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At the end of the current school year, three Warsaw schools - Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake - will be closed, according to a board vote Monday night.
Of the six Warsaw School Board members present Monday at Edgewood Middle School, four members - Craig Allebach, Larry Chamberlain, Cathy Folk and Jim Folk - voted to close the schools. Board members Gene England and Ron Yeiter voted against the closure, and Mark Minatel was absent from the meeting.
A motion by Yeiter to table the vote for 30 days to allow board members to gather more information was seconded by England but opposed by the other four board members.
"As important as this issue is, we need to have a board of seven here tonight," Yeiter said.
"And I'd like to add, what's the hurry?" England said.
The vote followed two hours of comments from parents and other patrons of the disputed schools. Some of the more than 350 people present were senior citizens; a few were from Warsaw.
Sterling Watkins, a member of the Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce and its Education Steering Committee, asked how many present were from Warsaw. When only a few people raised their hands, he said, "I'm ashamed of people in Warsaw for not getting involved. It's not too late. ... Let's do what's right for the kids. It's not time to close those three schools down."
In his opening remarks, superintendent Dr. Dave McGuire stressed that 12.2 teaching positions already were cut and the school corporation is still facing a shortfall of more than a half million dollars.
"The children of all of the elementary schools are denied counselor services and have larger classes because of maintaining the small, inefficient sized buildings," he said. "Additionally, all students have fewer class options when they reach high school so that we can maintain the small schools. The small schools are simply a luxury that we can no longer afford."
Students from the closed schools, he said, would be divided among three of the remaining schools: Atwood students would go to Madison, with Claypool students going to Eisenhower and Silver Lake students going to Washington.
The proposed closings are projected to save approximately $300,000 the first year, and more than $600,000 in subsequent years, McGuire said. But the issue of aging buildings still will need to be addressed in the future.
Angela Fulton, a Silver Lake resident, presented the board with her analysis of the budget figures and said that because McGuire has promised to keep the staffs of the closed schools on the WCS payroll, because the students of those schools will still use the same supplies only at different buildings, and because the closings will incur additional busing expenses, she projects the closings will actually cost the school corporation instead of saving money.
McGuire, when asked about Fulton's report, said he disputed her figures.
Jason Gross, of Claypool, asked why some raises for administrative personnel were included in the 2004 budget if the WCS general fund was running at a deficit.
There were no raises, McGuire said, for administrative or support personnel, and the potential raises were included in the budget "in case the state comes through with more money, and we hope they do."
Another parent said Silver Lake and Claypool will have to proceed with their only alternatives - forming charter schools, moving to neighboring school districts or "forming our own southern school district."
Some speakers supported the proposal to close schools.
Sherrill Plummer, a teacher at Lakeview and Edgewood, asked people to be calm and respectful, and said, "I would love for my grandchildren to go to a small school. ... I would love it, but I don't think it is feasible."
Paul Wagner, a Harrison parent, also supported the proposal.
"A lot of times the school board has to make some difficult decisions" because of the inequality in the state funding formula, he said.
Several parents asked McGuire if the high school building project would continue.
"Is it your opinion there is no way to stop or stall the $30 million project?" asked an Atwood parent.
"Correct," McGuire said.
He later said the high school project had the widespread support of the community. "We're already well into the project and we're gonna continue it," he said.
And in response to a question from a Claypool teacher, McGuire said it is possible that even with the school closings, more teaching positions may need to be cut in the future.
In other business, the board:
• Approved the 2004 budget of $49,951,333, an increase of approximately $2.6 million, or 5.42 percent, over the 2003 budget.
• Reappointed Mark Morrison to the board of Warsaw Community Public Library.
• Heard that enrollment in all Warsaw schools is at 6,553, up 46 from last year.
• Heard reports on summer school and driver education programs.
School board members are: Craig Allebach, Larry Chamberlain, Gene England, Cathy Folk, Jim Folk, Mark Minatel and Ron Yeiter. The board meets at 7 p.m. in the administration building on the third Monday of each month.
