Cooke School closing considered

District 205 short on students, funds

Friday, April 22, 2005

By AMANDA WILLIAMS

of The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - The school where the possibilities are endless, according to two hot pink banners hanging in the gymnasium and front entrance, may be closing at the end of the school year.

The District 205 Board of Education is considering a recommendation from the administration to close Cooke Elementary School. The official recommendation will be made at the May 9 board meeting. The board is not expected to vote on the matter until June.

Administrators cite declining enrollment and a deficit budget of $1.5 million to $2.2 million as reasons for the recommendation.

But Cooke being on the Academic Watch List is not a reason for closing the school, said Superintendent Neil Sappington.

"Academic issues were not part of the decision," Sappington said. "I've always told the staff we will never close Cooke based on academic performances."

The school was placed on the state's Academic Watch List soon after the No Child Left Behind law took effect because it did not meet standards in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

But the school's state test scores turned around in 2004 and administrators expect Cooke to be taken off the watch list this year.

The 101 students and six classroom teachers at Cooke School will be sent to other schools in the district next year, most likely Lincoln and Nielson, if Cooke is closed.

Enrollment in the six elementary schools this year, not counting 387 kindergarten students, is 1,738. Next year the district is projecting an elementary school enrollment of 1,757, not including kindergarten. While those numbers show a slight increase in elementary enrollment, the district is expecting a much smaller kindergarten class next year based on preschool enrollment and the Knox County birth rate from five years ago.

Because the amount of state aid a school district receives is based on enrollment, fewer students means fewer dollars.

"I don't think we'd be being fiscally responsible if we didn't make this recommendation," Sappington said.

But parents are more concerned about what will happen to their children if they get sent to other schools.

Neena McClendon, a parent of a Gale student and a Cooke student, said Cooke is valuable because of its close-knit environment and the staff's ability to respond to each student's unique personality. McClendon told administrators Thursday during a meeting at the school her biggest concern is the kids being split up, especially because most of them are minorities.

"There are some kids that are going to have a problem adjusting to not being around people that they live around," McClendon said. "Please understand me, I have a child who goes to Gale and I have nothing against Gale. But I also have a child that goes here and he needs to be here."

Sappington said administrators and board members have talked about the possibility of closing Cooke to save money for the past four years because the district has been spending more money than it brings in.

Over the past three years District 205 has made more than $3 million in cuts, including eight middle school teachers and several other staff reductions.

"We're getting to the point now where our backs are to the wall," Sappington said.

When Cooke reopened in 1995 with 138 students the district had an imbalanced enrollment and more money. The district decided to reopen Cooke to alleviate overcrowding and create a neighborhood school on the south end of town.

"We really wanted to create a neighborhood school environment for those kids," Sappington said. "The whole idea was it would be a neighborhood school with a lot of educators working together to meet the needs of those kids."

Parents agree. Cooke is a community-based school, which is why many parents told administrators Thursday it should be kept open.

"This place has come to be a family unit," said Cynthia Corral, a former Cooke parent who attended Thursday's meeting at the school. "There isn't a cook, teacher, secretary or janitor at this school who wouldn't do for these kids what they would do for their own."