Neal Middle School gets a one-year reprieve

BY JORDAN COHEN

news@vindy.com

VIENNA

In an apparent bow to intense public opposition, Mathews school board voted to keep the 90-year-old Neal Middle School open until the end of the 2010-11 school year, reversing earlier indications that the building would close at the end of the current semester.

The board had also considered moving Neal’s seventh- and eighth-graders into Mathews High School, a move criticized by parents and teachers in a work session. Those transfers, along with moving sixth-graders into Baker Elementary, still will take place, but only after Neal is closed, according to the motion approved by the board.

Wednesday night’s vote, however, was not unanimous. Three members voted in favor of the Neal extension, but two others, Brian Stidham and David Wise, abstained.

“This is going to cost us,” said Kenneth Wallace, board president.

Other board members indicated the district will have to seek additional funding through a levy sooner than anticipated.

The district treasurer had earlier projected a deficit of $1 million in two years if Neal had been closed this year. The red ink may come sooner, board members said.

Superintendent Lee Seiple, who previously said the district could save more than $800,000 by closing Neal when the current semester ends, noted that Neal’s boiler, roof and septic system will have to be repaired. No funding has been allocated for those repairs because he expected the school, described as “deteriorating,” to be shut down after this semester, he said.

Wise said he abstained rather than vote against the motion because he feels the district needs more time to plan the student transfer.

“I do feel this was the year to close the school,” Wise said.

Stidham, who has been on the board only since January, said he abstained because he felt he was not given enough information.

Seiple, who had encouraged the earlier closing of the building, would say only that he “serves at the mercy of the board” when asked for his response on the move.

There was no mistaking the response of more than 70 people who packed the high school cafeteria. They applauded the board’s decision at the conclusion of the meeting.

“The board heard the voices, and the process works,” said Mark Grimes, Vienna, one of the parents. “This is a good sign of cooperation, and it will help us move forward and maintain our district.”

The board has a reduced replacement levy of 7.8 mills on the May ballot.