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At least 400 people braved rain, wind and hail Friday morning to show their support for both sides in the dispute over closing three elementary schools.
Scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in Kosciusko Circuit Court, the hearing didn't start until after 10 a.m. so arrangements could be made to seat the majority of people present.
The hearing before Special Judge Douglas B. Morton, of Fulton Circuit Court, was on the school corporation's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Concerned Citizens for Quality Education seeking an injunction against closing Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake elementary schools.
Morton will announce his decision Wednesday or Thursday.
CCQE filed the suit in October, shortly after the Warsaw school board voted to close the schools. In March, WCS filed a motion to dismiss the CCQE lawsuit, and CCQE filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss.
Friday's hearing was only on the motion to dismiss and CCQE's opposition; it was not on the lawsuit asking for an injunction.
Thomas Weaver, attorney for Warsaw Community Schools, argued that the court has no jurisdiction in the case because of the separation of powers in the Indiana Constitution.
Power over the schools, he said, was granted to the General Assembly and through the General Assembly to local school boards.
"At its core, the decision to close three schools is a political question, not a court case," he said. " ... From the school corporation's perspective, this is a political question to be resolved at the ballot box. If the taxpayers don't like it, they can deal with it at election time."
John Price, attorney for CCQE, responded that the court does have authority because of the arbitrary and capricious nature of the decision to close the schools. He said WCS Superintendent Dr. David McGuire threatened at least twice that if there was a remonstrance against a plan to build a new school in Winona Lake and renovate Claypool Elementary that he would close the three smallest schools with a simple board majority vote "and the stroke of a pen."
Weaver said that according to state law, school districts are barred from running in a deficit situation, and Warsaw Community Schools knew for the past four years that something would have to be done.
Calling the smaller schools "horribly inefficient," he said their closing would save the school corporation $300,000 per year and if they remain open, it would result in teacher layoffs.
Price said the majority of the school board never publicly analyzed the claimed $300,000 savings, and did not question the recommendation from McGuire.
As an example, he quoted WCS as claiming the school corporation would save $10,000 in water costs for the three closed schools. The same students will be in the school system, just moving to other schools, he said. Will they not use water at their new schools?
Weaver said the CCQE contention that the remaining schools will be overcrowded "is purely speculative." The capacity figures released previously, he said, were for the "situation at the time," but the capacities of the elementaries have been reconfigured to handle the new situation.
If there is an eventual problem with crowding, he said, the sixth-graders can be moved to the middle schools, and the elementaries can use the eight portable classrooms that are not now being used.
Price quoted from the Community-Based Planning Project that was done several years ago and that said classroom use for grades one through six already was at 96 percent, and in six of the schools was at 100 percent.
If full-day kindergarten is approved, he said, that would add seven full classrooms.
The use of portable classrooms and sending sixth-graders to middle schools, he said, are signs of "someone not considering the children."
It doesn't take much analysis, he said, to realize that "if schools are overcrowded now that if you close three and put them into the other schools, it puts those kids in a health and safety perilous situation" and risks their education.
After the arguments, Morton said he would consider the arguments and issue his decision next week.
McGuire said after the hearing that he sees the turnout as "confirmation that schools are truly important" to the community. He said transition plans are in place, and if the closing is stopped, then everything will simply remain as it is now.
Price said that for so many people to come out in a storm indicates that there is a lot of feeling in the community over the school closing issue.
He added that if Morton rules to dismiss the CCQE lawsuit, then CCQE will have to decide whether or not to appeal. If the judge denies the dismissal, then the original lawsuit will be argued at the June 22 hearing.
