COLUMBUS, Ohio – After weeks of spirited meetings between Columbus school officials and parents, students and community leaders, Independence High School has been saved from the chopping block, for now.
A panel assigned to determine the fate of several elementary, middle and high schools in the district has recommended that Independence, Siebert Elementary School and Fifth Avenue K-6 International School be spared, though four other schools including Brookhaven High School, were not so fortunate.
The Columbus school district’s Consolidation Team on Monday forwarded its final recommendations to the school board, which will vote on them Tuesday night.
In addition to the Feb. 11 board meeting when the list of seven schools slated to be closed was first introduced, two community meetings were held, where district officials heard from more than 900 people, including more than 130 students, staff and community members.
The panel’s final word is: Independence and Siebert are to remain open – with some conditions – and the Fifth Avenue school will be redesigned and moved. Brookhaven, Monroe Middle School and Maybury and Arlington Park Elementary schools are doomed to be shuttered.
Although enrollment at Independence had declined an average of 6.7 percent over the past three years, the committee decided that closing the school would “significantly disrupt the east-side feeder pattern.” For the school to remain open, the panel says administrators should build an “engagement plan” to improve enrollment.
While Siebert is currently at capacity, the committee says the building’s capacity is smaller than the recommended 400 students for an elementary school. While the school will remain open, the panel recommends the district address its size through renovation, replacement or relocation.
Fifth Avenue K-6 International Elementary School – currently housed in a building the committee says is too big and in “extremely poor condition” –will be redesigned and moved into the former Hubbard Elementary School building.
Designed to house 1,145 students, Brookhaven High School currently has a student body of only 521 and enrollment has decreased by an average of 8.5 percent over the past three years. Current students either attend Mifflin High School or enter a lottery to determine their new school. Brookhaven’s feeder system will be divided up to serve Mifflin and Whetstone high schools.
Monroe Middle School’s enrollment has decreased by an average of 23.1 percent over the last three years and has been recommended for closure twice before.
Students currently attending Arlington Park would be reassigned to East Linden Elementary School.
Maybury Elementary’s total enrollment has decreased an average of 7.4 percent a year over the last three years and is only 288 students, who will be transferred to Leawood, Oakmont and Liberty Elementary schools.