By Barrett Newkirk, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
November 14, 2008 11:53 pm
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ANDERSON — Details of two preliminary options for city school closings, one of which turns Highland High School into a middle school, have come to light through an online discussion site.
Board members with Anderson Community Schools confirmed that information posted by a person using the screen name Patriot Dan is similar to an option presented to them by the school district’s administration.
The plan involves closing Edgewood, Eastside, Killbuck, Robinson and Southview elementary schools, as well as Southside Middle School. Northside Middle School would become an elementary school, and Highland High School would become a middle school housing seventh through ninth grades. Anderson High School would keep grades 10 through 12.
A second option, wrote Patriot Dan, deals with Ebbert Education Center and Robinson Elementary and moving the location of the alternative school.
While some school board members dismissed the information as rumor, others said parts of the plans were similar to options they’d received from the administration.
Board President Teddy Bohnenkamp and member Bill Riffe said the post was not like anything they’d seen yet.
“We don’t have anything structured like that so far,” Bohnenkamp said. “What we’ve got is all the data we’ve got to go through.”
Not all board members could be reached for comment, but two said the post matched one option they have seen.
Of the first plan, Tim Long said “some pieces do fit.”
He worried, however, that changing the two high schools structure was too radical of a move to be a serious option. Long added that the plan described online seemed to not fully consider the district’s enrollment.
“You can’t cut the pie that way,” he said.
Board member Tobi Jones also said the first option sounded similar to something the administration had told the board.
She said the plan has its positives and negatives.
Closing buildings and creating larger schools does have its advantages, Jones said, like decreasing administrative and utility costs and giving more students access to specialized classes.
The down side to larger buildings, she said, is that they can be a “culture shock” to a city comfortable with its smaller, neighborhood schools.
Commenting on the second plan, Jones would only say that because Ebbert is an older building, it could be a candidate for closing.
Superintendent Mikella Lowe said she couldn’t immediately comment on how the information posted online compared to options prepared by her staff.
“Somebody’s doing homework and looking at options, certainly,” she said.
Lowe announced at a school board meeting Tuesday that her staff had prepared information regarding possible school closings as a way for the district to handle a $5 million budget cut in 2010.
And while that data has been given to the board, Lowe and board members have chosen not to make it public, they said, because they want to gather outside input through a series of public meetings in the coming weeks.
Jones said she disagrees with the decision to not release the information.
“I personally think we should be more forthcoming with the information and more transparent,” she said. “Everything is an option at this point. I’ve heard as much in the rumor mill as I’ve had presented to me by the administration, honestly.”
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