South Bend Community School Corporation families will have a chance to weigh in on a school board member’s facilities proposal. The school district is hosting five town hall meetings on what school officials are calling “Plan C.” The first is Monday at 6:00 p.m. at Nuner Fine Arts Academy.
School board member Mark Costello says the main change he’s proposing is moving sixth grade from middle to elementary schools. "It sounds simple. It’s not," Costello said during Wednesday's school board meeting. "But the cost of it is limited. But it’s up to the people to decide what you want."
Costello criticized the data behind the district’s 2023 facilities plan. He felt it emphasized the addition of a career and technical education hub at the expense of Clay High School.
Costello said that plan isn’t working, and the school corporation is still losing students. "It’s just not about a foundation or a facility plan," Costello added. "It’s about how you feel about South Bend Schools and what we can do to make them better."
But board member Kate Lee, who supported the 2023 plan, said the district has to adjust to the current number of students. “I think we’re in a place where we have to decide: are we concerned about investing in buildings or our children and our educators? And it’s really, really hard,” Lee said.
She said she’s more concerned about what the district can do to help sixth graders make the transition to middle school.
During Wednesday’s school board meeting, resident John Paczesny felt board members needed to do a better job of communicating their plans. "There are some big changes coming, especially in certain areas that are impoverished, low-income, single-parent families," Paczesny told board members. "They need to be notified, so come August, they’re not throwing their hands up in frustration."
Board members stressed that nothing’s set in stone, and they want to hear from the public before moving forward.
Other town hall meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, September 23 at 4:30 p.m. at Darden Elementary; Monday, September 29 at 6:00 p.m. at Harrison Elementary; Tuesday, September 30 at 9:00 a.m. at the Brown Administration Building and Tuesday, September 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Monroe Elementary.
