At Tuesday evening's Board of Education meeting, Webster County Superintendent of Schools Martha Dean dropped a bombshell on Board members: the proposed closing of the Diana Elementary School.
According to a source present at the Board meeting, Dean's plan proposes to close the Diana school and send all of Diana's students from Kindergarten through sixth grade to the Webster Springs Elementary School, with an option for parents of those children to send them to the Hacker Valley Elementary School. Her plan further proposes to send all seventh and eighth grade students in the County (except for Hacker Valley) to the Webster County High School in Upperglade, where a new wing for a Middle School (of such seventh and eighth graders) would be schooled. The plan does not affect any of the students at the Hacker Valley school, regardless of grade.
Details on the plan caused more questions than answers at the Board meeting. Board members did not vote on the plan, but requested the Superintendent to provide more information. According to the minutes of the October 23, 2012 meeting published on the Board's website, "Superintendent Dean will offer suggested solutions to budget shortfall and reorganization." Dean's consolidation plan was apparently proposed due to projected budget shortfalls.
Here is a link to the entire Board of Education October 23, 2012 agenda/minutes:
The Commentator will be reviewing the Superintendent's plan as presented at the meeting and this matter will be updated upon completion of the review.
sadly it all comes down to the potential loss of money...
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy. Seventh and Eighth grade students have no business being at the high school. Dean needs to be replaced with someone that actually cares about what it is best for the children in my opinion.What is the plans per say? I have heard that they will be taking the vocational area. where will those classes go or will the children of our county lose those to?
ReplyDeleteA reading of Dean's proposal raises a lot of questions. Even she admits in the conclusion of her report that "it is important to remember that many more details are required to be in the set of documents required by the State Board Policy 6204 and I have not obtained all the information needed at this time. However, I am happy to address any concerns you have."
ReplyDeleteWe would suggest contacting the Superintendent, your Board of Education members, and/or attending any public hearings and Board meetings on this issue.