GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education held a work session on Monday to discuss the community feedback gathered over the last month on its proposal to close some of its buildings.
According to the district, it heard from 1,800 parents, students, and teachers during several in-person and online forums in the weeks after the consolidation plan came out.
Board members listened to them, but as that happened, questions began to rise about whether they should vote on the proposal next Monday as scheduled.
READ MORE: GRPS recommends closing 10 schools, click to find out which ones
During the work session, district leaders told the board the feedback gathered indicated people liked the expanded opportunities and electives, facility improvements, and wider community impact that would happen under the consolidation plan, but acknowledged their concerns, which among other things, included whether the proposal would overcrowd classrooms, close too many schools in the northern part of GRPS, and how to separate middle and high school students.
Members hinted that they may want to reconsider the idea to turn North Park Montessori into a new, general education elementary school because its on the edge of the district, and instead chose to renovate an option that’s more east.
As the board discussed the consolidation plan as a whole, some expressed that they felt rushed by the process and wanted more details.
GRPS Superintendent Dr. Leadriane Roby said the work for the proposal began a few years ago and if the board delays a vote on it, the consolidation plan becomes much harder and potentially more expensive to complete.
She and other administrators believe that in the end, the proposal creates a better learning environment, fills staff vacancies, and improves recruitment and retention for the district.
“As we are doing this work, we are committed, and I think we have demonstrated that we are committed to having continual conversations, to bring back what we’re hearing, to go back out, when we’re not getting representative voice,” said Roby. “But at some point, even if we said we need the next six months, there would still be some unanswered questions. We’re not ever going to get to the point of fully answering the questions because some of it is dependent on, ‘What are we doing?’. We can only answer so much on what we’d like to do based around the plan but at some point, we have that demarkation in the sand to say, ‘Here’s how we’re moving forward.’”
