Members of the Akron Board of Education on Wednesday approved a long-delayed redistricting plan, adding clarity to their proposed pre-Kindergarten expansion and confirming the closure of some schools.
The redistricting and restructuring plan, approved with a 6-0 vote, will close Firestone Park Elementary School, redistributing students there to other elementary schools, and move STEM High School to Robinson Community Learning Center, sending its students to other schools. The building will now be known as the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM High School at Robinson CLC.
It will also ease overcrowding at Harris-Jackson CLC and delay the closure of the Ott Building. Essex Early Learning Center, which was due to close along with Stewart Early Learning Center, will stay open with six pre-K classrooms as Superintendent Michael Robinson detailed his plan to add full-day pre-K options beginning this fall.
Starting then, the district will have 16 full-day and 34 half-day pre-K classrooms, with the intention to continue expanding full-day pre-K options in the coming years. The district plans to add two pre-K teachers and two paraprofessionals for a cost of $270,000. It will also cost $90,000 to keep Essex open.
Now, there are 405 pre-K students across 31 half-day classrooms. Pre-K classrooms can hold between 10 and 18 students apiece depending on their setup and the students’ needs, said Tamea Caver, an assistant superintendent and chief academic officer in the district. She said keeping Essex open will allow the program to continue to grow.
Robinson said that, by expanding to full-day pre-K, he wanted to ensure the district was a place that parents wanted to bring their children — particularly when they can choose to use vouchers to send their kids to private or other schools.
“It’s clear, contrary to what’s been publicized, that we do have a plan for where we want to go,” Robinson said. “We have to ask ourselves, what is the value of literacy?”
There has been broad support for expanded pre-K options in the city, though questions about cost and accessibility have remained. Angela Carter, Robinson’s chief of staff, said the district will be applying for grant funding to cover some of the increased costs. If more students are interested in pre-K than there are slots available, she said, they will be added to a waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis.
The addition of full-day classrooms reduces the number of total pre-K classes in the district from 62 to 50, but Carter said the district intends to maximize its classroom capacity — something that isn’t currently the case.
“If we get the kids in our pre-K programs, I’m hoping they’ll stay with us,” she said. “Now the work can start to happen, which is great.”
District hopes for influx of kids to pre-K programs
Robinson said he didn’t know how many parents would choose the $250 monthly full-day or $125 monthly half-day pre-K programs, but he hopes for strong registration numbers.
“We might get an influx of kids, and I hope we do,” he said. “We don’t know.”
While district officials were clear that they intended to keep Essex open and close Stewart, there was ambiguity in the proposal board members were voting on about whether the buildings might both need to stay open. They gave the superintendent an April 1 deadline to confirm that Essex would not close, the same day teachers must put in requests if they want to transfer schools.
Board Member Rene Molenaur said she didn’t want the whole redistricting plan to be “held hostage” because Essex and Stewart’s future was not spelled out in the latest iteration of the redistricting proposal.
“I think teachers deserve to know what building they’re going to be in,” she said. “I think they should know before school starts. They should know before August.”
Sue Loughrie, with the early learning program, told board members during public comment that she and others wanted to know whether pre-K students would have access to gym and playground equipment that was appropriately sized for them and whether their buildings would remain open. She said decisions about pre-K affected teachers and their families.
After the meeting, she said she was glad teachers had received clarity about where they might be located.
“We’re just glad a decision was made,” she said.
