BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Area School Board agreed to close three schools before classes start on Sept. 4 in the latest effort to reduce spending and pay off the district’s $1.8-million debt.
The board approved closing Redstone Middle School, Colonial Elementary and Hiller Elementary schools, hopes the move would save the district an estimated $1.3 million in operating expenses during this fiscal year.
The board also rescheduled the first day of classes to Sept. 4.
At a special meeting on Monday, Board President Jim Brown said he has argued for starting classes on the day after Labor Day for several years, and "we might need the extra time" this year.
In the past, classes have started in the last week in August.
No change was made to the last day of classes, which is scheduled for June 7.
When school begins, the 335 middle school students in grades six, seven and eight will attend classes in the high school, with 676 students in grades nine, 10, 11 and 12.
Students who would have attended Colonial and Hiller will be consolidated into Cox-Donahey, Central and Cardale elementary schools.
With 24 classrooms, Cox-Donahey is the district’s largest elementary building and will hold about 420 students. Both Central and Cardale will have more than 300 students.
Board members voted unanimously in favor of closing Redstone and Colonial, and 5-3 to close Hiller. Directors Andy Dorsey, Ellen Rohrer and Melvin Sally opposed closing Hiller. Director Cheryl Terravecchia participated in the meeting and voted via conference call, and director John Mikita was absent.
Colonial also houses the district’s administration offices, but the board did not take any action concerning those offices.
At one of several meetings the board held recently to discuss the schools and its financial situation, board members said they were considering relocating the administration to office space under the middle school gym because it and the stadium will remain in use for the varsity football team.
Prior to the board’s vote, a member of the Central Elementary School parent-teacher organization urged the board not to close that school.
"Buildings don’t educate children, teachers do," Director Rocky Brashear said.
Brown said all of the district’s elementary teachers do a great job
Responding to a question from resident and board candidate Stella Broadwater, Brown said middle school teachers will not become certified as secondary teachers because they will be working in the high school.
He said middle school teachers will continue teaching middle school courses even though they will be doing so in the high school.
During the planning session, which preceded the special meeting, Broadwater asked how the debt grew from $200,000 in May to $1.8 million now.
"I don’t know where (or) how," Brown said.
Superintendent Dr. Gerry Grant said the business manager told her in May that the debt was $200,000. "On July 2, I found out that was not the case," she said.
She said some bills could not be paid because the district needed what little money it had for payroll, but those unpaid bills kept accumulating.
The district owes Brownsville Bus Lines $505,000, Second National Bank $300,000 and the Fayette County Vocational-Technical School $295,000.
When the special meeting began, resident Nina Kaminsky also asked how the district fell so far into debt.
"Everybody in this room knows," Brashear said. "It started three years ago," he said referring to the board’s decision in 1998 to reopen Hiller and Central schools, which were closed in 1994.
"We can go back 10 years (and find reasons for the debt)," Brown said.
Grant, Brown and Brashear said they did not want to attempt to blame the debt on anyone and, instead, wanted to try to resolve the problem.
Closing schools to save money had been discussed by the board for some time and was recommended by a Department of Education official who reviewed the financial situation.
However, the board needed and received permission from the department to close the buildings without a required 90-day period between the board’s vote and the actual closing.
At a July 31 meeting, Grant estimated that closing three schools would save $1.3 million.
Prior to the hearing, the board furloughed nine teachers and 16 aides and library assistants, and froze all non-union wages.