Austintown board OKs pupil transfers

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — Austintown school board members approved new boundary lines Tuesday for next year’s four elementary school buildings and learned the ramifications of opening the district to open enrollment.

By a 5-0 vote, the board approved a map that redistributes the 203 children currently attending Davis Elementary in the northeast part of the township to three other buildings.

Board members voted March 10 to close Davis Elementary at the end of the current school year to save money.

The new map involves sending 35 Davis children to Lloyd Elementary on the west side of the township, 89 to Watson Elementary in the center of the township and 79 to Woodside Elementary on the eastern side.

No current pupils at Lloyd, Woodside or Watson would be required to change buildings because of the plan.

The only change for Lynn Kirk Elementary to the south would be the possible addition of special-education students from Davis Elementary, Heuer said. He didn’t know how many children are in that countywide program.

The consolidation plan involves sending two Davis teachers to Lloyd, three to Watson and three to Woodside. Two other current Davis teachers plan to retire.

Parents of the moving children will be notified of their child’s building assignment in about a month, Superintendent Doug Heuer said after the meeting.

In order to make the transition as smooth as possible, children and their parents at Lloyd, Watson and Woodside will be designated as “Falcon Friends,” Heuer said. Their task this spring will be to serve as “official greeters” of the Davis Elementary pupils making the move.

Heuer said a date and time will be set for parents and children to receive a welcome from pupils, parents and staff at their new building.

Children at Lloyd, Watson and Woodside will also send letters to their new Davis Elementary classmates to welcome them, and the moving children and their families will have a chance to learn about the traditions and history at their new school, Heuer said.

There will be familiar faces for all of the moving children, Heuer added, since no child is moving alone.

A complete schedule of bus stops and routes will not be ready until sometime this summer.

The new map will result in 81 pupils who currently walk to school being bused next year, Heuer said.

The projected pupils-teacher ratio in the four buildings after the consolidation will be 22 pupils per teacher at Lloyd Elementary, 22.5 pupils per teacher at Lynn Kirk Elementary, 23.1 pupils per teacher at Watson Elementary and 23.8 pupils per teacher at Woodside Elementary.

Heuer said the only other solution he could propose for redistributing the 1,400 kindergarten through grade three pupils would involve moving pupils from Watson Elementary to Lynn Kirk but that would only make sense if overcrowding were an issue. But vacant classroom space will be available in all four elementary school buildings even after the consolidation, Heuer said.

Heuer also told board members the district could become the ninth Mahoning County school out of 15 to offer open enrollment, but the board would have to vote by March 30 if it wants to make the change for next school year.

Heuer said about 70 percent of Ohio school districts offer open enrollment. Each student attending Austintown schools on open enrollment brings in nearly $5,800 in state funds to the district, Heuer said.

The district could designate only certain grade levels for open enrollment. The district would probably not accept pupils in grades six, seven and eight, Heuer said. The board will likely hold another special meeting in March to discuss open enrollment further, said Heuer and board member Richard Zimmerman.

runyan@vindy.com