2010-2011 Budget Plan Met with Resistance

Board of Education Members Donald Cook and Richard Pento having a private discussion during the BoE Meeting

At the February 8th BoE Meeting new superintendent Dr. Richard Johns rolled out his proposed 2010-11 Budget for the LCSD.  As the press informed the public in the days prior to the meeting, Dr. Johns recommended that Wetzel Road Elementary be closed at the end of this school year.  The interesting factor that became quickly apparent to those in attendance was that this proposed measure was not a cost cutting measure.  The LHS Auditorium was packed to the brim with additional seating for some 50 people as over flow was set up in the lobby to hear some news that took many in attendance by surprise.

The plan to close WRE was also coupled with a plan to close Morgan Road Elementary at the end of the 2010-11 academic year.  After the public began probing Dr. Johns for answers, he finally did admit that the decision to close WRE followed by MRE was because of both of these buildings’ proximity to LHS vs. any financial benefit .  According to Dr. Johns, in conversations with local realtors, the realtors explained that potential residents were bypassing the LCSD because of the large number of students, some 1800, housed at LHS.   His budget prosed that by closing these two elementary schools it would pave the way for an “academy format” at the high school level.

He went on to describe academies as smaller learning communities which were divided by content areas allowing fewer students to “fall through the cracks” vs. in the present high school setting at LHS.  The first of the academies would be put in place in the WRE building beginning September 2010 and then after closing MRE, a second academy could be established in that building while others could also be established in the present LHS building proper.

The possibility of closing MRE took everyone by surprise and during the Q and A session a rather vocal audience of WRE parents and taxpayers took Dr. Johns to task questioning the rationale behind this plan and the need vs. want dichotomy of such a program at the secondary level.

Expect to hear much more on this issue in future BoE meetings as budget review is listed as the topic for several upcoming BoE meetings and we would suspect, many more parents from WRE and MRE as well as concerned taxpayers to be voicing their opinions.