Lorain/Elyria, OH
Elyria Schools cuts, closings made official
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Board votes unanimously to shut Cascade, Eastgate
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| STEVE MANHEIM / CHRONICLE |
| Members of the public attend the Elyria Board of Education meeting on Thursday.
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ELYRIA — No amount of pleading Wednesday night could keep two beloved neighborhood schools open and save the jobs of 24 teachers and guidance counselors.
“It’s out of our hands,” Elyria Schools Superintendent Paul Rigda said before the school board voted unanimously to shutter Cascade and Eastgate elementaries.
The decision came after a three-hour question-and-answer session about plans to solve ongoing money problems.
“Do not lay off any of our teachers,” said resident Diane McCullough, one of about 100 people who gathered in the Elyria High School auditorium. “Our teachers are great. They are what make our schools, not the buildings.”
McCullough said her 6-year-old daughter, who is in first grade at Cascade, lost both her teachers in the board’s vote.
Those 24 teachers received notice last week that their jobs were on the line, and when the news spread to the students, McCullough’s daughter ran home in tears.
“She was devastated, crying the whole day when she found out,” McCullough said.
Others begged the board to reconsider, including resident Tracy Caden, who has five children in the Elyria Schools. She said two of them attend Cascade, and she asked for more time to find an alternative solution to the closures.
“Give Cascade parents and myself the chance to raise more money for our schools,” she said, breaking into tears. “How would you feel if it were your children being displaced, and you lost your jobs because of dollars and cents?”
Diana Gregory, a crossing guard for the Elyria police, said the school board’s decision means six Eastgate-area guards and three more at Cascade might lose their jobs, too.
But Rigda said there’s not much else the district can do.
Enrollment in Elyria has dropped from about 9,250 in 1995 to 7,100 today, he said, and each student that leaves takes about $2,700 in state funding with them.
And that trend isn’t slowing: Rigda predicts by 2012, the schools will have only 6,600 students.
“The decline in enrollment scares me,” he said. “What we’re buying right now is time.”
Closing Cascade and Eastgate will save about $1.1 million a year and slashing staff will reduce costs by another $1.3 million a year, Rigda said.
That should be enough to stave off predicted shortfalls of about $7 million in 2011 and $14 million by 2012, he said, but in reality it only prolongs the inevitable.
Even with all the cuts, the Elyria Schools could still be $3 million in the red by 2012, even if three renewal levies on the ballot pass this fall and next spring, Ridga said.
The three levies combined bring in $14 million, and the amount that homeowners now pay won’t grow if they are renewed, he said.
This is not the first time the district has reduced its workforce. The district has cut 53 other positions in the past couple of years — and it’s certainly not the first time it’s closed a school.
Rigda said there were 17 elementary schools and five junior high schools when he started working for the district in the 1970s. Two junior highs and five elementary schools were closed in 1979 amidst the same enrollment problems, and continued drops forced two more elementary buildings and a high school to close in 1996.
At least for the teachers, there is some hope.
Rigda said he hopes retirements and other teachers who opt to leave will allow all 24 teachers cut Wednesday to return to work this fall. If there aren’t enough open positions for all, they’ll be called back based on seniority, he said.
Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.
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Does anyone else think it strange that the school system is $3 millilon in the red, almost the exact amount that they paid to buy all the houses they’ve torn down for the new high school?
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The decline in enrollment scares Ridga & the district… but do they pay tax dollars or send their own children to Elyria? I wonder how many staff & faculty of the district do not live or send their children to the district. What kind of message is this sending? They find that the drop in enrollment is alarming as they go home to their financially stable schools in their over-rated neighboring “bedroom” communities.
What’s even more upsetting is that a majority of the 24 educators and staff that have been cut are probably residents and parents of Elyria/ECSD.
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whatsgoingon, I think you need to support your theories with facts. I’m sorry but I don’t think your comments are justified unless you have some evidence behind what your saying. If you know something the rest of us don’t then by all means please clue us in to what you know.
