From school to early childhood center?

Elder also touched on the plan to right-size the district. In January, officials recommended that the school board consider repurposing a handful of schools with low enrollment and turning them into early childhood centers.

Right-sizing has been on the district’s mind for a long time, but even more so as enrollment has continued to decline, with the most recent tally of students coming in at just under 71,000. Ten years ago, that number was closer to 89,000.

Some have expressed concerns about the idea to repurpose schools into early childhood centers, including Gabrielle Wheeler of East Gate Kids Early Learning Center.

“You’re putting these young children in an institutionalized type of bureaucratic setting,” she told the Journal in February. “When you have a private care setting … it’s more nurturing. Settings that are private and communitybased have more choice of … curriculum.”

Elder said the district is taking another, closer look at the plan. Still, he said, APS is trying to avoid outright shuttering schools “because of the harm that can create in the neighborhood.”

“We don’t want to get rid of a property that we may need in the future,” he added. “We do have a responsibility to taxpayers, and losing real estate could end up costing us in the future.”

Despite all the district’s woes, Elder said there’s still hope for the future, saying that, after a budget deficit last year, the district is now “in the black” and lauding five-year academic goals passed recently by the school board. “(These are) goals that are concrete, measurable, achievable and will move the needle for our students,” he said.