Sean C. Morgan
Holley School parents, teachers and children made it clear Thursday night that they don’t want School District 55 Supt. Larry Horton and members of the School Board to close either Crawfordsville or Holley schools next year.
Members of the Holley PTC presented reasons to keep Holley open if the board does decide to close one of the two schools.
A similar community meeting was held Nov. 30 at Crawfordsville.
About 75 attended the Holley meeting. About 10 parents and a half dozen children attended the Crawfordsville meeting.
Horton is conducting a study to help him decide on a recommendation for the School Board. He will present his findings and recommendation in January and expects the board to make a decision in February.
He started the study because the combined enrollment of the schools has fallen below 150 this year, and by district policy, he is required to make a recommendation and the board must make a decision about closing one of the schools.
The combined enrollment is 143. Holley has 75 students, and Crawfordsville has 68.
He presented his findings so far while seeking public input during the two community meetings. He also asks that members of the public respond to a survey, available at http://www.sweethome.k12.or.us.
By 2013, Horton said, projections show Holley at 53 students and Crawfordsville at 59 students.
In addition, the district has had to reduce spending this year by $1.1 million, Horton said. Next year, retirement costs will increase by some $400,000 next year; and he believes that state funding also will decrease.
“Our options are few, and none of them are what is best for our students,” Horton said.
Both schools were rated outstanding on their 2009-10 report cards, Horton said. Both are quality programs.
Merging the schools would still retain a small enrollment, maintaining the family atmosphere at the schools, Horton said. It would equalize class sizes better, reduce the number of blended classrooms and provide more opportunities for teacher collaboration.
The traditions and community pride surrounding the closed school may be impacted, Horton said, but the educational program will see little impact.
Next year’s combined enrollment projections show 12 kindergarten students; eight first-graders; 15 second- graders; 23 third-graders; 30 fourth-graders; 17 fifth-grader; and 29 sixth-graders, Horton said. They would be combined into six classrooms, with blends at the first and second grades and at the fourth and fifth grades.
Birth rates in Linn County have decreased over the past five years, Horton said. In 2006, Linn County had 1,560 births. In 2009, the rate decreased to 934, something he believes corresponds to a decrease in enrollment.
The district has reviewed attendance boundaries, he said. Changing those boundaries to keep both schools open would not save money, and transportation costs would increase.
“The intent is to decrease costs, not increase them,” Horton said. Merging the schools would save an estimated $157,000.
“A huge potential cost would be students that may go to the Charter School,” Horton said. “If the Charter School enrolls 30 kindergarten students in 2011-12, they would have room for up to 26 other students before reaching their enrollment cap of 234 students. This could cost the district as much as $124,800.
David VanDerlip, the School Board member representing Crawfordsville, objected to the potential closure in a letter.
He said that a study of changing attendance boundaries has not been completed. If the boundaries were changed, the per-student cost of the two rural schools could be brought more in line with the other schools.
He also noted that the savings, if students migrated to the Charter School, would represent only .17 percent of the district’s total budget.
“Closing the school will not save any significant amount of money,” VanDerlip said. “Money will be saved by reducing personnel costs. Personnel account for about 80 percent of the district budget. As a matter of fairness, it is not right to expect the residents of Crawfordsville or Holley to bear the entire burden. The burden should be shared throughout the district.
“We should be building bridges and encouraging teamwork, not creating divisions between the rural and urban patrons.”
Audience members told Horton they wanted the schools kept open.
“I remember this same conversation in the ‘80s, when I was a student,” one said. The timber economy was declining, “but we kept these schools open.”
Other districts closed rural schools, she said, and when enrollment increased a few years later, they had to build new schools.
Others echoed similar sentiments and repeatedly noted the value of Holley’s family atmosphere and the closeness of the students, parents and staff.
“I have no horse in this race,” said Dave Trask, a resident of Sweet Home who attended Holley School. “I wouldn’t want to see schools close either, but you have to be realistic.”
He wouldn’t want to move students to another school, but it’s something the district needs to look at, he said.
Members of the Holley PTC said they wanted both schools to be kept open, lowering costs by moving Early Intervention from the Central Linn District to Holley or Crawfordsville, a program paid for by the Linn-Benton-Lincoln Education Service District; renting extra rooms to preschool and daycare providers; and providing grant writing training to staff members and the PTC.
The PTC also disputed Horton’s estimate of savings from closing one of the schools. The PTC estimated $148,000 in savings if Crawfordsville closes and $132,000 if Holley closes. Including the loss of 26 students to the Charter School and at least two students from outside the district or to home schooling, closing Holley would result in a total loss of $4,800, while closing Crawfordsville would save $3,700.
Should a school be closed, the PTC members argued that Holley should be the one to remain open because it has the space to handle all six classes and could be reconfigured easily to provide space for the computer lab, speech room, resource room and library.
The school also is centrally located, they said. More students live in closer proximity to Holley. It also is closer to emergency services and student services. If Oak Heights ever reaches capacity, Holley is set up to take the overflow.
They also reported that the PTC is very active, raising funds for field trips, library supplies, accelerated math and reading, artists in residence, incentive programs, the greenhouse project, technology purchases and more. The PTC also would be willing to help pay for merging Crawfordsville into Holley.
Closing Holley, they said, would damage the cohesion and support of the local community. The effort required to implement the program would be damaged from lower parent involvement, and it would lose revenue from its ice cream booth at the Jamboree, which provides funding for all elementary schools.
At Crawfordsville, parents raised concerns similar to those of Holley community members about the effects of closing the schools.