For those wanting the latest in administrative costs per pupil:
29 July 2022
Mid-sized urban districts (10,000 to 20,000 students) have lower administrative costs per student than larger urban districts
27 July 2022
Opinion: Is ASD accountable to patrons? Former state school board member addresses overcrowding, district split
"Second, the disconnect between Board members is a problem and growing rapidly. Right now, a member of our Board represents substantially more people than a member of our state legislature in the House. This has effectively inverted the notion of local government, making our State government more responsive than our local government. Furthermore, we have ten very large high schools in the District, but only seven board members, making it impossible for board members to know their local schools effectively."
"The obvious solution to most of the District’s problems is to split the District three ways so that each new District could better respond to Orem’s slow growth, the stable growth between Lindon and American Fork, and the rapid growth between Lehi and Eagle Mountain. Not one single candidate will even mention the topic, much less discuss it."
14 July 2022
Timeline: Orem explores split from Alpine School District, forming new district
This KSL article is about the Orem City proposal to create their own school district.
Save Orem Schools
This website is promoting the consideration of creating an Orem School District. They will be looking at all the facts, now that a feasibility study has been done.
13 May 2022
School District size nationwide 2013-2014
Total School Districts, Student Enrollment by State and Metro Area
https://www.governing.com/archive/school-district-totals-average-enrollment-statistics-for-states-metro-areas.html
03 April 2018
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS, HIGH SCHOOL SIZE
David A. Kaiser PhD
Rochester Institute of Technology , Rochester, New York
Published online: 08 Sep 2008.
http://www.isnr-jnt.org/article/viewFile/16765/10726
To cite this article: David A. Kaiser PhD (2005) School Shootings, High School Size, and Neurobiological Considerations, Journal of Neurotherapy: Investigations in Neuromodulation, Neurofeedback and Applied Neuroscience, 9:3, 101-115
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J184v09n03_07
SUMMARY. In the last decade 17 multiple-injury student school shootings have occurred in the United States, 13 at high schools and 4 at middle schools. Research suggests that high schools function best academically as well as socially at enrollments around 600 (150 students per grade), the natural group size of humans. Eleven of 13 high school shootings occurred in schools with enrollments over 600 students, and many with over 1,000 students. Violent and antisocial behavior is associated with deficits in social information processing, which is necessarily exacerbated by complex social environments. School shootings may be in part a response to the unprecedented social complexity of large schools. Median public high school enrollment now stands at 1,200 in suburbs and 1,600 in cities despite the fact that smaller schools are superior to large schools on nearly all academic and social measures of success including graduation rate, student satisfaction, conduct infractions, athletic participation, absenteeism, and dropout rate. Educational institutions should adapt to the neurobiological limitations of children instead of forcing children to adapt to the unnatural requirements of such institutions.
Excerpt:
Reducing school size to within children’s neurobiological capabilities is a universal prevention, a proactive method of reducing violence and improving intellectual, emotional, and social development.
When groups are small enough for members to know one another, they are more apt and able to police themselves.
When natural group sizes are exceeded, formal institutions of behavioral control are necessary, which can be both expensive and ineffective.
Some communities have experimented with a schools-within-a-school approach, dividing large student bodies into smaller operational units with dedicated academic and administrative personnel. BUT common areas (gym, cafeteria, entrance) often remain shared by the entire student body, undermining group cohesion, and
students in physically large schools rarely possess the freedoms and responsibilities of students in smaller schools, regardless of administrative strategy.
We need to build smaller schools, more schools, and roll back the consolidation of the past half century.
(spacing and capitalization added)
Why? Why have they done nothing to improve the situation with anything that has been shown to absolutely reduce violence? Where is the outcry, protests, etc., for this??