The public will have another chance to comment before the school board decides on a reorganization plan.

Tuesday, November 16, 1999

The public will have another chance to comment before the school board decides on a reorganization plan.

The school board will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday on the reorganization question, which could close Brookside Middle School to students. A presentation of the state demographer’s report on Freeborn County is also scheduled for that meeting, and may serve to answer public questions about enrollment-related issues.

The board will then decide on a reorganization plan during its regular meeting Dec. 6, after a three-week delay.

The planned reorganization, regardless of the form it may take, is aimed at saving money.

The school district will lose about $900,000 in funding over the next two years due to declining enrollment. Schools receive about $5,000 per student each year, and the loss of 200 students in the next two years will mean about $1 million less revenues for Albert Lea schools.

Enrollment is expected to continue to decline, with a total 10-year loss of about 1,000 students, according to the state demographer’s office. That may mean further changes in coming years.

For now, one current plan for reorganization calls for sixth-graders to be included in the district elementary schools, with a middle school consisting of the seventh and eighth-grades and a high school beginning with ninth-grade.

Brookside Middle School would be closed to students, and instead used for administration, special services and community education.

Some teachers in the district have voiced opposition to this plan, saying that it is unfair to group sixth-graders in an elementary school during a transitional point in their lives.

&uot;What we’re trying to do with the reorganization is to provide the best education we can for our students with the dollars that we have,&uot; said board member Ken Peterson. &uot;That may not be optimal, but it’s the best we can do.&uot;

School board clerk Carol Haun agreed.

&uot;Dollars are driving our decision, there isn’t any doubt of that, but no matter what plan is adopted there will be significant losses and things will no longer be the same,&uot; she said.

Board member David Schreiber made the motion to adopt the K-6 plan, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Board member Marjorie Thorn asked for a postponement of the decision, saying that more information had to be put out to the public and gathered by the board.

&uot;I feel uncomfortable with making such an important decision at this time when people continually ask me questions about what will happen with this reorganization and I can’t give them a definitive answer. We need more time to research this issue,&uot; Thorn said.

Board member David Schreiber agreed, but said that time for making a decision is running short.

&uot;Our window of opportunity is closing,&uot; he said.

Superintendent David Prescott said a consultant demographer Hazel Reinhardt has already given the same report to the board that will be presented to the public Thursday at 7 p.m.

Following this presentation there will be a public forum to discuss the different plans and concerns for the reorganization, he said.

A small group consisting mostly of educators was present at the meeting Monday to share thoughts and a few alternatives to the board.