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The School Status and Option Committee presented the Warsaw School Board with short- and long-term recommendations Monday night after going over the statistics and data that led them to those options.
Terry Sims, committee chairman, said the options were not in any order of preference. The school board may choose to use one, a combination of the options or none at all. The short-term options, Sims said, were more difficult for the committee to formulate than the long-term ones.
There were four short-term options.
The first was the addition of portable classrooms. The positive point is that portable classrooms meets the immediate need for space. However, there is a high cost for the temporary solution and the question of what happens to them when Warsaw no longer needs them.
A second short-term option is renting classroom space, which also would meet Warsaw's immediate need for space. However, it would divide schools and increase busing costs.
Moving classes from one school to another was the third option. It would allow the corporation to fully use facilities and all efforts would be made to keep the classes as connected with their "home" school as possible. However, the downside is the separation of schools and increased busing.
The last short-term option is to reopen Claypool Elementary as a K-4 school while a southern school location is determined and a minimum of a three-section school is built. A three-section school has three classes per grade level. The positive points include an immediate relief of crowding in Eisenhower and Washington schools; the ability to use old districting lines for Claypool and Silver Lake; and it would be helpful to Silver Lake and Claypool parents in terms of required kindergarten transportation.
On the downside, the building's size would not allow space to accommodate "bubble" class sizes. The option also means moving children who were moved last year.
If the fourth option was selected, Sims said the committee was adamant that it be used with the assurance of a minimum of a three-section school be built in the southern portion of the district.
Sims then presented the three long-term options, again in no particular order of preference.
Option A is to close Jefferson and build two new four-section schools. This option would increase elementary capacity from the current 3,850 students to 4,900 students and decrease occupancy percentage from the current 98 percent to 77 percent. The positive points are listed as: efficient use of staff, maintains optimal class sizes and allows capacity for future growth. The negative points are staffing costs and the question of where to build two new buildings if Jefferson is closed.
Option B is to reopen Claypool as a three-section school and build one new four-section school in the northeast part of the district. This would, according to the report, increase elementary capacity from the current 3,850 students to 5,075. It would decrease the occupancy percentage from the current 98 percent to 74 percent. The listed positive points include: allows use of existing facilities, increased capacity, maintains optimal class sizes and allows capacity for future growth. The downside includes possible structural and/or land issues with existing Claypool site, and staffing costs.
The last option, C, is to build two new four-section schools - one in the northeast part and one in the southern part of the district. This reportedly will increase elementary capacity from the current 3,850 students to 5,250 students, and decrease occupancy percentage from the current 98 percent to 72 percent. Positive points listed include: location of schools northeast and south addresses demographic issues; maintains optimal class sizes; and allows capacity for growth. The negative points are demographic issues and staffing costs.
Sims then presented the board with three options the committee considered, but ultimately rejected.
Staggered schedules was deemed not realistic because of the large geographic area of the school district, as well as the complicated logistics involved.
The option of year-round school was rejected because it was previously discussed and rejected by a Warsaw School Board and the community. It isn't valid as a short-term option because of the expense and it would need to be a permanent change.
The last rejected option is moving sixth-graders to the middle schools.
If Eisenhower, Madison and Washington sixth-graders were moved to Edgewood, and Harrison, Jefferson, Leesburg and Lincoln sixth-graders were moved to Lakeview, Edgewood's occupancy percentage for the 2006-07 school year would be 108 percent and Lakeview's would be 81 percent. Edgewood would have immediate overcrowding and Lakeview eventually would experience overcrowding.
"The committee felt strongly that moving the overcrowding at the elementary to the middle schools didn't solve any problems," said Sims.
If the middle school encompassed sixth-graders, the committee felt new buildings would be needed. The current middle school buildings do not fit the middle school model without major remodeling. "It could be extremely expensive," said Sims. He also presented the board with a copy of a Newsweek article against grades 6-8 middle schools.
"In summation, we kind of felt like we'd be moving the problem from one place to another," said Sims.
Four general recommendations also were made. The committee sees a need for a regularly scheduled study of the demographic information. Major renovations are needed to existing schools. The board needs to continue to get a broad representation from the community for future committees. And the accessibility of accurate information from the school corporation as well as communication to the community at large should be addressed.
The full report with all the statistics, information and options will be posted on Warsaw Schools' Web site. Copies also are available at the administration office for 10 cents per page. School Board President Ron Yeiter said the school board will discuss what to do with the information at Monday's regular school board meeting.
The committee is composed of 22 members, representing each of the five townships, each of the schools, teachers, administrators and two former school board members. The committee met every other Tuesday since April for at least two hours. Information was collected from various sources, including the Chamber of Commerce, the county and Warsaw plan commissions, Realtor's Association, interviews, tours and local businesses.
In other business, the school board approved Yeiter as the 2006 board president, Dan Robinson as vice president and Gene England as secretary. The board will continue to meet on the third Monday of every month at 7 p.m.
