MERRILL, WI (WSAU) — A closed session meeting was held regarding the potential to close a Charter elementary school in Merrill.
The Merrill Area Public Schools Finance and HR Committee held a meeting on Wednesday night to talk with their legal counsel from BoardmanClark about the consideration of closing Maple Grove School. The 3 hour meeting was mainly held in closed session for the committee to be able to talk about any potential litigation from the closure.
A recommendation was made by the committee for the full school board to talk with legal counsel regarding the potential closure of Maple Grove. Merrill Area Public Schools Superintendent Dr. John Sample says no decision will be made about closing Maple Grove at the school board’s meeting on December 18th.
“Absolutely no decisions having anything to do with Maple Grove. It’s for the remainder of our board to understand the legal implications of the contract. And then its board business as usual for the open session. And that will also take place in closed pretty similar to tonight but we’ll have the full board there.”
The proposal to potentially close the Charter elementary school came before the board back in mid-November. Dr. Sample says the big reason the proposal was brought forward is because of declining enrollment throughout the district.
“When you’re talking about declining enrollment affecting 4 elementaries, one middle school, and one high school. And one of your elementary has 80 students, they’re going to be hit hard. And when you consider that of their 82 students right now that almost half of those are from in town, it’s concerning for us.”
The next step for discussion with the public regarding the potential closure will be on January 7th, 2020. Dr. Sample explains the school district will hold a public listening session to talk about potentially closing Maple Grove School.
“We feel this is a community-wide issue and it affects all of our taxpayers. At the high school auditorium, we’re going to have a listening session where we can make a presentation. It’s to be number one transparent and number two, to try and squelch some of the rumors that are taking place.
“We want people to be informed. And so we’ll have that brief presentation, we’ll hit some of the points, and have some question and answer time.”
Some parents in the district are opposed to Maple Grove School closing because they choose to send their children to the school because of the smaller class sizes and other opportunities presented by Charter schools. One of those unique opportunities is a focus on project-based learning.
When asked about the potential closure, Dr. Sample says the district would consider incorporating more project-based learning into other schools. The option would not be outside the realm of possibility for the future of the district.
The full Merrill Area School Board will meet on December 18th to have a similar closed session discussion about potentially closing Maple Grove School. The listening session for the Merrill community will be held on January 7th at the Merrill school auditorium at 6:00 PM.
