Superintendent lays out plan to keep Garner Elementary open
“Our dropouts are down, our graduation rate is up,” Dr. Susan Hull, Superintendent of Schools said complementing the district’s teachers, principals, and staff as she spoke about the state’s budget woes. “Right now we [the district] are on the brink of exemplary. We should be stress-free, rocking-n-rolling, getting those kids performing at even a higher level. But, instead I have people worried whether or not they are going to be able to feed their family. It’s just a situation I really regret.”
On Tuesday night Dr. Hull addressed a standing room only crowd in the Garner Elementary School cafeteria about the district’s financial problems because of the state’s deficit. One of the district’s measures to reduce its projected shortfall of $15-$26 million is to close Garner, the district’s smallest school.
Because the school’s enrollment is a little more than 300 students, Dr Hull said it cost more to operate it than the district’s other elementary schools that have an enrolment of over 500 students. Closing the school would save the district $1.5 million.
Dr. Hull then presented a plan that could keep the school open. She said that with an additional 100 students enrolled at the school, it could remain open. She encouraged parents to use the school’s many assets to convince parents that have children in charter schools, home schooled, or in other districts to attend Garner.
She listed some additional factors that could keep the campus open:
Passage of a $70 million bond package
Opening a 3-4 year-old paid Pre-K at the school
