VIGO CO., Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Some Vigo County parents are concerned that the quality of education could be impacted by a proposed consolidation of West Vigo and Deming Elementary Schools.
AnnMarie Collier-Taylor, a West Vigo Elementary School parent, was one of several parents who attended the first of three community meetings regarding the school corporation’s efforts to right-size the district, save money and address declining enrollment.
“I’m afraid that they’ll overcrowd them. Consolidated is crowded. Fayette doesn’t look as crowded because of their size and location. But to me neither one of them is ideal,” she said during Thursday’s meeting.
The school corporation expects to lose 1,000 students by 2031.
Leah Myers, a Vigo County resident, said she wants school leaders to find solutions that are in the students’ best interest.
“We have to have real honest conversations about why students are leaving. More importantly, the administration has to listen to what’s going on and fix the problems before asking kids to come back,” Myers explained. “If you ask kids to come back but you’re not fixing the problem, then there is no reason for kids to come back.”
Thursday’s meeting was one of three upcoming community meetings regarding the right-sizing project.
Vigo County Schools Superintendent, Dr. Rob Haworth, said he’s proud of the community’s engagement.
“I’m very proud of the team that put this together. You can see by the number of people up front that we have a very strong team,” Dr. Haworth said. “Here we are in the age of COVID-19 and we said we could only have 50 and as you can see we had almost all 50 filled. That’s encouraging.”
Click here to RSVP for the upcoming community meetings.
