Closing of Garfield School Raises Questions of “Redistricting”

Garfield School will indeed cease classroom operations after this school year, but during Wednesday night’s District 118 Board meeting superintendent Dr. Alicia Geddis emphasized that while the building is still up she does not want it to become another Cannon, meaning doing absolutely nothing while the conditions worsen.

(Left) Garfield School, scheduled to be closed at end of this school year.  (Right) Cannon School, closed for years, continues to await being torn down, with residents still asking the District 118 Board if it can be saved.

Geddis emphasized that the building will be used to store things, not people, as it’s just not in her conscience to be able to put staff and students in a building that’s battling seeping water because it was built on a city sewer anymore, along with numerous other structural problems.

AUDIO: That boiler in that building is cemented into the wall.  Those classrooms, 98 degrees, melting the crayons.  The food service staff admitted to me: when they come in every morning, they push that water out that comes up from the bottom and then they put the mats down.  Unacceptable.

(Left) Alice Pollock offers Superintendent Dr. Alicia Geddis an item while addressing the 118 Board about a recent meeting on the Cannon School situation.  (Right) Rick Barnes returns to his seat after discussing Cannon School.

Assistant Superintendent John Hart says using Garfield for storage makes sense, because the district warehouse on Jackson Street is quite simply out of room.

(Left) District 118 Warehouse on Jackson Street.  (Right) Asst Superintendent John Hart addresses the school board on how using Garfield School for storage will assist the district.

AUDIO: By repurposing Garfield we’d have more space to be able to house some of those materials.  We are in the middle of a great many construction projects.  We have materials coming in.  And some materials we get today; and the rest of the materials we need to proceed may not come in for six, nine, 12, 18 months.  And so we need a place to stage some of those materials as well.

(Left) Garfield School pricipal Nicole Zaayer addresses the District 118 Board.  (Right) Garfield parent Angie Dixon asks why Garfield students are being sent to Meade Park and Liberty Schools.

Hart pointed out that the district already has three trailers that it owns providing additional storage behind the warehouse.

Meanwhile, should the district go back to square one concerning which school kids go to?  Garfield parent Angie Dixon says, absolutely.  She does not see why her family would have to go across town to Meade Park School.

AUDIO: So what I’m saying is, if you’re going to shut the Garfield School down, then they need to rezone all the kids in the district.  So that way kids aren’t being shipped five miles from their home so they can fit a population of a school, like Meade, that doesn’t have all the kids that they need in that school.  My son will go five miles away from my home.  We live all the way to the west, so we’ll go all the way to the east.

Superintendent Dr. Alicia Geddis says redistricting would be a long project, and the district cannot do it alone.

AUDIO: The issue of redistricting has been on the table and a topic of conversation for the last five years.  It is a huge undertaking.  It’s something we are not ready for.  It requires lots of conversation, town hall meetings; and that would really need to be done by a professional hired outside of the district.  We are not prepared.

In the past, there has been talk of District 118 going to all learning centers.  In other words, similar to how all fifth and sixth graders are now at South View; all first, second, third, and fourth graders would each have their own building in some combination as well.  Assistant Superintendent John Hart says, if redistricting happens, that would likely be considered.

AUDIO: That would be one option.  And it’s an option that we’ve talked about at central office for years.  There are lots of pros, but there’s some cons too.  A family could have a kid at three or four different schools when you look at that.  We’ve looked at the possibility of pre-K, K, maybe 1-2; and then 3 and 4.  But again we would look at all options and figure out what’s best for our community.

Also during Wednesday night’s District 118 Board meeting, the full day pre-K program was expanded to Southwest School for starting next fall.  It currently is being offered at Edison School.  A half-day option continues to exist as well.