Possible school reconfiguration has board worried
By KATE SCHOTT kschott@daily-chronicle.com
Trustees from the Malta Village Board have passed a resolution asking the DeKalb School Board to consider multiple concerns they have as the school district continues talking about grade reconfiguration.
The school board is examining its facilities to see how to best use them to educate the district's 6,000 students. The board is in the position to have the discussion thanks to a $110 million referendum passed by voters in February 2008, which allowed the district to build a new high school in DeKalb and new elementary school in Cortland, as well as to renovate the existing high school, Huntley Middle and Chesebro Elementary.
But the board is also considering other options due to the change in the economy. When first proposed, the referendum had two phases with a second phase passed in a few years to provide an estimated $104 million to renovate more buildings to make them equitable across the district.
The second phase has been shelved due to the poor economy, school board president Mike Verbic said, which in turn led district administrators to propose four other possibilities for reconfiguring grades.
Those proposals were based on a series of givens, which include closing Malta Elementary. District officials have said major heating, ventilation and other renovation work – including the roof and windows – would be expensive during a time of limited funding. If closed, students there would instead go to Wright Elementary, which is also in Malta.
The one-page resolution from the Malta board, which was approved at a special village trustee meeting Saturday, notes Malta has a unique attendance area because it is separated by at least 5 miles from other attendance areas in the district.
A "strong sense of community that binds the Village of Malta's citizens and school children in ways exceeding other of the district's attendance areas leading to a powerful and wholesome desire to keep as many Malta grade school students as possible in facilities in Malta," the resolution reads. Dispersing the village's students among undetermined schools in DeKalb will have a "deleterious effect on the educational well-being and community unity of Malta students and citizens."
Malta trustee Kelly Lauritzen said village residents want Malta Elementary to stay open.
"As a village we understood they are driven by very hard decisions about finances," Lauritzen said. "We want them to know the village and residents really want to keep their school. They believe in the community model of schools throughout the country, which show that neighborhood schools tend to produce better students."
Lauritzen said village residents are planning to propose alternative ways to repair the school or give the school board more options to keep Malta Elementary open.
There also is concern about an option that would keep the youngest kids in the community, but students in fourth through sixth grades would be sent to to one of two intermediate elementary schools in DeKalb, trustees Chrissie Manis and Jerry Thompson said.
"If the maximum number of grades possible went to Malta facilities, we would get enhanced support and participation from parents in the community that you just won't get spread amongst however many schools in DeKalb," Thompson added.
Verbic said he had received the resolution, and he appreciated the trustees expressing their interest in the education of the village's children.
The closing of Malta Elementary is not a certainty, he said, but a framework to start with. He noted that the five options proposed thus far by district administrators are just that at this point, and that the seven-member school board will make a final decision on redistricting. The board's next meeting to discuss grade reconfiguration is Wednesday.
"We will weigh all of the different factors," Verbic said. "The first and foremost factor will be the educational opportunities for our students."
If You Go
What: Special meeting of the DeKalb School Board to discuss redistricting
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Cortland Elementary School, 370 Lexington Drive in Cortland
On the Net: The school district has posted a list of Frequently Asked Questions about its proposed grade reconfiguration on its Web site, www.dist428.org/
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