GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids Public School leaders held their final facilities master plan town hall on Wednesday.
It happened at Mulick Park Elementary.
GRPS has hosted 11 town hall meetings over the past month in an attempt to get feedback from families about the district’s plans to possibly close some schools and other buildings amid declines in enrollment.
While officials did not have an estimate as to how many people have attended the town halls, they said more than 1,000 surveys have been collected since September.
READ MORE: Elementary, middle schools focus of GRPS consolidation plan
“The response has been phenomenal,” said Dr. Leadriane Roby, GRPS superintendent. “People are very invested in GRPS and want to see our schools continue to grow and thrive.”
With the town hall meetings now complete, Roby says the district will begin to survey students on the topic.
Once that wraps up, GRPS will take all of the data gathered and analyze any trends.
The school board will then review that information before it approves a facilities master plan by the end of the year.
According to the district, there has been a 26% decrease in the number of students enrolled at GRPS over the past 12 years.
Due to the decline, its overall building utilization level sits around 53%, significantly less than the 85% the state recommends districts maintain.
READ MORE: Grand Rapids Public Schools looks to combat declining enrollment by 'revitalizing' buildings
A firm hired by the district found it only needs 21 of its 44 education facilities. They project GRPS could save $4 million in annual maintenance work. Additional dollars could be saved with operational costs no longer needed too.
Roby says that’s money that could be used to re-invest in students, staff, and other programs.
“I think one of the things that Dr. Roby was saying that really resonated with me is the fact that some of our middle schools don’t have the same opportunities as far as like extra curricular activities and classes like wood working or foreign language, so I think making that more wide spread would be amazing,” said Mackenzie Smith, a GRPS parent who attended Wednesday’s meeting.
At this time it’s unknown which buildings would be impacted by the facilities mast plan, but the district does not intend to shut down any high schools.
If the plan calls for any schools to be closed, they will not be named until 2023 or later.
The closures would then not happened until the 2024-25 school year and would likely be phased over a period of time.
“It’s still a big process,” said Smith. “It seems like it’s going to take some time to get some real answers about what kind of changes are coming. I am excited to see the good things that are going to come out of this. Of course I am a little worried about the changes to come, but I do think they’ll include us in all of those processes.”
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