Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1984, Page 9

Description:	MGCSC closes schools, redistrictsWhen the school doors closed at theend of the 1983-84 school year, many ofthem remained that way for more thanjust the summer.Because recurring financial problemshad continually plagued the schoolsystem, the Monroe County CommunitySchool Corp. decided to take control ofthe situation by eliminating three of itsschools. Massive redistricting efforts wereundertaken as a result, as well as a seriesof other changes that required an entirereorganization of the MCCSC.In fact, before the year was over, manychanges were approved for 1984-85. Thesixth grade was moved back into theelementaries, and Bloomington Northwas changed to a 7-12 grade structure.Binford and Dyer were turned into K-6grade schools; Batchelor became a 7-8building; and Brown and SandersElementaries, as well as Unionville andUniversity Middle Schools, were scheduled to be closed at the end of 1983-84.Consequently, almost every MCCSCstudent, parent, and faculty member wasaffected. More than 1200 elementary andsecondary students had to be moved,and more than 50 percent of the schoolsystems teaching staff had to betransferred for 1984-85.Facilities such as Bloomington Northand Binford had to begin preparing to accommodate a whole new influx ofstudents, and all schools expected to beoperating closer to capacity levels.At South specifically, for example, anadditional 230 students were redistrictedfrom North, raising the projected 1984-85BHSS enrollment to within 100 studentsof the maximum limit. Extracurricular participation, class section offerings, andfaculty were all expected to increase as aresult.Meanwhile, almost all parents and staffof the MCCSC began to prepare for upcoming changes, attempting to determine where faculty would go and whatwould be done with school equipmentthat had to be removed. Meetings wereorganized and hearings scheduled to giveanyone the opportunity to voice his/heropinion during some stage of the decisionprocess.The abovementioned changes,however, proved to be only the beginning. By the end of the 1983-84 year, Project Primetime, a newly adopted stateprogram, was also approved in theschools for the upcoming fall.This program was offered to schoolsduring 1983-84 to decrease class sizes inthe primary grades by paying for extrateachers that would have to be provided.According to state legislators, enoughfunds would be available in the first yearto cover the costs of lowering first gradeclass sizes, with promises for continuedfunding in subsequent years for the second and third grades and kindergarten,respectively, after each legislativesession.Available to the schools for the following school year, this four-year programrequired a number of adjustments to theboards original plans. Clear Creek, Fair-view, and Templeton Elementaries, forexample, were all scheduled to be closeduntil Project Primetime was passed. As aresult, these decisions and the redistricting that followed all had to be reversedto accommodate the lower Primetimeclass size.Consequently, although the MCCSCstill saved money from some of itsprevious decisions, the unexpected upsetof Project Primetime prevented theschool system from saving the $341,000that was expected annually from all theschool closings. Therefore, school officials still remained skeptical about whatwould become of new sources ofrevenue.A series of overspending, after all, waswhat led to more than a million dollardeficit the year before and resulted in theneed to make a number of drasticchanges, including closing schools. Infact, during 1983-84, school officials hadnot only wanted to eliminate the fiscalproblems of the past but also preventthem from occuring in the future.Regardless of the original intent or theeventual outcome, though, the boardsdecisions had considerable impact on theschool system, resulting in one of themost eventful years in MCCSC history.LEFT: Indiana University professor William Wilkerson, member of the three-man facility use studyteam hired by the MCCSC to study the problemsand propose solutions for the school system,presents alternatives for the MCCSC at a community meeting.School Reorganization 9
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/1730
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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