VERSAILLES, Mo. -- Reorganization plans for the Morgan County R-2 School district had great opposition last week as more than 100 people gathered in the elementary libraries of the district to share their opinions.
Two town hall meetings - Monday at South Elementary and Thursday at Versailles Elementary - held the same message: enrollment is declining across the board and changes need to be made. The response from the parents of both schools was very much the same. They don't like the idea.
"This all started during strategic planning sessions," said Dr. Joyce Ryerson, superintendant of the Morgan County R-2 district. "Numbers are declining across the board."
She said many discussions have been held, trying to figure out a way to better utilize the buildings they have while doing what is best for the students.
Ryerson said enrollment is declining across the board, and south School has only 44 students this year, along with no kindergarten class.
She added reorganization would fill South Elementary to capacity and give the MCR2 district an Early Learning Center. All preschool students, Parents as Teachers programs and elementary special education would be housed in the South building, while all kindergarten, first and second graders would be together at the main campus.
"There are only 44 students at South this year. If there aren't enough kids for preschool next year that could reduce the enrollment drastically," Ryerson said. "I can't keep a building open for that."
South Elementary Principal Joni Spalding provided information in support of the changes, which included statistics about preschool and its importance, the cost per child at South and main campus, enrollment numbers, staff availability and flexibility for grouping students.
The audience was then given the opportunity to break into small groups and discuss the idea.
The consensus was a disagreement to the plan. Too long of a bus ride, the lack of a student resource officer and a nurse were three main concerns brought up. Overall, however, it came down to the fact parents don't want to send their child on the extra ride of approximately 15 minutes.
In effort to appease the parents, Ryerson said the current plan is to allow parents the choice of dropping off their child(ren) at either South or main campus. If they are dropped at the main campus, the kids would sit with paraprofessionals until about 8:15 a.m. and then ride a shuttle bus with the aides to South for the day. When they arrive, they will eat breakfast. They would then be bused back to main campus around 2:45 p.m. Ryerson said they are considering other things such as additional stops where parents could meet the kids to help reduce the travel time.
"The goal is to not have children ride longer than one hour," she said.
With declining enrollment being the main focus, several parents suggested enforcing boundaries. Currently, several children are at main campus who should be at South, by parent request.
After that particular suggestion at the first meeting, administration researched boundaries to see what difference that would make and it was discovered there were no set boundaries approved by any previous board.
Several parents muttered loudly they felt they were being pushed into something and not given a choice. Many were heard saying they didn't think it mattered as the board had already made their decision.
"We have not made up our mind. This is why we are having these things," said board member Hugh Smith.
Smith said they have not even had a board meeting since the first meeting. "I have heard a lot of things," he said, telling the audience he was thinking differently than he was before the discussions started.
"We don't benefit either way," said board member Shawn Manuel. "We're here to do what is right for the children."