacity, probably around 600. As a junior high it had around 800 students, though it was crowded.

Facilities

September 7, 1922 Kent Tribune announcing the opening of Franklin

OK, so why has Franklin been targeted to close? Simple economics. From a facilities standpoint, Franklin is old and the older a building gets, the more expensive it becomes to maintain. The original portion of the building opened September 11, 1922, just 5 days after the original portion of Davey Elementary School opened as Roosevelt High School. Franklin has two additions, one on either side of the original building. As far as I have been able to find, both additions were built at the same time and were built in the 1950s prior to the merger between the Kent City and Franklin Local School Districts in 1959. There have been no major renovations to the building in the last few decades that I am aware of.

While Davey is an older building (at least the original part...it also has an addition that opened in 1967), it was heavily renovated in 1999-2000 as part of its conversion from a middle school to an elementary school, so much of it is newer than any other Kent school building, even Stanton Middle School (opened August 1999). That's on top of the historical and sentimental values attached to that building, which has served as a high school and middle school before being an elementary school. The other three Kent elementary schools are as follows, from oldest to youngest:
1. Longcoy, opened 1957 with additions in 1965 and the mid 1980s
2. Holden, opened in 1965
3. Walls, opened in 1966 with an addition in the early 1970s

This is not to say that Franklin is being targeted simply because it's old or that it's in terrible shape, because it isn't. But compared to the other elementary schools in the district, it is in the worst shape and is likely more expensive to maintain.

Accessibility

Anyone who has even been in Franklin knows its other shortcoming as a facility: accessibility. The entire building, both the original and the additions, was built long before any kind of handicap accessibility standards were in place. While there are three listed floors, in reality there are four levels connected only by staircases, most of which are small and narrow. The building has a somewhat confusing layout too because of the topography of the site. For instance, when you enter to go into the office or the gym, you are on what is considered the second floor even though it is ground level. Just outside the office is a staircase going to the rest of the second floor. The first floor is really the basement (accessible from the "upper" part of the second floor) and then there is a third level. The other four elementary buildings are either one floor (Longcoy has some stairs in the back of the building to a higher part of the same floor, but the rest of the building largely accessible) or have elevators (Davey has an elevator added during its renovation).

So yes, from a facilities and accessibility standpoint, eliminating Franklin makes financial sense since keeping it would result in extensive renovation to bring it up to code or total replacement. In a recent community survey, the district indicated that Franklin needed heavy renovation or replacement, and some in the district suggested simply closing Franklin instead. If enrollment would increase over the years and a new building needed, a new building would have to be built anyway. This will put it off until needed, if ever.

Location

Another thing working against Franklin is its location. Franklin is located on SR 43 just north of Roosevelt High School. It is the only Kent elementary school on a major road and is the only one not in the middle of a residential neighborhood, which is due to its history as the centralized township school. Yes, it's not completely isolated from residential areas (northern Kent, with the Riverbend subdivision adjacent to it), but compared to the other schools, it's far more isolated. Neighborhood elementary schools are best in residential areas on side streets since they have very young children walking to school and crossing streets. On top of that, the territory that Franklin serves is the largest in terms of land size, so it wouldn't surprise me if Franklin has the largest percentage of students who are bused or otherwise driven to school (a lot of parents drive their kids to school I noticed). That's significant because in closing a school, all costs are weighed. If closing one school means busing a whole bunch of kids who weren't previously bused, it may end up not creating the savings the district was hoping for. Since most Franklin kids are already bused, it would result in minimal increases in transportation costs. Even the kids that do currently walk could be picked up on by the existing routes on their way to whichever school they are going to.

Holden Elementary School, located on West School Street

The only other elementary school with a location similar to Franklin is Holden, but Holden is in a much more densely populated area (a smaller territory), so a large number, if not the majority, of the students walk to school. In fact, all of Holden's territory is less than a mile from the school as the crow flies. It is also not directly on a major road, though it is just a few hundred feet from South Water Street (SR 43). If Holden was closed, the entire student body would have to be bused to Walls, Davey, and/or Longcoy, a student body that previously wasn't bused. Bear in mind too that Holden is the closest school to the Kent City Schools' bus garage. And, of course, the building is newer than Franklin and is one floor.

The other thing with Holden is that it's much more embedded as a part of its neighborhood than Franklin is, at least from my experience at both schools and what I know about each school's history. Holden is the school for what is known as the South End (or the South Side), an area that has some of the highest poverty rates in the city, but is also a fairly close-knit, racially diverse, blue collar neighborhood. Holden is the successor of South School, which dates back to a wooden frame building in 1869 and a later building that stood from 1880-1966. It was the first "neighborhood" elementary school in Kent, formed later in the year that Kent's first centralized school (the Union School) opened. While Franklin dates to 1922 as a consolidation of the township's school houses, it did not become a Kent elementary school until 1959, and since at least 1966 has not served the entire township. That's not to say it isn't a community in itself, but of all the schools in Kent, Holden has always been the one that seemed to have the deepest ties to its neighborhood.

