Closing some of schools
Overland Park, Kan. The Shawnee Mission School Board will have another meeting about closing some of its schools to save money Monday night. The school district recommended possibly closing Bonjour Elementary, Antioch Middle School and Mission Valley Middle School.
Parents should expect to hear recommendations from the superintendent about what will be done. The school board will also take a closer look at boundary changes that would move more students into high schools with lower enrollment to balance things out.
A group of parents from the Shawnee Mission School District filed a lawsuit against the state of Kansas over school funding. They want permission to raise what’s called the ‘local option budget’ through local taxes to help pay for schools.
Right now the state puts a cap on the amount a district can raise that way. Parents hope a win in court will ultimately help them save schools from closing.
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Morehead City. A Carteret County charter school continues to fight state efforts to close its doors.
A hearing will be held WednesdayDec. 15 in Carteret County Civil Superior Court on a motion to stay a State Board of Education decision that would close Cape Lookout High School in Morehead City at the end of the month, said attorney Mike Lincoln, who is representing the school.
Lincoln said he also filed an appeal of the State Board of Education’s decision Wednesday and the stay of the state’s action, if granted, would keep the school open until the appeal can be heard.
At Cape Lookout High School, word of the possible closing came after their return from the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We’re all hoping for the best that we get to stay open” – Principal Teresa Parker said. “We’re praying for a positive outcome.”
This isn’t the first time the charter school, which serves 81 students, has faced uncertainty.
At age 32, Lori Horton has no problem recalling the happy days she spent at Mississippi College’s Lab School.
“I went for 5-year-old kindergarten” – she said. “I’d go to First Baptist in the morning, and one of the parents who was a teacher on the MC campus would walk us from First Baptist to the Lab School each day. We thought that was fantastic.”
When daughter Caroline was 9 months old, Horton got her on the waiting list for the school, which today offers an innovative preschool program that encourages play and creativity for ages 3-4.
But the Lab School, housed in Cockroft Hall and a campus and community fixture for 55 years, won’t educate Caroline and her classmates as 4-year-olds.
School of Education Dean Don W. Locke and college administrators say the Lab School will close in May, a decision that leaves families of the school’s 3-year-olds disappointed and dissatisfied.
“Some parents are very emotional and concerned about it” – Locke acknowledged. “It’s been a very difficult decision” based on a number of factors, he said.