PALMYRA — In the two votes to close the last community schools, Cunningham District School Board member Charles Rittenhouse was the only vote against both.
Rittenhouse said it was just about the community.
“All the local people, that’s the community I actually live in. It affects a lot of people’s personal lives. I like the concept of the smaller schools,” said Rittenhouse in an interview with Fluco Blog after the meeting.
School Board votes to close community schools
Central Elementary School now will again live large, with a student population around 900. The move will not require trailers again but the building will be full.
Central has 53 classroom spaces with 13 currently unused.
“Can we put staff and students in there relatively comfortable? Yes,” said superintendent Gena Keller in a presentation to the board. Keller stressed relatively in her speech.
Read all of Fluco Blog’s coverage of the community schools closing
Columbia’s average daily membership for January 2013 was 111 students while Cunningham had 186. Central’s ADM was 527.
During public comments, a father said his child enjoyed the community schools because the principal knew his child name and greeted each child each day. It was something that rang true to Rittenhouse too.
“My daughter went to Cunningham School. The principal did know her name, met her at the door,” said Rittenhouse.
