By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph School District officials continue to look toward the future, though it’s not the future they had planned.
“Plan A failed, so Plan B is to still go to two high schools with that being Central and Lafayette,” Assistant Superintendent of Academic and Education Services, Ashly McGinnis, says defeat at the polls in April won’t change the long-range plan to reduce the number of public high schools from three to two.
McGinnis, who soon will become superintendent, tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post the district is looking at expanding parking and the cafeteria at Lafayette to hold more students.
“We still haven’t given up hope on a new high school,” McGinnis says. “I think we need that for our community to move forward. Our administrative team believes that, that that will draw folks into our community and have people live here and be invested in our community. And so, we haven’t given up on a new high school.”
Voters in April turned down a $157 million bond issue the St. Joseph School District proposed to build a new high school. The issue needed 57% majority to pass. It received only 46% of the vote.
McGinnis says declining enrollment and a staffing shortage are really driving the move to reduce the number of public high schools in St. Joseph from three to two. Central High School is the largest with approximately 1,650 students. Benton has 620 students with the Lafayette student population at 585.
“So we’ve talked about some unequal opportunities across the board at all three high schools, which is another reason why we want to go to two high schools to condense our resources and provide better services for all of our kids,” McGinnis says.
McGinnis says school officials have already walked through Central and Lafayette High Schools to determine what must be done to fit the new model.
Board of Education Vice President, Ronda Chesney, says the board has big decisions ahead.
“Look at what the administrators have proposed to us,” Chesney says, “asking any questions that we need to ask and looking at the big picture of our district I think is important so that we’re making sure that all students in our district receive the best possible education.”
McGinnis says the district’s administrators and the Board of Education will be working together to better detail the long-range plan.
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