Parents await superintendent's recommendation on school closings

Bibb County school Superintendent Curtis Jones is poised to recommend which schools to close or consolidate at Thursday's school board meeting.

Board members would most likely hold a final vote in January or February, after two public meetings, said Keith Simmons, the system's chief of staff.

District officials and board members say it's a decision being taken very seriously, and a lot of time and effort have gone into research and data gathering.

The district could opt to close an elementary school to address underutilized facilities, high operation costs at some schools, declining student enrollment and school performance.

It's estimated that the district will have an excess of 91 classrooms in its elementary schools by the year 2022, according to a report from the district.

As a starting point for discussion, Jones asked board members during a work session Nov. 9 to consider merging Riley Elementary students into nearby schools or consolidating L.H. Williams Elementary into Brookdale Elementary. Less than 70 percent of the space at the three schools is being used, Simmons said.

Riley underwent $3.6 million in renovations in recent years, but it still has some of the highest operation costs in the district. It's an older facility that's not fully enclosed, so students have to go outside to get to some areas, Simmons said. If the school stays open, it would need more renovations to "close" the facility.

Supporters of Riley and L.H. Williams attended and spoke at the October and November board meetings. Jones gave a facilities presentation and answered questions from the public during an information session Nov. 28. Jones is taking feedback from board members and community members into account in his recommendation.

The process

The organization of the county's schools is a portion of the five-year facilities plan that the district has been working on since March. The plan is a requirement from the state Department of Education in order for districts to receive Capital Outlay Program funding, said Jason Daniel, executive director of capital programs for the district.

During the district's last five-year plan, eight schools were closed, two were phased back in and four new ones were built. Maintenance had been deferred and earlier facilities plans had expired, so a lot of facilities were old and operating inefficiently, Daniel said.

"The things that are being talked about (in the new plan) are far less comprehensive than what we've done in the last five years," he said. "I would say that this is considered more routine. You want to make minor adjustments to stay in front of the needs and make sure that you're planning. You don't want to get out and take drastic measures."

Board members toured some of the county's underenrolled schools in May. They requested assistance from the Department of Education on their plan and hired an architectural firm to review facilities. Daniel said every building and classroom was visited and assessed.

District employees have been looking at data on transportation costs and logistics, school boundary lines and walk zones, and comparing how students are zoned with where they go to school, Simmons said. They're also considering factors such as enrollment and locations for new charter schools like Dream Academy and Bloomfield Preparatory Academy.

"The intent is to give the superintendent enough data to make an informed decision. ... Right now, we don't have a recommendation, and it's about three elementary schools that are relatively low or under the desire of building utilization," said Simmons, referring to Brookdale, Riley and L.H. Williams. "The goal is, what can we do to improve the efficiency of those schools."

The district has not been thinking about building new schools at this point, but that doesn't mean it's not a possibility.

Decision time

Board President Daryl Morton said he and other board members don't know what Jones' recommendation will be. However, he doesn't have any indications that it will be different from the initial ideas that Jones presented, although there could be slight changes, since new information has been gathered.

"I think at this point we've had some broad strokes about what they're looking at. We are still sort of waiting for something more concrete," Morton said. "Whatever the recommendation, ... I want to know why is that the right thing to do and how does the decision continue to move the system forward."

Simmons said the district recognizes parents' desires for convenience and the importance of school legacy and heritage, but at the same time, Bibb County has to be a good steward of its resources.

"There are a lot of factors that go into this, and we certainly don't take any of those for granted," Simmons said. "This is a rigorous process. The reason it's so rigorous is we want to do the best we can do so we won't negatively impact students, their families and their experiences."

At the end of the day, it's all about providing the best resources and facilities so students can get a quality education, Morton said.

"I think if you go back and look at some of the results from the previous work of the five-year plan, there's been some big benefits," Daniel said. "We're thinking along the same lines, using the same criteria, trying to do what's best for the district and the students."

Andrea Honaker: ahonaker@macon.com, @TelegraphAndrea

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Parents await superintendent's recommendation on school closings."