CLARK COUNTY — In a 4 to 1 vote Thursday night, the Clarksville Community School Corp. board voted to close the 111-year-old George Rogers Clark Elementary at the end of this school year, moving all the children but fifth graders to Greenacres Elementary School.
Fifth graders will go to Clarksville Middle School.
However, even with that vote, the future of 25 teachers who were notified they may not have a job come fall is still not known. Superintendent Kim Knott said that decision will be made before the June 1 deadline.
However, that may not be all. Knott said the district was notified by the Indiana Department of Education to be prepared for cuts next year similar to those made this year.
“This is phase one. Phase two will continue and we’ll start planning that this coming school year,” Knott said. “I believe that’s a first step in a multi-step process as we move forward in these uncertain financial times.”
How it got to there
With standing room only, parents, staff and more filled the board meeting and remained quiet as Knott explained the situation.
Knott said previously that the district was struggling with cutting $491,000 in 2010 expenses before the state announced more cuts earlier this year, which meant the district needed to cut $460,000 on top of that. All those cuts are in the general fund, which pays mostly for salaries and student programs.
She had proposed a referendum that would have would have raised taxes 24 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to those owning property in the district. That failed, with 55 percent of the vote going against the referendum.
Knott said all of that has brought her to here.
She said a committee has been investigating cost savings options for months and she has reviewed all of that prior to making her recommendation. She said closing the school will yield a savings of $560,000, by having that many fewer administrators, teachers, secretaries, custodians and more. She wouldn’t say how many teacher salaries are being considered to add up to that number, saying that it will be announced later.
Knott said the rest of the $1 million savings would be found through creating a new staffing model at the middle and high schools, adding that the schools would share as much staff as they could. She said that would mean less teachers, but didn’t know the exact number yet.
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