Poland continues consolidating its schools footprint

POLAND

One year after announcing the closure of Dobbins Elementary, the Poland school board approved a plan to further consolidate the district’s footprint. 

After a bond issue for a new school building failed to pass in November 2015, the district embarked on a strategic planning process that involved determining how best to use the school’s facilities.  

Per the five-year plan dubbed “Forging the Bulldog’s Future,” seventh and eighth grade students will move to the high school and Pre-K through second grade will move to McKinley starting in the 2021-2022 school year.

School board offices at Poland Seminary High School will be renovated into classrooms to accommodate the incoming students. Transportation and board offices will be moved to Dobbins.

The plan deals with the “right size” of the district, said Superintendent David Janofa. 

“In 2021-2022, it appears that our enrollment finally flatlines at around 1,750. We’ve been facing a reduction in enrollment since the early 2000s, and it finally appears it will come to a balancing, which allows the board to make decisions relative to staffing and facilities,” Janofa said. 

The plan leaves open the potential for the passage of a bond issue in the future.