QUOTE
Muncie drops to single high school after 4-1 board vote
9:29 p.m. EST November 18, 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana – After months and years of heated debates, public meetings, school rallies and comprehensive studies, the final decision has been made: starting next year, Muncie will have one high school.
That decision came Monday night by the Muncie Community School Board, which voted 4-1 in favor of the single high school option.
Board members Tony Costello, Debbie Feick, Michael Long and Robert Warrner voted in favor of one high school. Board President Beverly Kelley was the lone dissenting vote.
Hundreds showed up to the Muncie Area Career Center’s gymnasium to witness the historic vote. Some members of the crowd — many of them Southside supporters — reacted with jeers as the decision became evident.
School board officials on Monday voted the one high school would be Central, with Southside becoming a middle school.
Northside would remain the other middle school, officials said, and Wilson Middle School would be “mothballed” until a decision could be made on its future.
Muncie Community Schools Superintendent Tim Heller has said at previous meetings there will be a person from the district assigned to head up the transition process.
Monday’s decision by the Muncie Community School Board was the result of declining enrollment at both city high schools.
By the 1950s, Central — then located in a four-story building on South High Street — became one of the state’s largest, and more overcrowded, high schools, prompting city officials to begin planning a second high school.
Southside High School opened Sept. 6, 1962, becoming Muncie’s first new high school (other than Burris Laboratory School) to open since 1915. Central moved into its existing facility along North Walnut Street in 1973.
In 1970, the city even opened a third high school, Northside, along West Bethel Avenue. Eighteen years later, however, Northside was converted to a middle school, leaving Central and Southside, again, as the only city high schools.
Over the next two-plus decades, with the closure of several key manufacturers around the city, school enrollment numbers in Muncie slowly but steadily began to decline. According to enrollment statistics released Thursday, a combined 1,775 students — 890 at Southside and 885 at Central — are currently enrolled at the two high schools.
Muncie Community Schools officials have estimated consolidating to one high school will save the district about $1.74 million each year.
Although several citizens were in favor of the city having two junior-senior high schools — a measure that some estimated would save about $2.8 million a year — some school board members voiced concerns about having students in grades 7-12 in the same building. They also said the junior-senior high school option would lead to cuts in academic programming.
The Muncie Community School Board next meets in a regular work session Nov. 26th, when work is expected to begin on developing the transitional plan for the 2014-15 school year.
9:29 p.m. EST November 18, 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana – After months and years of heated debates, public meetings, school rallies and comprehensive studies, the final decision has been made: starting next year, Muncie will have one high school.
That decision came Monday night by the Muncie Community School Board, which voted 4-1 in favor of the single high school option.
Board members Tony Costello, Debbie Feick, Michael Long and Robert Warrner voted in favor of one high school. Board President Beverly Kelley was the lone dissenting vote.
Hundreds showed up to the Muncie Area Career Center’s gymnasium to witness the historic vote. Some members of the crowd — many of them Southside supporters — reacted with jeers as the decision became evident.
School board officials on Monday voted the one high school would be Central, with Southside becoming a middle school.
Northside would remain the other middle school, officials said, and Wilson Middle School would be “mothballed” until a decision could be made on its future.
Muncie Community Schools Superintendent Tim Heller has said at previous meetings there will be a person from the district assigned to head up the transition process.
Monday’s decision by the Muncie Community School Board was the result of declining enrollment at both city high schools.
By the 1950s, Central — then located in a four-story building on South High Street — became one of the state’s largest, and more overcrowded, high schools, prompting city officials to begin planning a second high school.
Southside High School opened Sept. 6, 1962, becoming Muncie’s first new high school (other than Burris Laboratory School) to open since 1915. Central moved into its existing facility along North Walnut Street in 1973.
In 1970, the city even opened a third high school, Northside, along West Bethel Avenue. Eighteen years later, however, Northside was converted to a middle school, leaving Central and Southside, again, as the only city high schools.
Over the next two-plus decades, with the closure of several key manufacturers around the city, school enrollment numbers in Muncie slowly but steadily began to decline. According to enrollment statistics released Thursday, a combined 1,775 students — 890 at Southside and 885 at Central — are currently enrolled at the two high schools.
Muncie Community Schools officials have estimated consolidating to one high school will save the district about $1.74 million each year.
Although several citizens were in favor of the city having two junior-senior high schools — a measure that some estimated would save about $2.8 million a year — some school board members voiced concerns about having students in grades 7-12 in the same building. They also said the junior-senior high school option would lead to cuts in academic programming.
The Muncie Community School Board next meets in a regular work session Nov. 26th, when work is expected to begin on developing the transitional plan for the 2014-15 school year.