The top administrator of the Butler School District is recommending a plan that would close the Middle School at some point in the next several years.
Superintendent Dr. Brian White on putting more kids into fewer buildings:
“I know that most people initially are going to jump out of their skin because of size but we’re getting smaller. Both the Senior High and the Intermediate School buildings used to have over 2,000 kids in them because the graduating classes used to be over 1,000. We graduated 495 last Thursday and our current second grade has 400 so while we have 1,600 kids in the Senior High School right now, and if we did this tomorrow, we would have closer to 1,900, down the road we would have somewhere between 1,600 and 1,800 so the sizes are manageable.”
White said the reorganization is needed due to expensive infrastructure renovations at the former Butler Jr. High. The Butler Area School Board members just heard about this recommendation Monday night so no decision will be made that would impact the 2019-20 school year.
After seriously researching the impact of four different options, White’s choice would only affect grades K through 4 in the reopening of Broad Street Elementary School. Grades 5 through 8 would be housed at the current Intermediate School with some renovation needed. An extra wing would need to be constructed at the Senior High to accommodate grades 9 through 12.
“This is the most asked about question that I get. Where would you add classrooms at the Senior High School? We would create a physical connection between the gym and the wing of classrooms plus we would have interior traffic instead of an open campus like we do. We also added in an enclosed pathway because then security-wise we might re-think some of the fencing that we are putting in because we would have a closed campus at that point. Kids would not have to traverse outside and we could lock the doors. So there’s a safety piece to that one that resonates a little bit.”
The district has held a series of school organization community forums over the past several months to hear from the public and another survey will be distributed for feedback about this proposal.
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