During Wednesday’s online forum, GRPS spokesperson Leon Hendrix fielded and read over twenty questions submitted live concerning the district’s future plans. Those questions were then answered by various school board members. GRPS is proposing a number of strategic moves, including the closing of their most underutilized school buildings. These consolidations are expected to save the school district $63 million dollars in outstanding maintenance and repairs to older facilities:
“There is a lot of passion behind each building that we are talking about, transitioning to another place or school communities that we’re talking about joining with others, so we hear that passion, we understand that concern about individual schools.”
Currently, GRPS says that all of their school buildings are only half full and that these consolidations, as well as other proposals, would bring their building utilization rate up to 73%. Superintendent Dr. Leadriane Roby says that ideas are still being discussed on what to do with any buildings that could potentially close, or those that have already been shuttered, like Alexander Elementary:
“We’ve talked with many community partners about possibly utilizing that space for housing or utilizing that space for youth, kind of creative spaces where they have a place to gather.”
District leaders say all of these recommendations are only at the proposal stage right now and they will continue to gather feedback from the community in the weeks ahead. Voting on the proposals by the school board will take place in mid-December.
Two more in-person forums are scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
A rundown of the district’s proposals and locations of the forums can be found at GRPS.org.
