“This is not just about the way education has led up to this point. This is about what we believe the future is going to look like. We’re going to have to partner up as much as we can in order to give students a fighting chance going into this century.”
The proposal includes building a single high school on the Kent State Geauga campus. Manfredi says based on current enrollments, the single district would have graduating classes of about 250 students.
All the districts have been suffering from budget cuts and dwindling enrollments. He says both problems have cut options for students when it comes to the type of classes and extracurriculars.
“Since you don’t have the sheer number of kids to be able to participate in any certain sport, you can’t offer that sport. So rather than cutting that sport or cutting any academics, what we’d be able to do is having a larger pool allowing the students to choose (from).”
The four districts have agreed to a committee to study the logistics of consolidation -- including finances, staffing and use of existing buildings.
One of the districts – Ledgemont – is in fiscal emergency. But a new state law would forgive the debt if the district consolidates by the end of next year. |