The Chardon Schools Board of Education heard more details regarding a proposed district-wide reconfiguration at their Jan. 16 meeting.
The Chardon Schools Board of Education heard more details regarding a proposed district-wide reconfiguration at their Jan. 16 meeting.
The board will not vote on a proposed reconfiguration plan until their Feb. 20 meeting.
Superintendent Michael Hanlon’s update clarified which students might be attending different district schools next year.
The proposed change would see all fourth- and fifth-grade students moved to Chardon Middle School, eighth-grade students to Chardon High School and a reshuffling of students in grades kindergarten through third.
Hanlon also showed updated transportation boundaries, which indicate the following changes:
• All current Maple Elementary School students would go to Park Elementary School;
• All current Hambden students would go to Park, except 34 students who would go to Munson Elementary School. These are students on Chardon-Windsor Road, including Leaders Mobile Home Park and all developments; Claridon-Troy Road; and state Route 608 south of Sisson Road.
• 44 current Park students in western Chardon Township would go to Munson, including students on Thwing Road, and all developments; Wilson Mills Road west of Park Avenue, and all apartments and developments; and state Route 6 west of Meadowlands Drive, and all developments;
• 52 Park students south of Chardon Square would go to Munson, including students on South Street south of Claridon Road, and Burlington Green and Burlington Oval; Claridon Road, including Fox Pointe and the Woods of Burlington.
The district would once again close Hambden Elementary School, which was reopened in 1989 when enrollment began to climb. Maple would be converted to house the district preschool classrooms and some ancillary staff offices.
Munson and Park elementary schools are the largest in the district, with 16 and 19 classrooms each, respectively. The two buildings would house all kindergarten through third-grade students.
Projections for both Munson and Park are for uniform class sizes between 19 and 24 students per class, per grade.
Estimations for enrollment were raised slightly to include any incoming students not yet accounted for, with assumptions of 338 students in Munson and 335 at Park for 2018. Hanlon noted there is more room than what is accounted for in the projections and this plan allows for upward fluctuations in enrollment even as the numbers decline overall.
Current plans show Munson with four classes for each grade, including four half-day kindergarten sections and one all-day, every-day kindergarten class. The building would also gain dedicated art and music classrooms.
Park, projected to have 335 students, would also have four classes for each grade, with two half-day kindergarten sections and two all-day, every-day kindergarten classes.
The art room would be moved back into the school building, eliminating some of the “tunnel experience” for students who currently have to travel through a tunnel connecting Park and Park Auditorium. Hanlon noted students would still have physical education in the auditorium space.
Both interdistrict and intradistrict enrollment will remain open, meaning as long as there is room, students who would like to attend a different elementary school than their assigned school can do so. Students from outside districts will also still be eligible to apply for enrollment in Chardon Schools.
With the shift to grades fourth through seventh, the middle school will have about 90 more students than in the 2017-18 school year. However, that projected number drops to 60 fewer than 2017 after 2021.
Adding the district’s eighth-graders means the high school will also see an enrollment jump of 100 to 150 students, which is projected to decline down to current levels after 2021.
Both middle school Principal Tim Velotta and high school Principal Doug Murray told the board they are making big strides in “school culture and climate” to incorporate the needs of younger students.
Velotta told the board in addition to expanded opportunities to join grade-level appropriate clubs and extracurricular activities, students will have grade-specific lunch periods and recess time.
Teachers will supervise hallway transitions and all students, except for a few fourth-graders, will use lockers.
Eighth-graders at the high school will also have a separate lunch period as well as access to upper-level courses offered.
Murray said eighth-graders will not attend dances with older students and they are prohibited by the state from participating in high school sports, so they will have to return to the middle school building occasionally for athletics.
While Hanlon has said at previous meetings the reconfiguration planning has been underway since enrollment projections showed a future drop-off of students in the district, he said at the meeting current plans to close or reorganize district schools are a response to voters choosing not to pass an operational levy in November 2017.
“We recognize that the community is saying if you can find operating efficiencies, we want you to do that,” Hanlon said.
A facilities work session is planned for Jan. 29 at 5:30 p.m. Work sessions are open to the public, but do not allow for comments or questions from the audience.
The district also announced assistance for students impacted by the closure of The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. Families can contact the board office at 440-285-4052 or visit chardon.k12.oh.us.
In other business, Chardon High School seniors T.J. Harmon, Josh Kelly, Myles Metz and sophomore Marcus Chauby gave a detailed presentation to the board on their recent trip to rural Virginia’s impoverished Appalachian region as part of a service project.
The four explained how they helped build a porch and re-side a home with the aid of high school teachers Rob Mizen and Scott Brown, who accompanied them on the trip.
Maple Elementary School teachers Laurel Hughes and Diane Pirnat, and fourth-grader Austin Clute, first-grader Abby Clute, fifth-grader Porter Coe and fourth-grader Claire Stevenson presented the board with hand-made signs and cards in honor of School Board Recognition Month.
