PONTIAC, Mich. – Pontiac School District superintendent Dr. Kimberly Leverette spoke Thursday afternoon, addressing the district’s strategic plan, which includes the decision to close two schools at the end of the school year.
The closures will affect Owen Elementary School and Kennedy, two schools that share a building in Pontiac. The building will no longer be used for instruction beginning next school year.
The plan also includes all fifth-grade students across the district to attend Pontiac Middle School. That school will now hold grades five through eight.
“The fifth grade will be assigned to a cohort, and the focus next year will be on the science, the technology, the engineering, the arts and the mathematics,” Leverette said.
Students from Owen Elementary will relocate to Alcott Elementary School, while faculty and staff from Owen will be divided between Alcott Elementary and Pontiac Middle School.
Kennedy School programming will move to Pontiac High School.
Local 4 told you in May that the changes were voted in because of declining enrollment and the rising cost of operating buildings.
But Superintendent Dr. Leverette said there’s more to the story.
“We were doing this in the best interest of students moving forward into the future and what our outcomes are and expectations as it relates to our strategic plan,” Leverette said.
Dr. Leverette said this coming school year she wants to evaluate the changes and address parents and staff on if they’re working. This could happen during town hall sessions or meetings.
And the plan to close two schools and adjust school grades is something four parents Local 4 previously spoke with said they felt blindsided by.
Mentioning the meetings to address the changes that happened at times not convenient for working parents.
Something Local 4 asked the Superintendent about.
“We’ll make sure we are making sure that information is given far in advance for planning purposes, again, feedback, so yes,” the superintendent said.
And the plan to close schools didn’t just receive pushback from some parents; some teachers also questioned the changes.
Something the superintendent said she’s received mixed reactions about, where some are for it and others have asked to have more conversations.
Dr. Leverette said some of the feedback she plans to collect to assess how the changes are going next school year could be collected through a survey or face-to-face interaction.
She hopes to gather everything and present that data sometime in the fall.