Accountability


Academic Impact

Study completed December 2002
Two months before the Consolidation election Feb. 2003


New information not included in the flyer...

  • Our elementary class sizes will no longer be below state limits. They will reach the maximum of 22 for grades 1-4, fewer elementary teachers will be needed with Lovejoy secondary schools. (Source: Robert Puster 12/12/02 meeting, Committee of 100 meeting, Carol Ray & Gary Rodenbaugh Oct 1/02 Board Meeting)

  • Lovejoy secondary schools will have a smaller "graduating class", in a 3A school, competing in sports and UIL against other 3A schools, like Celina, Princeton, Commerce, Farmersville.

  • AllenISD has many more academic, technology offerings, career exploration offerings, advanced course offerings, extracurricular activities, and better facilities than Lovejoy will ever be able to offer. (LovejoyISD and AllenISD web sites)

  • Allen is an excellent high school and recipient of the Blue Ribbon award a national honor, many National Merit Scholars, award-winning band, athletic, broadcasting, other award-winning fine arts programs.

  • With consolidation, elementary teaching positions will be preserved, as overflow students from Allen will come to Lovejoy. (Source: Allen Board)

  • AllenISD "grandfathers" in families in a school so redistricting does not affect existing families, only new arrivals. (Source: Allen School Board policy)

  • We are currently operating ONLY elementary schools at $1.45 of a $1.50 Maintenance and Operations cap. This leaves 5-cents to hire all secondary teachers, janitors, cafeteria aids, buy trashcans, paper, etc. How can we do this?

  • AllenISD will not share facilities, take our special needs kids, or our discipline problems. Victoria Sublette, VP Allen School Board, stated, "I think it is important that Lovejoy understand that I, as a trustee, do not have a priori commitment with the Lovejoy school district to share facilities, to serve special-needs students, or to accept transfers into special programs. If separation is the choice, then we are separate." (Source: Allen American, Dec 19/02)

  • "Special needs" children are being under-served and will continue to be under-served in a Lovejoy secondary school. Special needs children are serviced through Collin County Coop, which no longer has a director as of November, 2002 and will not have one until February - Princeton no longer uses Coop citing cost and limited resources of the Coop. The Coop serves 10 school districts.

  • AllenISD has an excellent reputation of serving special needs.They have a resident psychologist, and on-site dedicated staff of diagnosticians for immediate student aid, with a written policy to help teachers identify special needs. Allen has a program to teach all elementary children organizational skills.

  • With consolidation, another secondary building will be built by 2007, limiting both campuses to 3600 or less. Two options being discussed are a satellite school, or 2 buildings- one 9th-10th and the other 11th- 12th. (Joint Allen/Lovejoy meetings, Oct 22nd, 24th, Allen American Dec 19th, 2002)

  • Allen has proven track record of attracting top secondary teachers and talent, such as the band director, Mr. Gibson, and Joe Martin, the football coach, plus higher degreed teachers. (800 applicants last job fair)
    Will a 3A school attract the same talent?

  • Allen High School library currently has 17,000 titles. Allen Public Library has 104,000 titles. SangerISD library has 9,000 titles. How many will Lovejoy have at startup? Allen Librarian states that if research materials are not readily at hand, research and projects do not get completed.

  • Lovejoy currently must pay teachers more to attract good teachers.

  • Lovejoy high school class sizes may be larger than Allen's, as in seen at ArglyeISD.

  • Lovejoy secondary school overcrowding is a possibility due to the inability to pass future bonds and remain under the 50-cent cap.


    New information not included in the flyer....

  • Current teacher turnover rate at Lovejoy is at 20.5% which is higher than Allen, Plano, and Frisco even though they have higher salary than average. What will the affect of having to complete multiple class preparations at a secondary level have on the turnover rate? (TEA AEIS Report)

  • Last year there were 770 Lovejoy children. To use as an example of an average class size of 14 children per class, there are 55 classrooms (770/14) and 55 teachers needed. With the increase in class sizes to state levels of 22 (770/22), only 35 classrooms are needed, meaning 20 fewer elementary teachers needed. This will result in a budget savings of $740,000- $860,000 depending on teacher experience level.

  • The Committee for Lovejoy, a political action committee, implies that Russian literature and competitive fencing are classes offered at Allen High School. These classes do not exist in Allen schools. This is a list of SOME of what AllenISD has one or more offerings of, that Lovejoy is not proposing to offer:
    Entire International Baccalaureate diploma offering (some states provide college scholarships for students completing this diploma)(www.ibo.org)
    Accounting,
    Personal Finance Management,
    Business Law,
    Business and Technology Communications,
    Intro to Business,
    Advertising,
    Internetworking,
    Media Technology,
    Advanced Television Production,
    Advanced Radio Production,
    Oral Interpretation,
    Debate,
    American Humanities,
    German,
    Psychology,
    AP European History,
    Environmental Science,
    Aquatic Science,
    Orchestra,
    Technical Systems,
    Engineering Graphics,
    Architectural Graphics,
    Electrical Systems,
    Sports Medicine,
    Entrepreneurship,
    Marketing Dynamics,
    Medical Terminology,
    Agriculture offerings (20)
    Soccer

Study completed by CUE, P.O. Box 1476, Allen, TX 75013-1476.

Unofficial Lovejoy website -
the only website that provides taxpayers with comprehensive financial and scholastic information at no charge.

General Copyright Statement:
Most of the sourced material posted to LovejoySchools.com is posted according to the "fair use" doctrine of copyright law for non-commercial news reporting, education, and discussion purposes.
We comply with all takedown requests.
Please send takedown requests to: SiteAdmin (at) lovejoyschools (dot) com.

DMCA Copyright Infringement Notification