Will county save 3 smaller schools?

Kristen Billies has repaired books, cooked spaghetti dinners and raised money for playground equipment to help support Scottsville Elementary School.

Now she is among a group of parents from three elementary schools in southern Albemarle County who are speaking out in the hopes of keeping their children’s schools from closing.

Albemarle school officials are exploring whether it would be financially sound to make repairs and additions to Scottsville, Red Hill and Yancey elementary schools or close the three sites and move students to a new, larger school.

Any new construction or renovations would not begin until 2014, said Maury

Brown, spokeswoman for the school system.

A special committee made up of community members and school employees is expected to make a recommendation to Superintendent Pamela Moran by August. Moran then will make her own recommendation to the School Board, which has final say on the matter.

‘Fabric’ of community

“Our school is the fabric of this community,” said Billies, PTO president at Scottsville Elementary. “If you were telling me the schools were not performing or were falling apart, then I might be more understanding, but that is not the case.”

In 2007, a study by the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute in Richmond recommended county school officials look at their smaller elementary schools to see if they are the best way to spend the system’s money.

Albemarle County operates 16 elementary schools. The three being reviewed have the smallest student populations, with fewer than 200 children each.

The policy institute is part of the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University and works with school systems and lawmakers to provide research and analysis on public education issues.

The study showed educational services at the smaller schools in the county were equal, but costs are higher to operate the smaller facilities. Recommendations from the institute were to study all options before going ahead with any remodeling or expansion plans at the schools.

The three elementary schools, which are all in the system’s southern feeder pattern of schools to Monticello High School, are scheduled for renovations and expansions within the next five years, said Bruce Benson, assistant superintendent for planning and operations.

“We’re studying our small schools for their efficiency and effectiveness,” Benson said. “There are a lot of components that have to be considered before any decision can be made. The important thing to remember is this is still in the process … no decision has been made.”

Special committee

Earlier this year, Moran appointed a special southern feeder pattern committee to look at the best ways to handle the future of the three elementary schools. It was then that Billies and other parents began working together to speak out against closing the schools.

Committee members met with parents at each of the schools in March to answer questions and listen to concerns.

Parents and committee members have discussed everything from the quality of education at the schools to the length of time students would have to ride the bus if they were moved to a new school.

While committee members have questioned whether students in the three schools were getting equal treatment or if teachers had adequate numbers to work in peer groups, parents say the small school atmosphere makes students and teachers closer.

Billies, whose oldest son just completed the fifth grade at Scottsville Elementary, now only has one child at the school.

“I feel like my child is getting a private school education in a public school setting,” Billies said. “In these communities the schools are the focal point. When they go to middle school, we can say that we gave them the basis to be good learners.”

Former School Board member Sue Friedman is a member of the school system’s long-term planning committee and sits on the southern feeder planning committee.

Friedman said it was great to hear comments from the community, but stressed the importance of making sure the schools were providing an adequate education to all students.

Although she declined to say whether she supports combining the schools or keeping them open, Friedman said studies do not support that smaller schools provide better education and stressed the need for the schools to meet the needs of every child.

“The study team didn’t look at money as a primary issue,” Friedman said. “The No. 1 issue is equable education for every child.”

Although parents are concerned moving to a bigger school might impact their children’s quality of learning, Friedman said data from testing scores of students at smaller and bigger schools show very little difference.

Lower scores

According to data provided by the school system, almost all the math and reading test scores at the smaller schools were slightly lower over the last three years than other elementary schools in the district.

Ann Conrad, a teacher at Scottsville Elementary School for more than 25 years, said she has now taught multiple generations in her classroom. She said knowing every child by name and remembering the child’s family connections makes her teaching time even more special.

“It’s the children and the families that keep me here,” Conrad said. “I would like to teach 50 years here, and nothing can keep you younger than working with a classroom of children.”

School Board member Steve Koleszar, who represents the Scottsville and Yancey elementary school districts, said he supports keeping the schools open. He said parents from each community have a special pride in their school.

“I believe those small schools do a better job of educating kids,” Koleszar said. “My feeling is we value communities in Albemarle and the value of these schools is very important.”

Koleszar, who has been on the School Board for 14 years, said the major reasons for combining the schools is cost savings and preventing kids from being isolated in the small school setting.

“[Lesser quality of education] may have been true before the age of the Internet,” Koleszar said. “If this issue had come up 10 years ago there might have been some feeling the children weren’t getting the same education, but now they have the same opportunities [students in] the bigger schools have.”

School officials said there is still plenty of time for parents and concerned residents to speak out about possible changes to the schools. It is not known when the board will take the matter under consideration, but it will have to hold a public hearing before any decision is made.

Getting the word out

In the meantime, Billies said she would continue to work with other parents to get the word out about the study. Although she started out as a school volunteer in the library, Billies now works as a teacher’s assistant and considers herself a part of the school.

Billies and other parents have collected more than 1,300 signatures on a petition to keep the schools open.

“I tell everyone to write letters and let your voices be heard,” Billies said. “We moved to a rural area because of the schools and I would be so broken-hearted if they closed the schools that mean so much to this community.”