Community Corner

Huron Valley School Board to Meet Thursday

Officials could possibly vote on longstanding middle school closure issue.

The Huron Valley School Board will meet Thurday at 7 p.m. at Milford High School to discuss the possible closing of a middle school – a decision the board's been pondering for the last year.

Due to declining enrollment, the board set out last year to study closing a middle school in the district. The goal, as stated by the board, is to save money and will allow the district to reconfigure the curriculum, using a team-teaching approach, while also maximizing  enrollment in the buildings. 

In team teaching, two or four teachers collaborate to teach the same groups of students different subjects. School officials have said this gives students consistency, and the district claims it allows teachers to form better relationships with students and teach more effectively.

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According to Janet Roberts, director of community relations, the main item on the agenda for Thursday will be the middle schools. She said the board has several options to vote on.

Closing a middle school is the original solution to the enrollment issue. Another is to move fifth-graders to the middle schools and keep all middle schools open. In order to save money, and balance elementry enrollment, the district would instead close .

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The final option would be to close a middle school and move the International Academy, currently at Lakeland, to the closed middle school. This would solve the enrollment problem and, according to the district, would allow for savings comparable to closing an elementary school by potentially bringing in additional schools of choice revenue.

Roberts said the International Academy option hasn't been brought up in public meetings,  but some members of the board and administration have had conversations with officials there about the possibility of moving classes into a middle school.

"The IA has expressed interest in expanding, and with us needing to close a middle school now is a good time to do that," she said.

According to district officials, the middle schools currently aren't operating at optimum enrollment levels for effective team teaching.

"The Board may take into account all three options at their Feb. 24 meeting," Roberts said. "Parents and community members are encouraged to attend the Board meeting to provide public comment and in the event a decision is made on the middle school issue."

The meeting is expected to be packed, if you want to attend arrive early.


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