SAGINAW (WJRT) -
(02/25/13) - As the Saginaw School District is facing a multi-million dollar budget deficit, a community is focused on the future.
Monday night, school leaders and parents gathered to come up with ways on how to redesign the district.
As we've seen in the past, it's something no district wants to do, but in order to move forward, a lot of tough ideas were thrown out - ranging from combining classes to closing buildings.
"The Saginaw community is going to have to come together and say right now, 'We're the one's that's going to live here.' We have got to get together and put together a program that's going to increase learning. We look at these scores, they're not there," said John Pugh, a grandparent.
Members of Saginaw's Task Force gathered at Mount Olive Baptist Church Monday night.
They shared with parents and teachers ideas on how to take the district in a more positive direction.
One plan called for making Saginaw High seventh through twelfth grade.
"I don't prefer that, that can be debatable. I think we can simplify some things. I don't think you just pull one kid through one door and one kid through another door," Pugh said.
"Think of it as a campus where you have a seventh through eighth potentially on one end of the campus and you have your ninth through twelfth on the other end of the campus," said Talisa Dixon, deputy superintendent.
Other plans called to close some elementary schools while turning some schools into kindergarten through third grade. One plan would even make Thompson Middle a fourth through fifth grade school. Then the district would open a wing in Arthur High for seventh and eighth grade students.
"Personally I don't believe a student should be pushed ahead of their time," said Sharetha Jackson, a mother of three.
Dr. Carlton Jenkins says there are 11 out of 20 buildings that are less than 60 percent of capacity. He argues that if a change doesn't happen soon, the district would lose even more of its students.
"We have buildings that are leaking and we don't have the money to fix them. Our equity is bankrupt, it's a negative zero," he said.
The next meeting is Feb. 28 at Greater Coleman Temple.
Then there's one set for March 7 at Arthur Hill.
