No school closures named during Board presentation

October 11, 2012
Kelli Nelson

As you can imagine, last night's Board of Education meeting was intense, to say the very least.  It is hard for me to be objective in recapping the events of last night.  It is accurate that the Superintendent, Mr. Guthrie, did not propose any school closings.  However, he, along with several members of the Board of Education and Commissioner Howard do feel an independent, third-party review/study is still necessary.

I would encourage everyone to watch the re-broadcast of the Board meeting (either on Cable TV or via the school system's website: www.carrollk12.org).  If you can only listen to or view part of the discussion(s), I encourage you to watch the first 20 minutes of the meeting, which includes an impassioned speech from Mr. Guthrie, along with a detailed explanation of the current budget situation and various financial scenarios as we move forward.

Bottom line(s):

• THE "FIGHT" HAS JUST BEGUN!  If we - residents, parents, teachers AND students - do not weigh in and stay vigilant during the upcoming budget process, our schools facilities will continue to be targeted.
• If we do not express our concerns and views directly to ALL five of the Commissioners, several are likely to continue calling for school closures as a way to offset costs.
• If we do not tell them exactly how we feel about our schools and the education of our students on behalf of our school system, several of the Commissioners may continue to call for reductions in the upcoming school system budget (back to M.O.E.) which will mean DRASTIC changes in the education of our students.
• If we think we're "safe" and "relax" now that Liberty High School was not named for closure, WE WILL BE RIGHT BACK HERE NEXT YEAR!

Please take time to read the articles below, watch a re-cap of last night's Board meeting and call on the Commissioners to maintain level funding ($164 million) for our schools.

Continue to speak out and stay informed.  This is far from over.