Savings resulting from school closing unclear
Exact impact may not be known until all classes are set for 2009-10 year
BY LAUREN CIRAULO Staff Writer

HOWELL — Based on projected enrollment figures prepared by the Board of Education's Facilities Committee for the 2009-10 school year, four teaching positions are expected to be eliminated from Howell public schools due to the closure of the Southard School.

The Southard School, on Kent Road, closed at the end of the 2008-09 school year after serving the children of Howell for more than 50 years. School district administrators said the building was being closed in the face of declining enrollment in the district and because of financial pressures.

The regular education pupils who would have been assigned to attend the Southard School in the fall will instead be sent to the Aldrich School on Aldrich Road.

At a June 17 meeting, the board's Facilities Committee presented the new studentbody figures, which indicated that the district will no longer be cutting 10 positions as initially anticipated.

The enrollment is subject to change over the course of the summer, depending on the number of pupils who enter or leave the district in the next two months. Therefore, the final number of eliminated faculty positions could be more or less than the four predicted cuts.

According to information provided by the Facilities Committee, various grades in several Howell elementary schools are close to exceeding the class size average of 25 students per section. This may cause either a freeze and send, which disperses new pupils to various schools regardless of district attendance area lines, or the creation of additional sections, which would require more teachers.

Based on the statistics, the following elementary school grades may be subject to future changes:

• Adelphia School kindergarten and third grade, both close to tipping.

• Ardena School kindergarten, close to tipping, and fourth grade, at capacity, both due to additional English as a Second Language sections.

• Greenville School third grade, close to tipping.

• Griebling School first grade, close to tipping.

• Land O' Pines School first and second grade, both close to tipping, and third grade, at capacity.

• Newbury School third and fourth grade, close to tipping due to inclusion initiative accommodations.

• Ramtown School kindergarten and first grade, at capacity due to inclusion initiative accommodations.

The Taunton School has already added sections to the fourth and fifth grades in order to accommodate inclusion initiative and will therefore be unaffected, as will the Aldrich School, which has no issues postredistricting.

Howell parents have expressed concern over the update, with some skepticism in regard to the cost savings that district administrators initially expected by closing the Southard School.

"Where are the savings, today, and do they continue to justify the board's actions, which seem to be not only disruptive, but sadly, fracturing this community?" asked resident Amy Fankhauser in a Howell school issues Google forum.

Fankhauser went on to explain that the majority of the $2 million the district was projecting to save by closing the Southard School came from salaries and benefits. With a reduction in teacher cuts, she said, that savings is now significantly lower than anticipated.

"And … many class sections throughout the district are nearly full, meaning kids coming in late might be frozen out of their home school and sent somewhere else or a new section might have to be added … reducing the savings even further," she said.

The projected enrollment report will be addressed at the Board of Education's meeting on July 15 at 8 p.m. in the Howell Middle School North cafeteria.

Even though the possibility of dwindling cost savings may loom on the minds of several Howell parents, they were successful with a petition to transfer Southard School Vice Principal Marlene Brown to the Aldrich School and to keep Vice Principal Mary Jurlina at the Ardena School.

The petition, signed by 221 residents, was started by Southard School PTA President Al Miller after he heard that the board might have been considering moving Jurlina to the Aldrich School and Brown to the Ardena School. The objective of the petition was to disrupt students as little as possible.

Brown was transferred during a closed executive session of the board at a meeting on June 17. Southard School Principal Drew Smith was transferred to the Aldrich School during the board's regular session.

In related news, district administrators have been approved to move forward with negotiations regarding the lease of the Southard School. The Police Athletic League's before- and after-care programs, the Cheder School, the Cornerstone Calvary Church and the Accelero Headstart Program, a federally funded preschool, are all contenders to rent space in the school.

Ron Sanasac, the school district's assistant business administrator, said the negotiations are still in the early stages and no time period or fees have been discussed yet.

Contact Lauren Ciraulo at howell@gmnews.com.