Committee narrows focus on elementary schools

A committee formed to review options for Avon Lake’s elementary school buildings has narrowed its focus to two options, according to a news release.

After six months of review, dialogue and research, the B.E.S.T. (Building Excellent Schools Team) Committee has decided on two options to be presented to the Avon Lake Board of Education in June for consideration.

Any changes made to school building configuration would be in time for the 2019-20 school year.

The first option under consideration would redraw lines indicating which streets are designated as the enrollment areas for each elementary school in order to balance the number of students in each building.

According to the release, under this option most neighborhoods in Avon Lake would be affected. The lines would be shifted to allow for the district to increase the number of students at Westview Elementary School, due to the capabilities for growth in this building.

No students would be grandfathered in to current buildings and staffing would be adjusted based on the number of classes per building, the release said.

A second option would create two K-2 buildings, comprising of Eastwood Elementary School and Redwood Elementary School and two buildings for grades 3-4 at Westview and Erieview Elementary School. Combining buildings would allow for an even distribution of students in all classrooms, decreasing the overall number of classrooms and possibly allowing additional staff in other areas of need. Start and end times would be adjusted to accommodate transportation, the release said.

The B.E.S.T. Committee has been meeting monthly and is comprised of stakeholders from all four of the district’s elementary schools in addition to representatives from the district to review enrollment. The Committee includes, staff, parents, all four building principals and two Board of Education members.