By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
It appears St. Joseph will, indeed, be moving to two public high schools.
The St. Joseph Board of Education has approved a plan to move to the two-high school model, using Central and Benton High Schools. Under the plan, Lafayette High School will become a middle school, one of four under the school district reorganization.
The Board of Education voted 5-to-2 Monday night during a meeting moved to Central High School to accommodate a larger crowd. The board took comments before voting. Objections to the two-high school model earlier persuaded the board to reconsider using all three high schools, but the board reversed that decision and instead approved the two high school model adopted during long-range planning over the past few years.
The move has been touted as the first step to reorganize the St. Joseph School District to accommodate a falling student population which recently dropped below 10,000 students for the first time.
St. Joseph Board of Education members voting in favor of the two high school model were Ronda Chesney, Jennifer Kerns, Kim Miller, Mike Moore, and Tom Richmond. Board president, LaTonya Williams, and member Whitney Lanning voted against the plan.
The plan does include using Hyde Elementary School to give Benton enough space.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