Too many buildings, not enough students?
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 at 6:51 a.m.
Read more: Local, Community, Education, Economy, Hartwig, Marquette Area Public Schools, Graveraet
MARQUETTE -- The structure of the Marquette Area Public School system may be changing.
Tuesday night at the school board's work session, the board discussed with teachers and parents the recommendation of the district's "2009 and beyond grade alignment committee" to realign Marquette Area Public Schools.
Elementary schools would teach kindergarten through fourth grade. Bothwell Middle School would house fifth through eighth grade and the high school would remain ninth through twelfth grade.
"Well, the school district is contracting in terms of students. Where we used to be an organization of 5,000 kids, now we have approximately 3,000 students, and so when you have fewer students and fewer revenue dollars to support the program, then you're going to have to have less buildings," said MAPS Superintendent, Jon Hartwig.
Graveraet Intermediate School is the building in question; right now the school houses just Marquette area fifth graders.
If this recommendation goes through, Graveraet would most likely close its doors and the fifth grade would move to the first floor of Bothwell.
No decisions were made and no changes will take place during the 2009-2010 school year.
