Changes in store for school district

Many of the students attending Mentor Public Schools will see some big changes at the start of the next school year, including what school they will be attending.

The district will close Brentmoor and Garfield elementary schools, while Ridge Middle School will be closed and converted into an elementary school.

Plans call for Brentmoor students to attend the new elementary school at Ridge. The zone for Garfield will be redrawn and students will attend either Fairfax or Hopkins elementaries, or the new elementary school at Ridge. With the closing and conversion of Ridge, Mentor will go from operating three middle schools to two. All of Mentor’s Middle School students will be assigned to either Shore or Memorial.

These changes resulted after the district, with input from staff members, students, community members, a community task force, board members and parents, spent the last year working on a facilities plan, according to a news release.

“We implemented a facilities management community task force to provide input during the decisionmaking process,” said William Porter, interim superintendent of Mentor Public Schools. “The group considered key information such as current and projected enrollment, building usage rates, attendance maps, transportation routes, our buildings’ physical conditions and more.”

Porter also said that communication and transparency have been very important to the district throughout the process and they used channels such as newsletters, video updates, emails, presentations, meetings and more to inform stakeholders (parents, students, community members) that change is necessary due to the district’s declining enrollment. Enrollment has been declining since its peak in the mid- to late 1990s in Mentor Schools.

Additionally, there will be other changes to the attendance zone boundaries taking effect at the start of the 2018-19 school year.

In regard to other elementary schools, a large portion of the Hopkins boundaries will be rezoned for the new elementary school at Ridge, which will alleviate overcrowding at Hopkins and create lines that are more geographically fitting, according to an email sent to parents from Porter. Meanwhile, a portion of Fairfax will move into the Orchard Hollow zone and Fairfax will get a new, earlier start time.

As for middle schools, the new boundaries will zone the Bellflower Elementary area into Shore and the Brentmoor Elementary area into Memorial. Additionally, a small neighborhood in the northern end of the Fairfax zone that currently goes to

Memorial will be rezoned to Shore.

The Mentor School District’s most recent building usage rate study indicated that its middle schools were operating at capacities averaging about 60 percent, Porter said.

“We consider 80 percent to 100 percent as financially healthy operating rates,” he said. “So, it was immediately clear to the task force that our current and projected enrollment figures support operating two middle schools, rather than three, to make the best use of our facilities. It is everyone’s goal to make sure we are best using the space we have available, while remaining fiscally prudent with our taxpayers’ dollars.”

In addition, Porter said the No. 1 goal will be to continue providing a safe learning environment where students can grow academically, socially and emotionally.

He believes the plan will allow the district to protect its financial health, allowing it to continue to provide the children of their community with the well-rounded and high-quality education they deserve.

“The majority of the cost savings that will occur once our facilities plan is implemented come from staff reductions, as we have been continually reducing staff proportionately with declining enrollment in Mentor Schools for nearly 15 years,” Porter said. “While I cannot make any guarantees on personnel at this time, our goal will be to work diligently to move staff members from the buildings that are closing into openings at other buildings as the reassignment of students and retirements of staff allow — as we have in the past.”

Porter noted in the email to parents that he realizes this news will be difficult to receive by many who are in the district, as the schools in Mentor are supported by a tight-knit community spirit and unique traditions. But district leaders have to look at the district as a whole and how they can spend community tax dollars wisely.

“It is most financially responsible to make these operational changes, and, with this implementation, we are projecting more than $7 million in savings for our general fund over the term of the five-year forecast,” Porter said.

Porter also recommends parents talk to their kids about the school closings to help them make a successful transition to their new schools.

The district will hold informational community meetings for the schools most affected by the changes. All meetings will be held at Paradigm, located at 6465 Center St. The meeting schedule is as follows: • Jan. 11: Fairfax, 5:30 p.m. • Jan. 16: Brentmoor, 5:30 p.m.; Ridge;7:30 p.m.

• Jan. 17: Garfield, 5:30 p.m.; Hopkins 7:30 p.m.