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Seated before a host of red sweaters, sweatshirts and other apparel representing Cowern Elementary School parents, students and staff, School Board 622 board members were told closing another elementary school might be an option to ease the district’s financial restraints.

The facilities/programs task force presented its recommendations to the school board at its Dec. 12 meeting to improve the district’s cost and operations efficiency. One of the recommendations included closing Cowern Elementary School.

“I can only imagine what it would be like to know your school is on the list to be closed,” board chair Cathy Miller said. “This is not the end to any of this. This is only one piece of information we’ll be listening to.”

The task force stated closing of the school may save roughly $395,000 per year.

Cowern Elementary School in North St. Paul is currently one of the oldest operating buildings in the district. Webster Elementary was closed last year under similar circumstances related to cost effectiveness. The Beaver Lake and Gladstone buildings were also recommended for closure, their programs would be moved to another location.

If the school is to close, the district will need to reassign about 400 students to the remaining eight schools in the District 622. The task force estimated about 15 additional classrooms would be needed to accommodate class sizes of approximatley 26 students.

Only nine classrooms are currently available. If the district decides to close the school it may have to lease space for special education programs.

Mary Jacobson, one of five parents on the task force, said decisions and information developed by the task force are the results of a long, sometimes agonizing, process.

The district will begin discussing the recommendations in a series of scheduled work/study sessions throughout the winter months. Superintendent Patty Phillips said she and the board will be working on a kind of “strategic roadmap” to find the best possible routes to financial stability in the next few years.

“This isn’t a board that wants to rush into any decisions,” Phillips said.

School Board member Theresa Auge reminded the public another option the task force presented was to do nothing; to wait until all indicators have reached a point the district has no other option than to close another school.

The task force also suggested closing one middle school, an option that would not be feasible to implement for at least five years but could save up to $598,000 per year.

http://www.woodburybulletin.com/articles/index.cfm?id=23754&section=news