School board again shies away from closing high schools
It is unsurprising, but still disappointing, that the possibility of closing two of Columbus City Schools’ underenrolled high schools is fading.
Unsurprising because it is an old pattern: A sensible analysis shows that the district needs to close buildings to offer the best programs and avoid wasting money. All of the potentially closed schools protest, but the high schools protest the loudest, and the board of education backs down.
Disappointing because backing down usually isn’t best for Columbus students in the long run. Maintaining the same number of high schools amid declining enrollment is a recipe for anemic programs and decreasing opportunities.
The initial set of recommendations from a school-board-appointed panel included folding Linden-McKinley STEP Academy into East High School and folding MarionFranklin into South, among many other changes.
Board of education members took a lot of flak at a series of public meetings to discuss the proposal, and the latest set of options under consideration has been stripped of any high-school consolidations.
The recommendations overall aren’t just about closing buildings to save money; they also would enable program changes. They also aim to improve efficiency by consolidating some administrative functions.
The original proposal would not have closed the doors of Linden-McKinley or Marion-Franklin; both would have housed combined middle schools. It would make better use of the East and South buildings, both of which are beautifully restored.
Most important, it would result in two high schools with enrollments large enough to support more Advanced Placement, foreign-language and other specialized courses. More students and more family support likely would mean stronger arts programs, sports teams and club activities — all of the things that enrich the high-school experience and could turn an indifferent or at-risk student into one who is engaged and succeeding.
As of last October’s official count, East had 563 students and LindenMcKinley had 628. Combining them into a school of nearly 1,200 would strengthen both.
The case for combining is even stronger for South and Marion-Franklin. While South had 935 students last fall, Marion-Franklin had only 477. South’s enrollment has grown in three of the past four years, while Marion-Franklin’s has dropped steadily, by 20 percent overall.
The board of education will do Marion-Franklin and Linden-McKinley students no favors by continuing to operate four undersized, underperforming high schools — all four earned F grades on the state Department of Education’s 2017-18 building-level report cards.
This is not to minimize the emotional hardship that losing a high-school identity imposes on a community. The protests of Linden-McKinley and Marion-Franklin parents and students aren’t unimportant. The school district needs more families like them who take pride in their schools.
But rather than take the politically easy course of maintaining a status quo that isn’t succeeding academically or financially, school officials should work to build support for merging and building stronger high schools for the central city.
The school-closing panel is to make its final recommendation on Monday, with a vote by the school board sometime in November. We hope they don’t punt yet again on badly needed change.