JPS looks to close an elementary school, combine middle schools in overhaul

Luke Ramseth , Giacomo Bologna | Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Show Caption Hide Caption Bryant on JPS: 'Let's try something new' Gov. Phil Bryant and Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba have announced an alternative plan to a state takeover of the troubled Jackson Public Schools.

Jackson Public Schools announced a proposal Friday to shutter an elementary school and consolidate several middle schools, part of an ongoing plan to overhaul district operations in the face of academic and financial woes.

The proposal outlined by JPS Superintendent Errick Greene calls for closing Barr Elementary on Capitol Street, west of downtown, by next fall. It would also consolidate Hardy Middle School into Blackburn Middle School, and Siwell Middle School would move into Cardozo Middle School and Peeples Middle School.

Hardy would become an athletic complex, while a use for Siwell's campus hasn't been determined.

The plan still must be approved by the JPS Board of Trustees, which could vote on the proposal at its Jan. 7 meeting. The consolidation proposal, or "redesign plan," comes as the district seeks to reinvent itself following the threat of a state takeover two years ago, and after the release of a five-year strategic plan earlier this year.

Greene said the plan would not result in teachers losing jobs, noting JPS has teacher vacancies every year. But he said some layoffs would likely occur for positions such as custodians and kitchen staff. Community meetings on the plan are set to be held starting Monday.

The closures and consolidations would free up "fairly significant" savings for the cash-strapped district, the superintendent told the Clarion Ledger, but he did not offer a specific amount.

"All of this is working towards equity," Greene said of the plan. "That's the name of the game. We want to make sure that across the district that our young people have access to amazing educational experiences. And you can do that when you're thoughtful about the way that resources are allocated and where you see and seize efficiencies, hence the consolidations."

More pre-K spots coming

Under the plan, Van Winkle Elementary School will be re-purposed to only serve pre-K students, Greene said. Students now at Van Winkle would go to Bates Elementary School and Clausell Elementary School.

The Montessori program at McWillie Elementary School will only extend through fifth grade, Greene said, and the sixth grade Montessori program will be eliminated.

Through these moves, expected next fall, JPS can double the number of pre-K spots available, Greene said.

Changes also can be expected at Lanier High School, which has the lowest enrollment of any JPS high school. He said JPS wants to develop a plan for something "big" at Lanier and will be seeking input from the community soon on a two-year plan.

The superintendent said the decisions behind which schools to close or consolidate were driven by low enrollment and poor facilities. There are 166 students enrolled at Barr, for instance, which Greene said was too few to run an elementary school. All of those students will be moved to Pecan Park Elementary School, about a mile away.

Barr has received high marks in the past: In 2012, when the school had more than 200 students, it was named a National Title I Distinguished School, one of just two schools in the state that year to garner the designation. In January, Principal Linda Murray was named JPS administrator of the year. She could not immediately be reached for comment Friday about the closure.

JPS officials told news outlets two years ago that the district had invested about $4 million to renovate Barr's ceiling, floors and lighting over the course of three years. At the time, students from the closing Poindexter Elementary were moved to Barr. Several years before that the district considered rebuilding the school, but it never happened.

The challenges facing JPS

Mississippi's second-largest school district has faced financial and academic performance issues and plummeting enrollment for years. More than 29,000 students were enrolled in JPS for the 2013-2014 school year, but by the 2018-2019 school year, enrollment had declined by almost a fifth, to just over 25,000 students.

The Mississippi Board of Education recommended the state take over the district in 2017 after an audit showed JPS in violation of 75% of the state's accreditation standards. But Gov. Phil Bryant held off on signing the order.

Instead, a coalition to maintain local control was formed two years ago to help manage the district. It includes Bryant, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In addition, an independent 15-member commission was formed to oversee an overhaul of the district in 2017.

A year ago, the 15-member group called the Better Together Commission released a 231-page report that laid out a road map for JPS to get back on track. It called for a reorganization of the central office, improved curriculum, the ability to intervene and help struggling students, and more robust recruitment of teachers.

The report also called for cutting teaching positions, consolidating or closing elementary schools, and increasing class sizes to free up millions of dollars that could be used elsewhere.

Realignments suggested by the report would cut more than 250 teaching positions.

While the report advocated for increasing the size of some classrooms, it also recommended cutting high school classes with fewer than 15 students through mergers or to "thoughtfully reduce the number of (staff) dedicated" to these classes.

Many of these low enrollment classes were advanced placement classes, such as chemistry, Latin, calculus, physics and more. Low enrollment classes also included dietary science II, zoology, crime scene analysis, music theory, personal finance and print journalism.

Read more: What does JPS need to survive and thrive? 231-page report provides road map

Under the more aggressive realignment proposals, some JPS classrooms would increase by as many as eight or nine students. But the report emphasized that these larger JPS classrooms would still be well below the state maximum.

Greene said at the time of the report's release that the district planned to begin implementing the study's recommendations by July of this year.

One challenge to implementing the recommendations, the report noted, is charter school enrollment.

That's because while JPS enrollment is expected to continue to fall, the number of students in charter schools will rise. The more students opt out of JPS and into charter schools, the more the district has to pay to charter schools.

During the 2015-2016 school year, JPS paid $559,000 for 227 students to attend charter schools, the report said. Those numbers quickly grew: By the 2017-18 school year, JPS paid $2.6 million for 924 students to attend charter schools.

JPS overhaul: Commission members named

Editorial: Bryant, Lumumba forge coalition that provides most hope for JPS

Contact Luke Ramseth at 601-961-7050 or lramseth@gannett.com. Follow @lramseth on Twitter. Please support our work at the Clarion Ledger by subscribing.