The Stillwater school district proposed to close three elementary schools as a plan to even out capacity through all the schools and to save money on Dec. 17, 2015. The district’s proposal to close Marine, Withrow and Oak Park Elementary schools has been stirring up concern in many communities. Stop Bold Cold is a parent based group that originated in response to the BOLD proposal. These parents have questions and strong concerns about the impact of closing three schools in the community.

The school board believes that for budget and capacity reasons the schools should be closed. But the communities of each school have other opinions. The plan was to be voted on Feb. 11 by the school board, but the vote has been postponed until March 3 so board members can continue to receive community feedback to help them make an informed decision.

The last bond that was passed in 2013 cost taxpayers $97.5 million for renovations and improvements throughout the district, but the school board never mentioned closing any schools. No where was it mentioned that there may be future school closing.  The Stillwater Schools website states the bond “will pay for an addition and renovation at the high school, construction of a new elementary school and a variety of improvements to facilities across the district.”

The previous levy from 2013 also made promises. As stated on the Stillwater Schools website, the Levy 2013 will “support current programs and avoid additional budget cuts by providing financial stability.”

Now, however the district proposed to close these schools, which is upsetting to a lot of the community because this plan was never mentioned when they agreed to approve the last bond.

Withrow and Marine Elementary schools are the only two in the district that are Blue Ribbon schools. A Blue Ribbon school is one that has been recognized by the Department of Education for its excellence in academics. On top of that, Marine was ranked 14th out of the 50 top schools in the US by “The Best Schools” website. Marine, Withrow and Oak Park are the smallest schools in the district, but this allows the students that go to these schools to have the opportunity to get more one-on-one time with the teacher due to smaller class sizes. These class sizes allow more personal attention to fit the needs of each student, but by closing the schools classrooms will have more students, which means less attention to each student.

Part of the reason these schools are excelling is because of the tight-knit communities created by parent involvement in their child’s education. These close-knit communities create personal connections to the school and support of it. The involvement has created three great schools with great education that may close due to the BOLD plan.

Further, many families that choose to go to these schools and live outside of the school boundaries do this because of the academics and attention their child will get from the teacher. They choose the school they believe will be most beneficial to their child. But if we take away these stellar schools, there are not as many options to fit student needs and the students will be in larger classes where they will not get the same amount of attention.

Should Withrow, Marine, and Oak Park Elementary remain open?

• Yes
• No

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Unlike the other elementary schools, Oak Park provides additional programing. The GATE program is one for gifted and talented students to get the personal attention to the level of education that they need. They also provide the free or reduced meals program; 24 percent of the students utilize this service for lunch and sometimes breakfast.

If Oak Park closes, where will the GATE program go? If it moves to another school, than the students  will either have to move again or have a long drive. There may not be all of the services provided that are available at Oak Park currently. For example, local churches provide after school tutoring for elementary students who can walk over after school.

Since Marine has approximately five teachers for seven grades, they are not wasting any staff. They also do not hold any empty classrooms because there are only a few of those too and they are all filled. For example the gymnasium also serves as the cafeteria, auditorium, community education room and has been used for Adventure club. Further in predicted capacity reports Marine will have 72 percent in the upcoming year, Withrow will have 86 percent and and Oak Park will have 84 percent. These percentages are actually higher then most other schools in the district such as Stonebridge, which is at 67 percent and Lily Lake which is only at 66 percent.

Although Marine, Withrow and Oak Park are the smallest schools in the district,they still have relatively high capacity for their school because they are still utilizing their staff a, but this clearly is not the case. These small class sizes allow the students that go to these schools to have the opportunity to get more one-on-one time with the teacher. These class sizes allow more personal attention to fit the needs best for each student, but by combining the schools the classrooms will have more students, which means less attention to each student.

Also, bus rides for some students will get much longer than they had when they lived near the school they were attending. The kids that used to have a short walk to get to school will now have to ride the bus for about a half hour or more to get to school.

It does not seem fair to the students that currently live near their school and get the education they want at a location near them, to be forced to change to another school that they originally did not choose and now have to go a further distance to get there. Because a lot of families choose to live in the communities that they do for the schooling that area.

The district justifies their plan because the southern part of the district is growing fast, while the northern part is staying the same. Therefore, the boundaries will shift so that the northern part will have to travel more than the southern part of the district to get to school.

We have existing buildings that we can use for the students in the north, so why move those students to the more concentrated population in the south? Instead, southern students could be moved into the northern schools if necessary.

It is imperative that the school board does not approve the BOLD proposal on March 3. If necessary, the school board should use community input to develop a suitable counter-proposal which would address the district’s concerns without alienating part of the district by closing the heart of their community. Closing these three elementary schools could become the most detrimental decision in the recent history of Independent School District 834.