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Declining Enrollment Has Taylorville School District Looking at Elementary School Alignment

The Taylorville School District is looking at consolidating three elementary schools into to attendance centers for the 2018-2019 school year. Discussion on the issue started at Monday night’s school board meeting.

 

Option 1 would include sending all Kindergarten and first grade students to Memorial School while 2nd through 4th grades would go to North Elementary. Stonington Elementary would then house the district’s alternative center only. Option 2 would still include Stonington only hosting the alternative center, while North would have Kindergarten through 2nd grade students and Memorial would have 3rd and 4th grade. Option 3 would also have North educating Kindergarten through 2nd grade, but 3rd and 4th graders would go to Stonington, and Memorial would hold the district’s alternative center only.

 

Taylorville School District Superintendent Dr. Gregg Fuerstenau says merging the three schools into two attendance centers would allow the district to better control class sizes and also better distribute staff between the schools.

 

 

Fuerstenau says it would also allow for better distribution of time for PE, Music and Art for elementary students. He says bringing all of the teachers into two buildings allows for a unified curriculum for each grade level.

 

 

One possible drawback is the loss of elementary school students at Stonington or Memorial Elementary School. Fuerstenau acknowledges that drawback, but says that no facilities would completely close under any of the plans.

 

 

Fuerstenau says the board has until March to make an official decision on where elementary students will be for the 2018-2019 school year. Taylorville’s next school board meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 8 at 7 p.m. at the Taylorville School District Administration Building.

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