Union School District could be moving nearer to the closure of the Rimersburg Elementary School as part of a three-year plan proposed by district superintendent John Kimmel during the school board’s recent work session.
According to Kimmel, the matter of the building’s closure is expected to be voted on by the district’s board of directors during a March 19 board meeting.
The new proposal would see third-grade moved from Rimersburg Elementary to Sligo Elementary beginning in the 2020-2021 school year.
Fourth- and fifth-grades would remain at Rimersburg Elementary during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. In the 2022-2023 school year, Rimersburg Elementary would close, effectively placing kindergarten through fifth-grade at Sligo Elementary and sixth-grade through twelfth-grade at the high school.
The impending decision on a building closure comes after roughly three years of board discussions regarding whether or not to close one of the two elementary schools in the district.
A public meeting in the high school gym was held Dec. 9, 2019, to review options and to garner feedback from the community. By state law, the December session was required in order for a closure to be voted on. The district was also required to undergo a three-month waiting period before voting.
“Essentially, it is the same plan presented in December,” Kimmel said of the new proposal. “The big difference has to do with housing grades four and five in Rimersburg. The reason is third-grade is a large class.”
During a comprehensive plan meeting held at the high school Feb. 25, Kimmel noted the three-year plan would allow current third-grade students to move through fourth and fifth grades in Rimersburg before moving onto sixth-grade at the high school.
According to Kimmel, the school board decided to review closing Rimersburg Elementary specifically after an October work session. Kimmel said most of the reasoning related to closing the school relates to finances and unnecessary expenditures.
“When you’re looking at operating three buildings but you can feasibly offer the same level of education in two spaces, it should be cheaper for the upkeep of two,” Kimmel said, adding officials had begun looking at the conditions of each building to determine the next steps.
Savings incurred from the closure largely would come from not having to undertake such enhancements, as well as a lack of upkeep/custodial costs and utility payments.
“A lot of the savings depends on staffing,” Kimmel said. “If we have people who retire and aren’t replaced, that’s usually the biggest cost savings.
Kimmel continued, “As far as instructional staff, the only reductions are through attrition. Any furloughs would be in the supplemental positions essential to operating the building. If we do that transition plan, that doesn’t happen for two more years.”
In the meantime, preparing for the closure mostly has to do with converting where teachers’ classrooms at Sligo Elementary would be located and moving those teachers from Rimersburg to Sligo.
Two separate wings at Sligo Elementary would house kindergarten and first-grade students, while the mail hallway would be used for second- through fifth-grade classrooms. The school’s computer lab could become a music room as well. Kimmel cited students being provided Chromebooks annually as lessening the need for a computer lab space.
At the high school, sixth-graders moved up from Rimersburg Elementary would largely be located in the main hallway near the school’s office.
“We’d be trying to keep sixth-grade self-contained and isolated from the rest of the group for most of the day,” said Kimmel. Once they become part of the high school, things should go smoothly.
“I think there are a lot of benefits to moving sixth-graders up next year in that we offer some additional educational programs for them. It eases with the transition then later on.”
The school board is expected to vote on the building’s closure at 7 p.m. March 19 in the high school library.