By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph now is moving toward two public high schools after years of planning and several fits and starts.
The St. Joseph Board of Education has voted 5-to-2 to keep Central and Benton High Schools and convert Lafayette High School into a middle school.
St. Joseph school Superintendent Ashly McGinnis acknowledges this has been a long time coming.
“This has been very challenging, difficult for our board for several years and several boards,” McGinnis tells KFEQmmunity. “When the bond failed in April, the board agreed then to go to a two high school model. And so, over the past five months since we’ve been in our roles, we’ve been coming up with different plans, presenting that to the board, getting their feedback, getting feedback from the community, tweaking plans.”
McGinnis says the district has not been able to provide the same education at Benton and Lafayette as it has at Central due to falling student numbers. Central High School has an enrollment of approximately 1,650 students while Benton and Lafayette have around 650 students. Under the new plan, Central would grow to 1,900 students with Benton at 1,070 students.
The move will close Pershing and Field Elementary Schools. Webster will no longer be the alternative school. Robidoux Middle School will become an elementary school.
McGinnis is hopeful a step back will eventually lead to a step forward.
“And so, what we will do now is go back and look at where do we want to be in 15 years? We still have hopes of having two new high schools in our town,” McGinnis says. “And so, I think that this first step will position us well to get to that end goal. But we’re going to have different phases leading up to those two new high schools that will have to be down the road.”
The St. Joseph School District has seen a big drop in enrollment. In 1993, the district had approximately 12,500 students. It dropped below 10,000 this year. School officials along with various school boards have floated plans to reduce the number of high schools to adjust the entire system to the falling numbers. Also, the district announced its financial reserves have dropped to near 10%, far from the Board of Education policy to maintain a 20% budget reserve. The district aims to cut $4 million from its budget over the next two years.
The district had proposed a $157 million bond issue in April to build a new high school, but voters rejected the proposal. Even though the bond issue failed, the district stuck with its plan to move to two high schools.
The vote by the St. Joseph Board of Education has been a long time coming. The board first considered a plan to drop Benton as a high school and keep Lafayette along with Central. Then it considered keeping Benton with the use of Hyde Elementary to add space. McGinnis says it now appears the district won’t need the added room, that Benton can be refigured to house the incoming students. The board even considered retaining the three high school model.
Even with the vote and now a clear path ahead, McGinnis acknowledges a lot is left to be determined.
“But I do think we are trying to position ourselves to where we can think long-term to move our district forward, but also to have a better impact in our community,” McGinnis says. “We want people to come here. We want people to live here, have their families here, and stay here in St. Joseph.”
The plan goes into effect next school year.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