A joint board meeting of the Bancroft-Rosalie and the
Lyons-Decatur Northeast Schools board met Monday November 27 at 7:30 pm in the
Bancroft-Rosalie School Library. The meeting was held for the purpose of
receiving the Feasibility Study report from Dr. Gerald Ehlers of Key Concepts.
Dr. Ehlers started the meeting by saying that the focus of
any merger talks should be focused on educational opportunities provided to
students. He told the Boards that there are four issues to address when
considering a school merger- education, finances, emotion and politics. The
feasibility report only looked at the education and finances. He also pointed
out that the only way to save money is by reducing staff or closing buildings.
The study looked at educational alternatives that utilize the existing
buildings without new construction.
There were three concepts considered:
Concept A- Merging school districts and maintaining K-12
programs in both facilities. Potential savings of $300,000.
Concept B (Concepts B1 and B2)- Merging school districts
with K-4 programs at Bancroft-Rosalie and Lyons-Decatur, a 5-8 program at one
site, and a 9-12 program at the other. Potential savings of $706,302.
Concept C (Concepts C1 and C2)- Merging school districts
with K-5 programs at Bancroft-Rosalie and Lyons-Decatur, a 6-8 program at one
site and a 9-12 program at the other. Potential savings of $700,463.
Concepts B1 and C1 placed the high school in Lyons-Decatur
and the middle school in Bancroft-Rosalie. Concepts B2 and C2 placed the high
school in Bancroft-Rosalie and the middle school in Lyons-Decatur.
Dr. Ehlers determined that the existing buildings would be
sufficient to house any of the concepts and all of the B and C concepts would
result in at least 2 available classrooms in each building that could be used
for new programs if the districts decided to add educational opportunities for
students.
Dr. Ehlers discussed future enrollment projections through
2027-28 based on averaging kindergarten class sizes over the past ten years. He
emphasized that the numbers become less reliable the further you project into
the future.
One area of concern was the lab space available for both Agriculture
and Industrial Technology programs at the same site. Utilizing the existing
buildings would require the programs to have their own classrooms but share a
lab space. Dr. Ehlers recommended that the issue of handicapped accessibility
of the Lyons-Decatur upper floors be addressed with either an elevator or a
chair life. He pointed out that the Lyons-Decatur building is older and has
more stairs and the vocational building in Lyons is across the street. If Concepts
B or C were implemented, the boards would have to determine which age group is
better able to handle walking stairs and moving between buildings.
Dr. Ehlers recommended that the Boards assign a committee to
continue to talk about ways to the schools can work together to increase
educational opportunities for students. The existing BRLD Cooperative Committee
already has done some of this work and would be a good place for the continued
talks to occur.
