Panel recommends keeping Anderson high schools, Wigwam open

brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com

ANDERSON - Two high schools and a Wigwam.

After spending several months listening to the concerns of parents in the Anderson Community Schools district, the ACS Challenge 2010 Advisory Panel recommended on Monday that both high schools and the Wigwam Complex be kept open.

ACS must trim $5 million from its budget by 2010 and school board members are considering various school closings to meet the budget constraints.

An advisory board made up of community members was formed to host workshops that allowed for parental input and presented its list of preliminary recommendations for the school consolidation at a meeting at Highland High School attended by over 100 Monday.

Two separate scenarios were presented that differed in grade configuration and school closings but both saved the two high schools and the Wigwam Complex.

The first option called for a grade 7 through 12 configuration at both Highland and Anderson high schools. Under the plan, all three middle schools and the Ebbertt Education Center would be shuttered. Option one would cost the school district roughly $922,500 but would save an estimated $5,019,268.

About 71 staff positions, including 39 teachers, would be lost under option one.

Option two proposed a grade 9 through 12 configuration at both high schools but kept two middle schools open. Southview Elementary School, North Side Middle School and the Ebbertt Education Center would all be closed. Option two would cost $857,500 but would save an estimated $5,030,585, according to the advisory panel. An estimated 82 staff including 64 teaching positions would be lost and the teacher-student ratio would increase under the plan.

East Side Middle School Principal Lucinda McCord addressed the panel and warned against closing middle schools. She cited a study that indicated the introduction of sixth-graders into the middle school setting prevented seventh- and eighth-graders from growing up as quickly.

The same would not apply if middle school aged students attended high school, she warned. Instead, the young children would mature more quickly, influenced by their older peers.

"For middle schoolers, they need their own place to be able to grow."

Parent Meri Vaughn said the consolidation process was affecting more than just parents and teachers. "Kids at all ages are worried about this process."

In favor of option two because it seemed to cause less change, Vaughn worried that middle school age students wouldn't be given adequate access to extracurricular activities at the high school level due to overcrowding of the facilities available.

Over the course of the meeting, the panel proposed several other recommendations to help the school district in moving forward after the consolidation.

The panel, stressing that alternative funding and public perception of the schools were a must, advised that ACS should hire a full-time grant writer and a full-time public relations staffer.

Pastor Jim Lyon, a member of the panel, explained that ACS must boost enrollment and improve its negative public image if it is to compete with surrounding school districts. "We're talking about public relations that exposes the truth," he said, explaining that the new public relations system would be an open one. The panel said $100,000 and the cost of salary and benefits for the full-time public relations specialist should be allotted in the district budget.

Dr. Bill VanNess, a panel member, said one of the first goals for ACS should be to build back the trust of the community. "There has been a breakdown of trust between the community and the board."

Panel member Tami Tatum read recommendations that stressed community outreach and partnerships with local businesses and elected officials.

One recommendation within the section proposed that area business owners allow workers eight hours of paid time off to become more involved in the school system, through volunteering or attending parent-teacher conferences.

"There is no substitute for parent involvement," she said.

A full version of the panel's recommendations will be posted online at www.acsc.net.

The panel will host two more workshops this week announcing the latest options before presenting its final recommendation to the school board on March 10 at 6 p.m. at the Wigwam Complex. The next workshops to discuss the recommendations will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at Anderson Elementary School and 10 a.m. Saturday at Anderson High School.