In an effort to better align curriculum and maximize space, Clinton City Schools superintendent Dr. Wesley Johnson proposed a school reconfiguration that will shift some grades to other locations.
Board members approved the proposal during this week’s board meeting, and the changes are effective for the 2019-2020 school year.
Clinton City Schools serves more than 3,000 students in five schools (L.C. Kerr, Butler Avenue, Sunset Avenue, Sampson Middle and Clinton High schools). In 2008, the current Clinton High School opened, causing a reconfiguration of older schools.
At that time, L.C. Kerr was changed from a K-2 school to a K-1 school, Butler Avenue was changed from a grades 3-5 school to a grades 2-3 school, Sunset Avenue opened its doors as a grades 4-5 school, and Sampson Middle School moved to its current location as a grades 6-8 school.
With the reconfiguration, L.C. Kerr will become a Pre-K and kindergarten school; Butler Avenue will be a grades 1-2 school; Sunset Avenue will be a grades 3-5 school and the middle and high schools would continue serving the current population.
Johnson said he feels a school reconfiguration will not only allow for the district to grow the Pre-K population, benefit the students and better serve the curriculum, but offer cost-saving measures for the school system.
“By moving the third grade students to Sunset Avenue, it allows us to have all elementary testing grades in the same facility,” Johnson said. “The schools would be more vertically aligned by making this change.”
The current Sunset Avenue facility served as Sampson Middle School prior to the 2008 change. Since the school transitioned to serving fourth and fifth graders, one wing of the school has not been occupied full time with students. That extra space, Johnson said, could be used to house the third grade students.
College Street School is currently home to the Pre-K students served by Clinton City Schools. Now that the board has approved reconfiguring the schools, College Street will no longer be needed for those students, as they will move to L.C. Kerr.
“A reconfiguration would also allow us to grow our Pre-K program,” Johnson added. “We would also be able to reduce the number of buildings being occupied, therefore saving on expenses.”
Following Johnson’s presentation of the proposal during the April meeting, school administration conducted a survey. There were 364 responses to the survey, with 58 percent of the population being fully supportive of the changes. According to survey results, only 7.4 percent of the population was against the changes.
The school reconfiguration was just part of Johnson’s multi-year plan to save the system millions of dollars and help turn a dwindling fund balance around.
According to Johnson, Clinton City Schools has made many budget-saving measures in the last year, including adjusting the global learning partnership provider, maximizing the use of E-rate funding for technology, streamlining professional development to more in-house and partnering agencies, continuing the grass cutting and driver’s education contracts with staff and reorganizing the central office and administrative duties.
However, those efforts aren’t enough to address the problem of a dwindling fund balance, officials said. The district has requested a per pupil increase from county commissioners, which would allow the district to meet many of the budgetary needs being mandated by the state.
House Bill 90 will impact the number of teachers needed for the 2019-20 school year.
There are currently 273 first-grade students and only 12 second-grade teachers. To accommodate the class-size legislation, there will need to be an additional two teachers hired. If the rising kindergarten class tops out over 260 students, there will need to be an additional kindergarten teacher added.