ELYRIA — Tears, frustration and questions of why.

Parents of Eastgate Elementary students expressed all three Tuesday night as district officials told them the school is being recommended for closure along with Cascade Elementary.

Even before Superintendent Paul Rigda could explain why such a move was needed in the district, hands shot up from angry parents in the audience and Rigda was peppered with questions.

“This is not just a school. This is like a family to me,” said Tammy Sagula of Lexington Avenue. “Why is this beautiful school, full of parents who love their kids and teachers who care about their students, being closed?”

Sagula left shortly after posing that question with tears streaming down her face. When reached after the meeting, she said she now fears that after four years of having her kids at Eastgate, she will have to leave the Elyria school district because she has no transportation to get them to Prospect School, roughly 1.8 miles from her current home.

Elyria will bus only students who live two miles or more from their assigned school.

“I can’t expect my kids to have to walk that far to school, so now I am going to have to find a district where they can be bused,” Sagula said. “My kids don’t need this right now. I’m a single mother. I’m sick right now and everyone at Eastgate has really helped my kids a lot during the whole the treatment process.”

Sagula said the staff at Eastgate is very much like a family to her. She recalled a recent situation where she couldn’t make it the music store to buy her 9-year-old son a viola music book. Instead of having him go without, the school secretary went out of her way to pick one up for the fourth-grader.

School officials said they can understand having such emotional ties to Eastgate, but they reiterated that the closing has nothing to do with any type of deficiency with the building, staff or students.

“This is not about you as a person, you as a school or you as a community,” said Don Boddy, school board president. “This is about a stalemate in our economy and what we feel has to be done to keep the district financially afloat.”

Rigda said he will recommend to the school board today that both Cascade and Eastgate schools be closed next school year because the financial forecast of the district shows a projected $3 million deficit in 2010 that could grow to $14 million by 2012 if nothing is done now. The district has also announced plans to lay off 14 elementary teachers and 10 middle and high school teachers as part of the overall reduction plan.

The teacher layoffs will save the district roughly $1.3 million, and the school closures will save the district another $1.1 million a year.

Still, parents were outraged to learn that Eastgate would be on the chopping block.

“This is my daughter’s first year at Eastgate, but I certainly didn’t want it to be her last,” said 31-year-old Jenetta Woodard, the mother of a first-grader. “She just got adjusted to the school, the teachers and all her friends. I’m so hurt. This is so wrong.”

Woodard said she moved to the area after hearing about how wonderful the teaching staff was at Eastgate. She now wonders if her daughter, Quintera, will get the same kind of attention at another school.

Many parents openly questioned why the district chose Eastgate when nearby McKinley Elementary could be sold to its neighbor, EMH Regional Medical Center.

Boddy tried to dispel the rumor that EMH wanted McKinley by telling parents that there has been no offer made by the hospital to buy McKinley.

“And, if, if, if — I’m talking big if here — EMH wants McKinley, the only value they would have is in the actual land, and they would considerably lessen any offer because they would likely have to spend thousands to tear down the building.”

While the board has not voted to officially close Eastgate or Cascade, some parents agree that decreasing the number of elementary schools in the district is not a bad idea.

“From where I live, I’m smack dab in the between Eastgate, Prospect and McKinley schools,” said Dave Klotz, 44. “I’m talking not even a mile or so from each school. I never understood why they built schools so close together.”

School officials previously said several factors went into deciding which schools should close including enrollment, location, student body composition, population trends and building operating costs.

Both Eastgate and Cascade have seen a decrease in student population, according to the district’s enrollment figures.

Cascade’s enrollment was at 340 students in 1995-96 and Eastgate had 363 students that same school year. This year, Cascade has 253 students and Eastgate has 318 students.

In addition, both are within a short distance of other elementary schools.

Cascade is about 1.3 miles from Oakwood Elementary and roughly 1.6 miles away from Ely Elementary. Eastgate is a mile away from McKinley Elementary and about 1.1 miles away from Prospect Elementary.

Klotz said he is confident his first-grade son will be able to adjust to a new school.

Rigda said parents should keep an open mind as the new school year approaches. No students from Cascade or Eastgate will be crammed into full classrooms at their new schools.

“They are going into empty classrooms, and we are not letting any teachers go if they are needed in the classroom,” he said. “We have a lot of teachers that are staying with us and will be going to new schools right along with your children.”

In order to ease students into the transition, school officials said they hope to host a number of “get comfortable” events where parents and students from Eastgate and Cascade can see their new schools.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

 

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