WEAR TV 3 reports that Escambia County Superintendent of Schools Malcolm Thomas wants to close three alternative schools: Sidney Nelson, AV Clubbs and E-Seal. I couldn’t find anything about the closures on the school district’s website. There was a Closure and Consolidation Task Force. Its last meeting was 4/16/09 – the agenda is posted, but no minutes. I went through the minutes of the other meeting. No mention is made of the alternative schools. There is discussion of setting up an assessment worksheet and several schools are mentioned, but not these three.
Thomas told WEAR the closures will save $2 million and he will recommend them to the School Board in three weeks.
Sidney Nelson Learning Center‘s mission is to decrease the dropout rate of pregnant and parenting teen girls.
A.V. Clubbs is an
E-Seal offers vocational training for ninth through twelfth grade ESE students enrolled in an Escambia County high school. Vocational classes are open to all ESE students with at least one full semester remaining in school.
We should find out how this plan fits the recommendations of the Closure and Consolidation Task Force. Do the closures meet those guidelines? Why is more information available for parents on the school websites?
Transparency is critical in these situations. We also need to know the future plans for those buildings and what will happen to those neighborhoods.