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Closing a school is option in Solon
(by Sue Hoffman - July 06, 2011)
Closing a school is option in Solon
By SUE HOFFMAN
As Solon's school enrollment continues to decline, the district's strategic planning committee action team will be meeting this fall to decide the most effective and efficient use of facilities.
Among their options, the action team could decide to close one of the district's seven school buildings and/or reconfigure grade levels in the schools.
"It's an efficiency issue," School Superintendent Joseph V. Regano said last week. Enrollment for the 2011-12 kindergarten class is currently 233, which is significantly lower than the fourth grade, which includes 342 students, he said. "That's a difference of 110."
While Mr. Regano emphasized that no decision has been made yet, he said, "We probably need to make a decision on the number of school buildings along with the configuration of grades that is most cost efficient. We want to make our decision this fall."
Impetus for the committee comes from the district's strategic plan, which is to check efficiency annually, Mr. Regano said. The committee, which continues to study enrollment figures, could decide to wait another year before recommending action, he said.
Eliminating a building would save approximately $500,000 annually, Mr. Regano said, including salaries of a principal, guidance, office staff and some teachers.
If a building is to be eliminated as a regular attendance center, Mr. Regano said several factors point to Arthur Road Elementary School. "It's our most difficult building from a maintenance point of view," he said, in addition to presenting challenges with its multilevel design. Its elimination would not cause any transportation problems, he said.
The district is completing a $278,000 project to repair masonry and correct drainage issues on the east side of the building. Similar issues on the other side of the building were repaired last year.
If the school were dropped as an elementary school, the district would make "segmented use of the building," which includes retaining the preschool, Mr. Regano said. "It would be used for a different purpose - possibly to generate revenue."
Roxbury, built in 1956 and Lewis, constructed in 1967, along with Parkside, which opened in 1992, are all in excellent condition, he said.
Lewis serves students living north of the freeway on the west side of SOM Center Road (Route 91) and north of Cannon on the east side of SOM. Roxbury is in the ABC street neighborhood and also has students from Liberty Hills. Parkside, which serves several subdivisions east of SOM, is connected to the middle school. Arthur Road School, built around 1967 as a junior high school, has been serving several of the newer subdivisions in Solon as well as areas south of Pettibone Road.
Assistant Superintendent Thomas Stupica said that strategic planning started in 1989 when the original two elementary schools were becoming crowded. The dual school, containing the middle school and Parkside, was then constructed.
"Removal of a building allows you to not only group the grades differently, but also to make better use of teachers," Mr. Regano said."Services such as music, physical education, library and special education all need to be addressed. We are on the cusp of that."
In his 24 years as superintendent of the district, Mr. Regano said there have been four configurations. When he first became superintendent in 1987, there were two elementary schools with kindergarten through fourth grade. For a time, the fourth grade was added to Orchard Middle School. For about five years after the dual school opened, all kindergarten classes were held at Arthur Road School, and grades one to four were housed in the other three elementary schools. Since Arthur Road became a regular elementary school in 1997, all four elementary schools have had kindergarten through fourth grade.
"A long time ago, we had two parallel middle schools, at Orchard and Arthur Road, with grades five to eight," Mr. Regano said.
Configurations were changed as enrollment surged during the 1990s. Enrollment in the district leveled off and for the last five years, it has steadily declined. The annual official count, taken in October 2010, showed 5,152 students in the district, a decrease of 214 from 2006.
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