Mount Clemens school officials have decided to close one of its two remaining elementary schools over the next year and consolidate operations into one building.
Members of the Mount Clemens Community School District Board of Education voted 5-2 in June to shutter M.L. King Jr. Academy on Clinton River Drive starting in the fall of 2023. The move is expected to save the district about $350,000.
The approximate 100 students who attend the school are in pre-K classes and will switch over to Seminole Academy on Mulberry Street, near McLaren Macomb hospital.
Superintendent Monique Beels said Wednesday that although shutting any school is never a good thing for the district or neighborhood they are located in, the focus will be on improved use of existing resources for the students.
“We found that we don’t have enough programming at King Academy,” she said.
Mitch Hotts
Monique Beels Mount Clemens Community Schools superintendent (FILE PHOTO)“We’re not doing it to save money. We feel it is better getting the little guys in our kindergarten programs who will grow up together by going to the same school for their early years. That way, families will know each other and the teachers, and become more of a school community.”
Longtime school board President Earl Rickman III said he voted against the motion based on its timing because he felt the move could be done over this year’s summer months. But he’s in favor of the closures and consolidating programs.
“The board was considering moving and consolidating all our programs under one roof and make it a seamless transition from pre-K into kindergarten and onto the elementary program,” Rickman said.
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"We felt, with the spacing at Seminole, it would be a tremendous asset to have all the programs in the same location," he added.
District officials say it made little sense to spend $1 million a year to run the 25,700-square-foot King Academy, when it was two-thirds empty.
The cost savings will come from the elimination of three employees along with operational costs, such as heating and lighting the building. The positions include the principal, secretary and custodian, if they don't qualify for other positions in the district.
The school houses students in the Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) program, which provides special instruction to children ages 3-5, who qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Act, as well as the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP), which is funded by the Michigan Department of Education, according to the school website.
School officials say declining enrollment played a role in the decision. The drop in students can be attributed to a variety of things including School of Choice competition from other school districts and the fact that less children are being born in Michigan.
"There are charter schools competing for kids," Beels said. "And there aren't as may children as there was once was. That isn't unique to our district -- it's happening throughout the state."
The timing of the move was contested as the superintendent wants to take this entire upcoming year to move things in an "organized way." Some of the classrooms at Seminole are filled with various desks, tables and other items. Beels said she wants those rooms cleaned before the new students arrive in 2023.
Board members Dr. David McFadden, Jeanine Walker, James Collings, Stephanie O'Neal and Jacob Reno voted in favor of the administration's plan. Rickman and board Secretary Jason Monk wanted it to be done as soon as possible.
Doing the move in segments during the upcoming school year could prove to be disruptive to students, Monk said.
"I have a hard time swallowing that one," he said. "This is really being unorganized."
No decision has been made on what to do with the 25,700 King building in the River Acres subdivision near downtown Mount Clemens. Some say it's possible it could be turned over to the Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD).
"We haven't crossed that bridge yet," Beels said.
MISD Superintendent Michael DeVault said no decision has been made, but says the ISD is working closely with Mount Clemens to provide whatever assistance possible. Meetings have been held to review declining enrollment, recruiting staff, and legal issues.
"They have more capacity than they need, that's not a big secret," DeVault said. "I am impressed their school board and superintendent are working with us to improve the learning environment on behalf of our constituents."
Second closing
This wouldn't be the first time King has been shuttered.
Faced with a $4.8 million budget deficit, the school board in 2013 closed the building along with Washington Academy as part of a plan to wipe out red ink, a plan that also included slashing the budgets for athletics and transportation.
The board voted to re-open the school in 2013 following an 18-month closure.
School officials said the re-opening was largely in response to concerns from parents after the elementary school students were housed this past year in the high school complex. Parents spoke out at board meetings, saying they didn't like the idea of King's fourth and fifth graders coming into the high school.
King re-emerged as a STEAM -- science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics -- academy. The STEAM approach was designed to bring special a focus on strengthened academic programs.
But as enrollment continued to fall, the school was reconfigured to hold only the pre-K and kindergarten programs.
The enrollment dilemma has been a chronic one in Mount Clemens.
In the 1990s, more than 5,000 students attended school in the district. Today the enrollment is about 900 students.
Although still faced with an enrollment challenge, the district's financial moves appear to be working.
According to the district's website, Mount Clemens Community Schools is now operating on a $20 million budget with a $1.2 million surplus.
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