No cost estimates given for expanding pre-K in the district.
A redistricting plan Akron school board members were due to vote on Monday was pulled from the agenda at the last minute as Superintendent Michael Robinson explained that a planned expansion of the district’s pre-Kindergarten program to add a full-day option this fall could mean two schools that were slated for closure might need to remain open.
The board did not vote on the redistricting and restructuring proposal, which would have closed some schools and moved students from others. No vote has been scheduled. Robinson said the planned pre-K changes were the reason no vote was held.
Much of the redistricting proposal remains unchanged: The plan would close Firestone Park Elementary School and Robinson Community Learning Center, distributing those students to other schools, while moving STEM High School from the University of Akron’s campus to Robinson CLC.
The redistricting and restructuring plan was also supposed to close Stewart and Essex Early Learning Centers. But Robinson said Monday that a planned expansion of pre-K to add a full-day option might mean the district needs to keep those buildings open.
“If we have an overabundance of students in full-time pre-K, we may have to use those buildings as we’re currently using them today,” he said. “We may have to keep one or both of those buildings open if our enrollment dictates that.”
The district has 671 students enrolled in half-day pre-K across a dozen buildings, according to information from Akron Public Schools. Of those, 118 students are at Essex ELC and 147 are at Stewart ELC.
Akron only offers part-day pre-K, but there has been a push to expand early learning options for students, something Robinson said was a priority. He said Monday the district would open enrollment for full-day pre-K beginning this week. Depending on the number of parents who express interest on behalf of their children, he said, the schools may need to be available.
Robinson said he’d like full-day pre-K to be available for all students, and there was no need for the school board to vote on a measure that would add it. Diana Autry, the board president, said she and her colleagues were excited to add full-day preschool.
Open enrollment begins this week
Mark Williamson, a spokesperson for the district, said in an email that pre-K expansion was “still a thought bubble.” He said the district wants to work on expanding pre-K programs gradually and has “no idea what it might cost at this point.”
“We will be sending to our community a survey to gauge interest” in pre-K, Williamson said. “That has to be done before our knowing how big this might be and how much it may cost.”
He said in addition to going to current families in the district, the survey will go on the school district’s social media sites and its website.
But Robinson said it was a done deal, with enrollment beginning this week. He said the number of students enrolling in the program would determine the need for teachers and classrooms. He also said turning half-day pre-K into full-day pre-K, and potentially adding more students, would not increase the budget. But Robinson said he did not know what would be cut to pay for the expansion.
In addition to Robinson’s push, Mayor Shammas Malik has been outspoken about his interest in expanding early education in the city.
A proposed universal pre-K program championed by the city is not related to the district’s plan, Robinson said.
“I don’t have time to wait if I can help kids learn to read,” he said. “I’m interested in helping those kids early.”
Voting on school closures
Rene Molenaur, a school board member, questioned why the district was only receiving information about the effects of an expanded pre-K program after there had already been more than two months of discussions and presentations regarding the redistricting plan. She noted, too, that the board had already voted last year to close both Stewart and Essex ELCs.
“We’re not going to do what we voted to do?” she asked.
She said the district’s need to save money originally led her to vote to close the schools. There was no information available Monday about what it would cost to keep one or both of the schools open or how much closing the buildings would save.
Stephen Thompson, the district’s CFO and treasurer, said he estimated it would cost at least twice the current budget of the pre-K program to turn half-day preschool into a full-day program, but he didn’t know the current total. He added when he was a superintendent in the Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools, moving from half-day to full-day pre-K increased the program significantly.
“Any additional expenditure has to be looked at as a reallocation of resources,” Thompson said. “The pot’s only so big. Something else will receive less money.”
Debra Foulk, the executive director of business affairs for APS, said when the board made the decision to close Stewart and Essex, there was not a proposal to move to full-day pre-K.
Calling it Schroedinger’s school opening, Molenaur said she wasn’t comfortable voting on a plan that “may or may not” close a school.
“I would like time to process new information,” she said.
Robinson assured her the vote wouldn’t happen that day.
Chris Evans, a parent who has two students in Akron Public Schools, came to the meeting to speak about his concerns regarding the plans for STEM High School, where his son is a junior. After the meeting, he expressed frustration that school board members didn’t seem to know the redistricting and restructuring plan they saw Monday would be different from other iterations.
“It is constantly changing,” he said.
Evans said he was concerned about parents’ abilities to make decisions about their children’s education at any level with a plan that appeared to constantly be in flux.
Robinson said it the pre-K part of the plan was real, though he acknowledged it was possible families could be placed on a waitlist if demand outstripped availability. He said there was no way to gauge demand until people had registered and the district could see the level of interest.
He added that while half-day pre-K will continue to be available in the fall, he doesn’t think it’s as effective as it could be in helping prepare students for Kindergarten. In 2023, according to the district’s Blueprint for Excellence, just 14% of early learning program participants tested as Kindergarten-ready.
Reading, he said, is the foundation on which everything else is built. In a half-day pre-K program, Robinson said there simply isn’t enough instructional time.
Robinson said that as he’s listened to parents, there’s been great interest in increased levels of early education.
“If we are able to accommodate our families, that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “Our community needs this.”
