No time to delay change in Milton elementaries
A proposal to reconsider the configuration of Milton’s two elementary schools has apparently been put on the shelf – again.
Superintendent Kevin Carson said he cancelled a Nov. 28 meeting to discuss consolidating the two schools to allow time to review conditions at all district elementary schools and prepare an update of the 5-year facilities plan. Carson said he expects to report on the plan early next year.
The facilities plan is supposed to be updated every year, and it’s already two years out of date, so it’s understandable that a new superintendent would want to understand conditions at all the elementary schools before embarking on big changes in Milton.
At the same time, the idea of changing the configuration of the schools so that one is a primary school for grades K to 2 and the other houses grades 3 to 5 was proposed in 2003, nearly a decade ago. It came up again in 2008, but both times the school board failed to reorganize the two schools, which lie less than a mile apart.
There’s no doubt the elementary schools are in line for physical improvements, but reorganizing attendance patterns does not necessarily require changes to the physical plants. Elementary students are now attending school in both places; some accommodations would have to be made, but it doesn’t take new buildings to reorganize attendance.
Even the youngest children who attended the two schools in 2003 are now together in middle school, getting ready to attend the same high school next year. The proposed change would simply mean that children will attend school together starting in kindergarten at H.O. Brittingham Elementary, then all move to Milton Elementary for grades 3 to 5.
It’s unclear why teachers or parents would object to this change, especially when H.O.B. students earned a superior rating on state tests last year and Milton Elementary students earned the same superior rating.
The time has never been better to make this change, which should benefit all students. As board member Spencer Brittingham said recently, “Just talking, talking, talking about it is not serving our students; it’s not serving our community; it’s not serving anyone.”
