Plymouth-Canton School Closings Await March 27 Board Vote

Two Plymouth-Canton elementary schools will close next year when the district's school board votes this month to adopt a realignment plan.

One school — Fiegel Elementary — appears to already have its fate determined as both plans being presented to the board March 27 include closing Fiegel. The fate of the second — either Gallimore or Hulsing Elementary — will be decided by the vote.

The decision will come after months of analysis from the district on how to best utilize its available classroom space. With too many partially filled buildings, the district is looking at ways to consolidate its schools to cut costs. The matter gained urgency when the district opted to pursue all-day kindergarten, increasing the need for more suitable classrooms.

While the decision won't affect class size, it could affect each building's potential for growth.

The district commissioned Plante Moran CRESA, a real estate consulting firm, to determine how much of its learning space is being used in each building. The firm then presented several scenarios to the district, some of which proposed radical changes such as altering the current K-5 elementary format in favor of K-6 in some buildings, or forming K-2 and 3-5 grade-level "sister" schools.

At the request of board members, the district to just two, both preserving the current K-5 grade format and close two elementary buildings.

One plan, dubbed Scenario 1B during community forums on the topic, would close Fiegel and Hulsing elementaries and relocate the Tanger Center special education program and toward the center of the district.

A plan introduced later during district discussions about the closings, Scenario 1C, would close and elementaries and also would relocate Tanger Center and Starkweather.

Both plans are estimated to save between $1.68-1.93 million annually by cutting personnel and reducing operating costs.

The district recently published maps that detail the new boundary changes once the elementary buildings are closed. According to these proposed maps, and elementaries will not see any boundary changes. Those maps are available by scrolling through the photos at the top of this page. High-resolution maps are available on the district website.

This story was updated from its original version at 11:47 a.m. to include a link to higher-resolution maps on the district website for readers' convenience.