Pontiac School Board to Decide How Many Schools to Close
How many schools will the Pontiac Public School district close?
The district has to restructure to account for a decline in student population from 20,000 to 6,700 students. They also have to eliminate a $10 million projected deficit and improve instructional programs.
The Pontiac School Board plans to vote Monday between two options recommended by a special committee. The board will not decide which schools will close until January 26th.
Both options would combine Pontiac Northern and Pontiac Central high schools and locate the 2,460 students at Northern.
One option would eliminate middle schools and have students located in K-8 and 9-12 schools. The other option, which seems to be the most likely, would keep open two middle schools and seven elementary schools.
I understand that it is more cost efficient to combine these schools. However, I find it ironic that this failing district is making one big high school at the same time Jennifer Granholm and educational experts everywhere are pushing smaller high schools, which are far more effective.
There are also serious concerns that gang activity will increase if the two high schools are combined. See “Will Pontiac Central and Northern High Schools Be Merged?”
Pontiac school board to vote on restructuring plans, closing schools
Friday, January 2, 2009
The Pontiac Board of Education plans to vote Monday on whether to create a
system with one high school and a few elementaries or a single high school with
both elementaries and middle schools.
Their decision Monday will also determine how many schools the district will
keep open in the fall.
However, Board President Damon Dorkins said trustees will not determine which
schools will remain open until they vote on the final restructuring plan on Jan.
26.
Two options have been recommended by the Pontiac Redesign Committee for
Instructional Effectiveness and Financial Efficiency that has worked for several
weeks on the project.
Both options would feature a single high school made up of combined student
populations of Pontiac Northern and Pontiac Central high schools — 2,460 —
located at Northern. And both include keeping Frost school as a preschool
academy and Kennedy School for special education programs.
Most likely to be closed under either option are Central, Bethune, Crofoot,
Franklin, Longfellow and Whitmer Human Resource Center.
The advisory committee’s goal is to come up with a structure that will be more
efficient for the district, which has declined from 20,000 to only 6,700 K-12
students. It also is designed to help eliminate a $10 million projected deficit
and improve instructional programs.
Option One, which seemed to be most popular with the board, would keep open two
middle schools and seven elementaries. It would be similar to the existing
system with kindergarten through sixth-graders in elementaries, seventh through
ninth-graders in middle schools and 10th through 12th-graders in high school.
Schools recommended for this configuration are Northern; Madison and
Jefferson/Whittier middle schools; and Herrington, Rogers, LeBaron, Emerson,
Owen, Alcott and Whitman elementary schools.
Closed under Option One would be Central High School, Bethune School (with
alternative high school moved to another location), Lincoln Middle School, and
Crofoot, Franklin, Longfellow, and Whitmer Human Resource Center elementaries.
Option Two, which would close more schools, would feature one high school for
ninth through 12th-graders and five kindergarten through eighth grade elementary
schools.
Under that option, the district would keep open Northern, all three middle
schools and only four elementary schools.
It would incorporate combined middle and elementary schools of
Jefferson/Whittier and Lincoln/Whitman; Madison Middle School; and Herrington
and Rogers elementary schools.
Closed would be Central High School, Bethune School (with alternative high
school located elsewhere); and Alcott, Crofoot, Emerson, Franklin, LeBaron,
Longfellow, Owen, and Whitmer Human Resource Center elementaries.
Vice President Gill Garrett has proposed an option of his own.
Garrett would move all seventh and eighth graders into Madison Middle School,
which has a capacity of 1,180 and is on the same campus as Northern. He would
move elementary students from Crofoot, Longfellow, Franklin and Whitmer Human
Resource Center to the Jefferson Middle School/ Whittier Elementary campus. In
this scenario, Lincoln Middle school would be closed.
Before the board approves a total restructuring plan that names schools to
remain open and defines instructional features to be included, two additional
meetings will be held. The first is the fourth and final public forum at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 13, at Whitmer Human Resource Center in the city-school complex
off Auburn Road and Woodward northbound.
The second meeting at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, will be a board study
session. Besides reviewing information gathered at the public forum, trustees
have asked administrators to provide more in-depth data about capital outlay per
pupil, energy cost per pupil, building capacity, feasibility, necessity for
improvements, and density of student population around each building.
Some trustees said the data provided the advisory committee for their
recommendations are from two different sources that do not agree.
In addition, the board wants to consider the geographical impact of the schools
closed before their final vote.
Return to blitzkriegpublishing.com home page