End results

If Franklin does end up getting closed, I see the student body getting divided between Walls and Davey most likely, then possibly other adjustments in the boundaries with Longcoy and Holden to balance the buildings out a bit. Walls already has a large section of Franklin Township in its territory (I grew up in the township and went to Walls). If needed, the district could also open up space at Davey by moving some of the preschool classes to other elementary schools instead of having all of them together. In reality, Walls could absorb the entire enrollment of Franklin and still have less students than when I was in school there. During my 5th grade year, Walls had 495 students in grades K-5. We had so many students that some had to be moved to Franklin my 5th grade year, plus we did not have a music or an art room. If Walls and Franklin were combined today, it would create a school of not even 400 students. When I subbed at Walls last in 2012, there were several classrooms that weren't being used at all (yet the school still has a modular unit out back!). Now, I don't think the district will actually do that; it's more to illustrate that having five schools isn't really needed. I can, however, see a scenario where the majority of Franklin students end up at Walls while others end up at Davey. I would hope the district goes the route that provides minimal disruption. If the boundaries are changed for all the remaining schools, that's going to be a lot of disruption for more than just the Franklin kids.

The former Emma Williard School at the corner of Brady Lake and Lake
Rockwell Roads near Brady Lake. It closed in 1978 and has been largely
vacant since then. Several projects have been proposed, but none have
come to fruition. 

I don't see large-scale layoffs. Most of the faculty and staff will likely relocate to the new schools with the kids. It won't simply be a case of adding all the students coming from Franklin to existing classrooms without additional teachers. Those who retire likely won't get replaced, though. I could see the loss of some administrative jobs (like the principal of Franklin), but that will depend on any retirements or departures that may come up at the other schools or in other districts. I do think the district will do what it can to minimize layoffs, if they happen at all, and there is enough time for people to be looking for other work if they think they may get laid off.

From a historical standpoint, I also hope that the Franklin building can find a use beyond a school. It is over 90 years old and is part of the community's history, so I would hate to see it torn down. Even so, finding new purposes for schools can often be difficult for a number of reasons. The former Emma Williard Elementary School in the Brady Lake area, closed in 1978, still stands and has been vacant since its closure. The issue is simply the cost of converting it to other uses. Schools can be converted to other uses, but they need someone who has a lot of money and a love of history. We've seen some former elementary schools find new life, others abandoned, and others torn down. There are so many factors.

i2 Discovery Cruise

I'm hoping this can be a help to people who are searching for more information on the i2 Discovery Cruise so they can make a more informed decision than I was able to.  While I was looking for information, there was hardly anything available on this cruise, good or bad, so it was very difficult to ascertain what it was exactly.

In a nutshell, the i2 Discovery Cruise is a program produced by the International Models and Talent Association (IMTA) and ICE Model Talent Management that features scouted talent in a number of modeling and talent competitions over a five-day period.  Watching these competitions are representatives of modeling and talent scouts from around the country and even outside the US.  We were told this is a lower-cost option to the regular IMTA conventions, which are larger and are held annually in New York (June) and Los Angeles (January).  If I remember right, the i2 has been around since 2005.

In doing research, virtually all of what I found related to the main IMTA conventions in New York or LA and IMTA itself.  The basic charge is that they are scams, or at the very least, way overpriced.  I wasn't able to find any direct pricing for those conventions, but comments indicated they were in the neighborhood of $5,000 just to attend.  There were charges that the model and talent agencies represented at IMTA weren't really any of the industry's top names along with allegations that the judges for the competitions were in many cases corrupt.  In the age of the Internet, it's hard to tell how accurate or wide-spread these charges are.  At the very least, it seems the convention is vastly overpriced.  The i2, we were told, was developed as a lower-cost option for people because IMTA felt they were losing a lot of talent because people just couldn't afford to go to New York or LA.  Looking back, the presenter made it sound like getting to LA or New York was the problem, when actually it seems that the convention itself is the biggest problem financially.  IMTA itself has a long list of famous alums (Elijah Wood, Ashton Kutcher, etc), but like any alumni list, it seems to be a tiny fraction of the amount of people they actually deal with.

How did I get involved with all this?  About 2 weeks ago I received an email that talent scouts from IMTA would be in Cleveland on August 24th and that I needed to email back to reserve a spot.  I figured what the heck, and did.  The audition was held at the large Holiday Inn in the Cleveland suburb of Independence, Ohio.  Going into the audition I knew almost nothing about what I was auditioning for or even what to expect or prepare.  The instructions from the follow-up email (which came several days after my reply) were very vague.  When I got to the audition, things continued to be vague.  The table where we signed in wasn't marked with any kind of sign and only after I found a flyer that had some information did I even realize it was for some kind of cruise.  Further, I don't think the email that said I had to "reserve" a spot was accurate.  When I got there, we signed in.  There was no other list they checked to see if I had "reserved a spot" and everyone who came auditioned together.

