Austintown struggles to adjust to shrinking reality

Austintown struggles to adjust to shrinking reality

Nobody likes change, and the change most families like least is one that affects their neighborhood schools.

So it is not surprising that some Austintown residents are quite upset at the prospect of one of the district’s five elementary schools being closed.

The three board members who had the courage to vote to close Davis Elementary School will doubtless take heat from the parents most affected by the closing. But other parents — indeed, all school district taxpayers — should be more appreciative of the board’s efforts.

Obviously a school district that operated five elementary buildings when it had a district wide enrollment of 8,000 should be looking for ways to get by with fewer than those same five buildings today, when enrollment has dropped to 5,000.

The board will meet Tuesday to discuss how the displaced pupils can be divvied up and whether pupils from other schools should be shifted as well, in the interest of the best utilization of available classrooms and the lowest transportation costs.

The goal, obviously, should be to balance the need to economize with the desire to create the least amount of disruption.

And reaching that goal is the responsibility of all five members of the board. Two board members abstained Tuesday night. Board President Dr. David Ritchie would have liked more time to work out details, and board member Traci Morse said she preferred to table the motion.

It’s a matter of time

The move to close a school can’t have come as a surprise to any of the board members, and there is very little time to spare if the job is to be done properly.

Superintendent Doug Heuer estimates that the district can save about $500,000 per year by closing the building, most of which will come from reduced maintenance costs.

He couldn’t say whether any teaching jobs could be eliminated in the consolidation, but if there is even possibility of a teacher not having his or her contract renewed for the next school year, notice must be given by April 1. That’s according to the union contract in Austintown. State law requires similar notice by April 30.

Heuer makes a persuasive argument for his recommendation that Davis be the school that is closed. It has the smallest enrollment, making it easier for the other schools to absorb the 203 displaced pupils. Davis has about 14.5 percent of the 1,400 kindergarten through third- grade pupils

The superintendent, the building principals, and coordinators of curriculum, guidance, special education and transportation have a lot of work to do in a very short time. The school board, which obviously wants to avoid conflict with any segment of the community, has its own responsibility to do everything it can to reduce a deficit that could reach $5 million by the end of the next school year.

The closing of Davis Elementary is only one of many tough decisions that the board will face. As other school districts and publicly funded entities are learning, the status quo is not an option.