School board strikes 6 schools from closure consideration

After previously being included in a list of schools considered for closure, Homer Middle School, McNeil Canyon Elementary School, Moose Pass School, Nikiski Middle/High School, Paul Banks Elementary School and Seward Middle School will not be closed in the coming school year.

That’s after a discussion about school closures by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education in Homer on Monday. Though they decided to remove most of the schools from consideration, the group decided to continue exploring the possible closure of Nikolaevsk School, Sterling Elementary and Tustumena Elementary. Newly, the board also asked district administration for information about closing alternative schools like Kenai Alternative High School and Homer Flex High School.

After making that decision, the board heard over an hour of testimony from students and families, including many from Nikolaevsk, about the value of their school to their community and the potential hardships of increased travel times. People also spoke about the value of schools like Homer Flex in serving students who would otherwise “slip through the cracks” in standard high schools. Afterwards, members of the board said they weren’t in favor of closing any schools.

“There are 42 schools — 43 starting this fall — and they’re all unique, and they’re all different, and they’re all important,” Patti Truesdell said. “I don’t think we can afford to lose any of these.”

The board will receive further updates and continue the discussion at their April meeting. Board President Zen Kelly encouraged the board to strike the six schools removed from consideration to “alleviate some of the public’s concerns.”

KPBSD Human Resources Director Nate Crabtree and Planning and Operations Director Kevin Lyon presented to board members on Monday about each of the nine possible closures. None were presented as a wholly sound and viable option, with relatively little in savings generated for the district, concerns about capacity at remaining schools, and new expenses further eroding any possible value.

Liz Hayes, finance director for the district, has said in recent months that the district would see diminishing returns for any closed school over five years. A “hold harmless” provision in state statute would provide for the district to maintain funding based on a school size adjustment for two years, then gradually lose that funding through the next three.

Closing Homer Middle, for example and per a report included in meeting documents, could add over $580,000 in savings to the district next year. By year 5, though, the closure would represent a loss to the district of $131,000 annually.

Any closed school cannot be reopened for seven years.

Further complicating the calculus surrounding any school closure is the cost of bussing. In several of the scenarios, like closing Tustumena Elementary School, the report says another bus might be necessary to get students to other schools. The annual cost of operating a bus is roughly $150,000, Lyon said; the savings by year 5 of closing Tustumena is only $159,000.

There are also difficult realities for the students who would be made to travel from their communities to other schools. Bussing students from Nikolaevsk to Chapman or Homer, per the report, could result in one-way trip times of nearly an hour and a half — with the addition of the return trip totaling nearly three hours on the bus per day.

Similar complaints were leveled at the proposed closure of Moose Pass, which would have children in kindergarten traveling over an hour before and after school through a mountain pass susceptible to avalanches.

“I don’t think that’s an acceptable education experience for primary children,” board member Sarah Douthit said.

Finally, even in closure scenarios where there is some savings to be collected and isn’t a call for more buses or a projected significant impact to students, like with Paul Banks Elementary School, the board said they were concerned about the needs of capacity. Even if the projected capacity of building is greater than the number of students in the school, the varied needs of different grades and programs mean that the actual usable space may be insufficient.

“I can’t see that this works,” Board President Zen Kelly said of the Paul Banks closure. Incorporating the intensive needs and pre-kindergarten programs from Paul Banks into West Homer Elementary School would be a tall order, and Kelly said West Homer already has issues with parking and drop-off before adding to its population.

Though the board chose to collect more information about possible closures of Tustumena and Sterling schools, they also noted that they may play a part in the conversations surrounding consolidations of Soldotna schools as part of the 2022 school maintenance bond.

“Before we move on with these two, Sterling and Tustumena, we have to have a better idea of the complete package,” KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland said.

Holland spoke more favorably of the possible closure of Nikolaevsk, noting that the district is “covering a lot there” in providing utilities, maintenance and staffing for 23 students.

No member of the board objected to collecting more information and continuing to consider Nikolaevsk for closure, though Kelly noted that the move is not a decision to close the school, which would likely require community meetings and a full vote of the body.

Kelley Cizek, a member of the board, suggested that Tustumena continue to be explored because she didn’t think it was a community school in the way that the board had defended schools like Moose Pass, also citing its low capacity of only 34%.

KPBSD Assistant Superintendent Kari Dendurent pushed back on Cizek’s definition of Tustumena, noting that the school is “a huge community school” that “does absolutely provide a lot of opportunities for our students.”

Douthit suggested Sterling for consideration, noting that it has upcoming maintenance needs like a new boiler and relatively few students.

Board member Virginia Morgan suggested exploring alternative schools as an option that could “make sense to consolidate.”

A full recording of the meeting will be available at the KPBSD’s BoardDocs website.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.