More Parents Speak Against Stephens BOE Restructuring Plan
By Charlie Bauder, WNEG Radio, Toccoa
More opposition in Stephens County from parents upset at the prospect of Eastanollee Elementary school closing next year.
A second public hearing on that closing took place Monday night in Toccoa.
Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey is proposing a massive restructuring of the elementary schools as well more personnel cutbacks, all in an effort to save the school system some $1.9 million in Fiscal 2016.
Most of those who spoke Monday opposed the plan.
Parent Jennifer Smith says the proposal would be a major hardship for her family.
“I have five kids that I will have to rush to four different schools,” said Smith. “You are not paying my gas bill to run them up and down the road.”
Smith said that under the proposal, her children would be split up and could not pick up homework for a sibling if a child were sick, for example.
She said the plan would leave children behind.
Meghan King, a first grade teacher at Big A Elementary, said she feels a better idea would be to re-zone the county and have three schools that went from Pre-K to fourth grade and then move fifth grade to the middle school.
King said this would be better because each school uses different curriculum and there may not be money to standardize the curriculum if everyone were put there by grade level.
“Our school uses different curriculum to teach phonics, math, and language arts to our students,” said King. “I know this is true for K, 1, and 2. I think it would be difficult to put all first and second grade teachers together in a school where we do not have a common curriculum.”
But Dorsey told the group the school system looked at going to three pre-k through grade four elementary schools.
Dorsey said it is plausible, but does not save as much money because there are more regulations to meet in such a set-up.
Additionally, Dorsey says he does not feel curriculum is going to be an issue.
“I think most of the things we have heard from our administrators and the majority of our staff have actually been the opposite,” said Dorsey. “They feel a unified curriculum is in all of our students’ best interest, where we are collectively making the best decisions for all of our students with all of our brains working together.”
Other speakers raised continued concerns about the readiness of fifth graders to be in the middle school, even if they are separated from the other grades.
The Stephens County School Board has not taken a final vote on Dorsey’s plan yet.
Dorsey has said he would like the board to vote on the budget reduction plan, including the closing of Eastanollee Elementary, this month.
The school board will have its regular meeting on April 21 at 5:30 pm. at the Stephens County School System Administrative offices on Mize Road.