Dayton Public to close 2 schools, restructure

Dayton Public Schools will close two buildings and restructure a third school next year, in response to declining enrollment and an effort to increase focus on early childhood education.

Gorman School near U.S. 35 and Abbey Avenue will close, as will Gardendale Academy at Gettysburg and James H. McGee, according to Superintendent Lori Ward. Gardendale currently serves a small special needs population, while Gorman serves special needs and preschool students.

Rosa Parks PreK-8 School, near Gettysburg and Kings Highway, will become an early-childhood center for 3- and 4-year-olds next year, absorbing the preschoolers who would have attended Gorman.

Ward said Rosa Parks will be the site of a collaboration with the Miami Valley Child Development Centers, which has its own building adjacent to the school, plus Ready Set Soar and Montgomery County’s Learn to Earn effort.

“We would be investing in creating a high-quality early learning center,” Ward said. “The research shows that 3- and 4-year-olds who are low income have a better chance to be successful at third-grade reading if they go to a high-quality preschool.”

Students who currently attend Rosa Parks will be offered spots at schools close to their homes or in their quadrant of the district before the open enrollment process begins for next year, district officials said. Ward was in the process of informing parents of the moves Thursday when the news broke.

“Dayton Public Schools is trying to be sensitive to our families and staff so they understand the details,” Ward said. “We know it’s disruptive. We want to ensure that those families know early the schools that they can choose from.”

Of the 72 special needs students at Gardendale, DPS said 42 will be educated at Montgomery County Educational Service Centers next year, with the other 30 absorbed into existing Dayton schools. Ward said the 22 multiple-disabled students at Gorman also will be moved to other DPS buildings, while the preschoolers at Gorman would move to Rosa Parks.

Dayton Public Schools has seen its total enrollment decline in recent years, as a result of population decline in the city and the rise of charter schools. Ward said about 60 percent of the district’s buildings are currently under-enrolled, meaning the district will be able to shift students without overcrowding other buildings.

Both Ward and Dayton teachers union President David Romick said the changes should not lead to teacher layoffs, because the district expects enough teacher retirements to make up the difference. Romick said recent changes in the state retirement system have led to a larger number of retirements.

Romick said the shift will affect many teachers’ roles, with seniority and certifications playing key parts in new job placements. He called the creation of the early learning center at Rosa Parks “decidedly a good thing,” to help get Dayton students prepared to learn at a younger age.

The two DPS schools that will close are older buildings, constructed before the district’s building program last decade. Ward said DPS will look at other options for the buildings starting in 2015-16.

“I would not be a fiscal manager if I operated school buildings that were extremely underenrolled,” Ward said. “This is about making sure that classrooms have great teachers in them, that money is managed properly so it’s going into the classroom, and not paying for the overhead of operating buildings.”

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