I went through the audition mainly just for the experience of it all.  The audition had only about 20 people, varying in age from 5 years to 30 or so.  Each of us did a runway walk like a model and then read a short ad like we were doing a commercial.  Before that there was a video about the cruise (the same video that can be seen at http://i2discoverycruise.com/) and about IMTA.  The only mention of cost was that it would require a small "investment" on our part.  Absolutely no details about cost of any kind were given at this first audition.  Looking back, the audition seemed WAY too simple and easy.  I felt like I did well, but not THAT well (maybe relatively) and it certainly didn't seem like a very accurate way to determine how talented or not talented I was (or anyone else there).  In small print was the fact that this audition was organized by (and ultimately booked trough) ICE Model Talent Management, an agency with offices in Charlotte, Cincinnati, and Toronto.  ICE produces the i2 with IMTA.  It's not totally clear what the relationship is between ICE and IMTA, though.  ICE's website was rather unhelpful in terms of information and while they have their own website for the i2 Cruise (at  http://www.getdiscoveredcruise.com), all the forms and info packets you could download were from 2008 and did not mention the price.   

Well, I made callbacks for the next day, which were held at the same hotel.  The second stage was an interview process.  We were shown some more videos and finally given a breakdown of the actual costs, which totaled $2,695.  That included a $795 (the paperwork said $695) deposit, said to be non-refundable, but does not include getting to and from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Just for kicks, I checked out the prices for the cruise itself, which is on the Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas.  The total cost for a basic interior stateroom, which is what the $2,695 will get you, is about $1,600, meaning the program itself costs about $1,000.  As for my interview, it wasn't much of an interview to be honest.  It was more of a "do you want to do this" type of thing and "you're so awesome" pep rally with just a few questions about my experience in theater and music.  For someone like me who's had job application after job application not even looked at, it was definitely something I wanted to hear.  Unfortunately, it was also accompanied with urgency that I needed to commit right there without any more discussion.  The people around me were very nice.  I didn't feel immense pressure, but definitely felt some pressure to accept this or I'd never get another chance.

Now, do I think this is a flat-out scam?  No.  It's not a scam in that you really will get a cruise for your money and there will be a program as advertised.  That's not the issue.  The issues for me are, first, that those responsible are not up front about the cost from the moment you walk in that door.  There is absolutely no reason that information needs to be withheld until right before the decision needs to be made, especially if this is a legitimate operation.  The website provided doesn't make any mention of the costs either.  Why?  I was told that's standard practice and they don't disclose that information until they've narrowed it down to the people who they feel are "interested" (i.e. the ones that make callbacks).  Heck, I think if I had known about the costs up front, I would've left right then and let someone else take my callback slot.  Initially, I think I expected that all I'd have to pay for was getting to Florida if I was selected.  Boy was I clueless!!

Second, with any such large decision like this that involves lots of money, there should be some kind of grace period to back out if circumstances arise.  Along with that there should be a period to consider it, even a day or two, rather than making it something that needs to be decided right then.  Making it immediately binding and non-refundable just reeks of greed and money-grabbing as opposed to genuinely searching for talent and providing a lower-cost alternative to be "discovered".  Further, the no-refund policy does not come from the cruise company, Royal Caribbean.  RC's own website gives people a minimum of 60 days to cancel cruise reservations for a full refund.  Anything after that and partial refunds are given.  RC will not refund the deposit only once the 60-day threshold is crossed.  That is not a day that has been crossed yet as the cruise is scheduled for November 10th (71 days from now).

In looking up Ohio law, though, we have what is known as a "rescission" right, as part of the 1973 Home Solicitation Sales Act.  This applies to any good or service over $25 sold at a place rented by the seller on a temporary basis (like a hotel conference room, for instance).  Merchants must provide information about rescission rights (in writing), something that was not given to me (and likely not anyone else), and it gives consumers three days to rescind a contract or payment.  Funny, when I brought that to their attention today, it was met with the "well, every state has different laws..." excuse.  IMTA is also doing the "you have a reserved spot" excuse like I prevented someone else from going.  Cry me a river.  If they really wanted to, they could contact any of the other people they auditioned not only here in Cleveland, but elsewhere.  They have their contact information from the audition form.  They said Cleveland was their last stop.  It may have been, but that's not my problem.  I didn't make their schedule; I should not be penalized because of their schedule.

Again, while I don't think it's a flat-out scam, it certainly has the characteristics of a scam in terms of quickly snaring you with no way out and acting like if you do want out that it will cripple them financially.  I hope that people will find this post when they Google this cruise and IMTA in general.  It's definitely a case of buyer beware.  If it's in your budget and something you want to do, go for it.  I don't doubt there will be some exposure from such an event, even if it isn't necessarily the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.  All indications show that this is a legitimate cruise (though you can book a spot on this cruise without the IMTA stuff, so it's not an exclusive cruise), though I can't really speak for the quality of the agents attending since I have never been and obviously won't be going.  But if it's not in your budget, there are many other ways to be "discovered" that don't involve huge financial losses for people who are more in my situation and can't afford $1,000 conventions. I'm learning as I go; learn from my mistakes and experiences!