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I think Rigda has one heck of a nerve to stand up there and say, “The decline in enrollment scares me.” Aw? Poor baby. He had no clue? The board had no clue? That’s right, they have NO CLUE! ElyriaDeservesBetter, do YOU have facts to prove “whatsgoingon” is not telling the truth? Would you like to share them with us? At a guess, I would venture to say at least 50% of the staff is from out of the area. I bet I’m right, but since WE are not PRIVY to the information, I can’t confirm it. But can you, ElyriaDeservesBetter, prove us wrong? You kind of imply that you have an inside tract to information. As to the $3 mil., I’m not surprised at all. I think some of you are beginning to realize this board is incompetent and “out of touch” and very self-serving. They rule with an iron fist and the heck with the rest of the community and, worst of all, the heck with our kids. Oh and by the way, North Ridgeville Schools are overcrowded. Watch for them to RENT these two schools soon. No mention of sizing DOWN the new high school with all this lower enrollment going on and the prediction of more in the coming years? Of course not. “Elyia City Board of Education High School” WILL be built. BUILDBUILD
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To be on the Elyria City School Board you have to live in the city of Elyria. I also an not one hundred percent sure but at one time at least two of the school board members (and they are still on the school board) children went to private school and did not attend Elyria City Schools.
Also I believe that the Superintendent has to live within the city limits also to have the job. So he would be paying the taxes.
I DO NOT have facts to back this up but I would venture a guess that no more then 50% of faculty and staff live in the city of Elyria. But they may not live in the city for any number of reasons.
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The claim made by the second respondent is very interesting. How many higher level administrators live in Elyria and how many have/had children in the schools. Additionally, how many teachers actually live in Elyria? I do not know the answers to these questions, but they are very interesting. If you are going to be a leader of a school, the very least you can do is be a part of the community outside of work hours. Minor incentives should be offered to future educators and administrators to live in Elyria.
The cuts do not come as a surprise. To be quite blunt, they had to be made. We do not have the enrollment we used to. The questions that we need to be asking our “Where are these students going?” Obviously, it is very difficult to control economic forces, but if families are leaving because they are disenchanted with the Elyria Schools, that is something that Mr. Rigda can and should address.
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Circle- I agree with you to venture that 50% of the district probably does live out of area. I aslo agree that Eastgate will be leased to North Ridgeville- it’s one major intersection over from the city limits and close to the huge growth of powerhouse developments thrown up overnight in Ridgeville. Sorta funny, I know several people that have moved from Elyria to Ridgeville and now they will more than likely have their kids shipped to Elyria for school.
Elyria Deserves better… the facts are public records in the Lorain county auditors website. Several higher paid employees of the district including the “leader” are not tax paying citizens of Elyria, and they are concerned with the loss of enrollment & population when they have not helped matters by moving and residing in other communities. I know you cannot force someone to live somewhere, it just bothers me that they are payed good salaries and live in other communities. I hate to make it sound like everyone in the district lives outside of the district, but KUDOS to those that reside here and belive in a system that they are employed by.
As far as my comment goes when discussing the 24 job cuts, I know two individuals whos jobs were cut and they both live in the district. They were at the bottom with seniority, and that’s where the cuts started, and most of these people are on lower start pay salaries and can only afford to live in Elyria. I know I am going on a limb by assuming that the majority of the jobs axed were residents or parents of ECSD, but It’s probably true.
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First of all, the superintendent lives in the Amherst area, not Elyria. But, I belive that we are all missing the point here. There has been no mention of the mayor or city counsel. What has the mayor and city counsel done to bring high paying jobs to the city of Elyria. Elyria has a great opportunity with a college and joint vocational school close by, but where are these people to work? Has the mayor tried to offer companies tax incentive packages to come to Elyria. Elyria has lost almost 15000 residents since Grace has been in office. I guess hanging flower baskets, although pretty don’t bring influence people to come to Elyria. A new high school, higher test scores for students and most of all somewhere for these people to work (that pays a living wage) does. New residents=more students. Then the school board wouldn’t be closing Cascade or Eastgate.
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I wondered how long it would take to blame the mayor for these problems. Even if there were jobs in Elyria does not mean that the people would live in Elyria.
Also I apologize about the superintendent comment in my earlier comment I thought he was required to live in the city limits.
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