Proposed school closings in Grosse Pointe
Grosse Pointe Woods — School officials in the Grosse Pointe Public School System are recommending the closure of either Poupard or Mason elementary schools in the north end of the district and the closure of one or more elementary schools in the south end.
No decisions were made Thursday night about school closures, but officials presented their ideas to a Blue Ribbon Committee of parents, school officials and local taxpayers Thursday night as the group and district attempt to help the school board address long-declining enrollment.
Jon Dean, deputy superintendent of educational services, said because two other north-end elementary schools, Ferry and Monteith, each can hold 600 kids, the district does not recommend closing those schools because there is not enough room in the other elementary schools to move students.
"Poupard or Mason must be closed," Dean said.
If Poupard, located in Harper Woods, is closed, the district recommends providing transportation to those students to new schools.
"It is our only Title 1 school," Dean said.
The Blue Ribbon Committee considered four options offered by the district:
•Option A would close Mason and Barnes, and turn Kerby into an early childhood center [[ECC)
•Option B would close Poupard and Barnes, convert Kerby to an ECC
•Option C would close Barnes, Mason and Trombly, and convert Kerby to an ECC
•Option D would close Barnes, Poupard and Trombly, and converts Kerby to an ECC
After 15 years of declining enrollment and a determination to right-size without opening its doors to Schools of Choice students, the Grosse Pointe Public School System sought Thursday to identify specific buildings that could close.
Lynn Weber said she has come to every meeting held by the district related to school closures and reconfigurations. Weber has two elementary-age children and said she is glad she came to Thursday's meeting.
"To see the names is pretty scary," Weber said. "No one is going to be happy. I don't think they have done their due diligence. This is the first time I have had a piece of paper with information and numbers on it."
Superintendent Gary Niehaus said the district would present at a public meeting different scenarios under which a specific school would close that would include the operational savings, bond savings and projected land value.
The goal is to have at least $1 million a year in savings and be at least 80% capacity at as many schools as possible, Niehaus said.
Niehaus told the crowd of about 100 people Thursday that whenever a district adds or subtracts from its building stock, school boundaries change.
"If the boundaries change, we may have saved a school but you may not be in the same attendance boundary as before, Niehaus said.
Members of the Blue Ribbon Committee also were asked to consider where to place an expanded early childhood center, with the district recommending Kerby or Barnes.
Discussions about whether the district should close one, two or three elementary schools in the south did not identify buildings by name.
Declining K-12 enrollment has translated into financial losses for the affluent Metro Detroit school district and enrollment has declined for 17 years, school officials said. With each student equal to around $10,000 in school revenue, the district's average 100-student drop per year is $1 million lost.
Grosse Pointe's schools are not alonel. Statewide K-12 student enrollment has been on the decline for years. Enrollment is forecast to drop another 10% through 2025 in southeast Michigan.
But after years of watching enrollment drop in their own district, Grosse Pointe parents, taxpayers and school officials now are grappling with how to balance the district and set a deadline for June 30 so the school system can save between $1 million and $2 million annually.
The idea of closing elementary schools and moving fifth-grade students into middle school buildings, two concepts under consideration by school officials, has produced emotional and often caustic debate in the community and across social media.
The district's peak population in recent years was in the 2004-05 school year, when about 8,930 students attended. About 7,600 students are enrolled this school year across 14 school buildings.
The committee is meeting from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday at Parcells Middle School's auditorium at 20600 Mack in Grosse Pointe Woods to discuss its work. The district will also host more town halls through May to gather community input on the reconfiguration work of the committee.
Options include closing at least two of the district's nine elementary schools and reconfiguring grades across the district, such as moving fifth graders out of elementary school and into the middle schools that currently serve grades 6-8.
Savings would come from closing buildings and needing less staff, school officials said.
School board president Brian Summerfield said maintaining the current nine elementary schools, three middle schools, two high schools and one early childhood center will not be considered.
A K-6 and 7-12 configuration will also not be considered, Summerfield said, and neither high school will be closed and high school boundaries will not be changed.
Summerfield said the district might be the last "mature district" in Metro Detroit to go through the painful process of closing schools due to a declining student population.
The board will consider many factors when deciding whether to close a particular school, Summerfield said, such as location and size.
A building analysis done by the district says capacity ranges from 55% to 85% at the nine elementary schools, from 69% to 86% in the three middle schools and 54% to 73% at the two high schools.
A closed building could be mothballed, repurposed or sold, Summerfield said.
The board of education also will not consider Schools of Choice, an option to open its doors to neighboring school districts to receive their children and their per-pupil foundation grant from the state, school officials said.
Board treasurer Judy Gafa, who said she was speaking for herself and not the board, said many people in Grosse Pointe "firmly believe they pay their taxes for their schools, and our children should attend those schools."
Choice, Gafa said, creates flight and a pattern of moving.
The district, which has its own enrollment eligibility investigation office and tip line for suspected student scofflaws coming from other districts, is 74% white and 16.5% African American. One of its high schools is 28.3% black.
The district boundary lines include all five Grosse Pointe communities and a portion of Harper Woods, a community that is 59% black.
School closures will provide the district savings in the number of jobs eliminated, Gafa said, from custodians to teachers to principals. The goal will be to allow teachers to retire and the district will not replace them over time, she said.
The district considers itself a walkable district but will not provide transportation when schools close for general education students, another issue that raises concerns for some parents.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...z7URRdaOaHMGPY
