FeedsWayne-Westland could close 7 schools
Months of hard work and dozens of meetings have coalesced into a recommendation that the Wayne-Westland School Board close seven elementary schools and reconfigure the grade levels at all others.
The changes, proposed by the 21st Century Schools Committee, would save the district about $6 million annually, said Jeff Rahmberg of Rahmberg, Stover and Associates.
“It’s about making the most of our resources,” said Rahmberg, a consultant who has directed the community-wide process. “They’re becoming more precious every day.”
The initiative was necessary to deal with current and long-term budgeting problems in the district, said School Superintendent Greg Baracy. Recent reductions in revenue from the State of Michigan total about $292 per pupil, he said, which means that the district has projected a shortfall of about $11 million for the 2009-2010 school year. If revenue solutions aren’t found, the district may receive further cuts in January, he said.
“This is happening to every district,” said Rahmberg. “Some got hit even harder.”
The committee focused on one alternative that came to light early in the months-long process, which was to realign the grade levels at several elementary schools. By splitting them into K-4, fifth-sixth grade buildings and seventh-eighth grade buildings that feed into the high schools, the district can maximize educational opportunities and building resources, he said.
That would involve essentially splitting the district into two halves, with five elementary schools each feeding into the upper level schools, said Rahmberg.
Under the proposal, Edison, Graham, Hicks, Walker-Winter and Wildwood elementary schools would feed into Marshall, then Stevenson and John Glenn. Marshall would house fifth and sixth graders, while Stevenson would be the seventh-eighth grade school.
On the other side, Elliott, Hoover, Roosevelt-McGrath, Schweitzer and Taft-Galloway would feed into Adams, Franklin and then Wayne Memorial. Adams would be the fifth-sixth grade school and Franklin, the seventh-eighth grade school.
The seven elementary schools that would close are Hamilton, Jefferson-Barns, Kettering, Lincoln, Madison, Patchin and Vandenberg. The estimated annual savings would be about $6 million.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to take more than that, but this is still a step in the right direction,” said Rahmberg.
Realigning the grades would provide benefits such as keeping student classes together longer and opening up additional educational opportunities. The instructional program committee recommended that all kindergarten classes be converted for all-day kindergarten. Specials such as world languages and music could be offered in the fifth and sixth grades and world languages be extended to the seventh and eighth grade level. The Michigan Merit Curriculum dictates that students will need two years of that instruction by the time they finish high school; the new requirements begin with next year’s seventh grade class, said Char Sherman, deputy superintendent for educational services for the district.
“The state allows students to meet that requirement before high school,” she said. “It will give them more room in their high school schedule for things like art and music.”
The proposed closing drew some concern from parents, particularly those in the Lincoln and Jefferson-Barnes boundaries. Those schools are attended by 90 percent at-risk children and many of the parents who get involved in the school don’t have transportation; they walk to school events and may not be able to be as involved if their school was further away.
Others were concerned about the free health clinic in the school, operated through a partnership with Oakwood Hospital. Baracy said that would be moved to the new school.
The Tinkham Center and the Career Technical Center would continue to operate, said Baracy, although future cuts in revenue might impact the services there.
“They are really stand-alone programs,” said Baracy. “Much of the programs depend on what the state does.”
Closing the seven schools and realigning the boundaries should have a negligible impact on the transportation budget, said Gary Martin, deputy superintendent of administrative and business services for the district.
“It’ll be much more efficient,” he said. “We won’t have busses operating at 50 percent capacity; many students who aren’t bused to school now will be bused to school.”
The closed schools would be repurposed or potentially sold, according to Baracy.
“We’ve been putting out feelers to see if there is any interest in the buildings for programs that will support the community,” he said. “Our intent is to try to repurpose them for the best interest of the community. That’s the goal.”
The recommendations are, for the time being, just a recommendation. School board members will make the final decision. The district is hosting study sessions on the plan. The first one will be at 6 p.m. on Nov. 30 at the Stockmeyer Auditorium. A second one is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Dec. 7 at the auditorium.
“The board has not made any decisions yet,” said Baracy. “Once they make a decision, we’ll gear up efforts for the transition.”
