For two months, the fate of the school that has educated generations of Chauncey natives has been on the forefront of the minds of students, faculty and alumni as the possibility of the school’s closure looms.
In early December, third-grade teacher Sheila Ross passed out a letter to her students she had not read herself that outlined Superintendent Carl Martin’s proposal to close the school in an effort to offset state cuts to the district’s budget.
“To have to explain to your class that their school may be closing when you have just found out yourself is not an easy task,” Ross said.
Students, parents and alumni will gather Thursday evening to learn the fate of Chauncey Elementary School during the Athens City School Board of Education meeting.
Many have organized efforts to prevent the school’s closure including the Save Chauncey Elementary group, organized by Chauncey parents John Frost and Autumn Bycofski. The group has more than 250 members on its Facebook page, while the petition to keep the school open has more than 900 signatures.
“We feel like (closing Chauncey) is not beneficial to our children’s education,” said Bycofski, who has three children, one of whom is currently attending Chauncey. “If we were to close Chauncey and send all these kids elsewhere, they would probably get lost in the shuffle and lose the education they would have gotten.”
The group presented multiple alternatives to closing the elementary school. One alternative included adding a levee that would increase taxes to generate $7 million for the district, said District Treasurer Matt Bunting.
But because the additional taxes would be attractive mainly to Chauncey parents and faculty, Martin said a levee was not a viable option and that the Board of Education “does not want to raise taxes.”
The group also presented options including discontinuing school programs such as art and music, and cutting administrative salaries and positions.
Martin said closing Chauncey would only account for about $1 million in savings, or about two-thirds of the district’s deficit. Another $500,000 would be needed to cover the $1.5 million reduction in the budget, Martin said.
“We need to look at all aspects of the district for reduction,” he said. “Transportation costs and not replacing some retired staff has been put on the table.”
Though Chauncey has one of the lowest enrollment rates in the county, parents are still passionate about their children’s education remaining close to home.
Janis Blower, an alumna and parent of a child at Chauncey, said knowing all of the people teaching and influencing her children every day is very comforting.
“I lived (in Chauncey) all my life. I live right by the school,” Blower said. “I know how well-behaved (the kids) are and I don’t think they would have been this way if they did not have such caring teachers.”
Not only are Chauncey natives worried that their children will be lost in a new school environment, but they are also worried their city will be lost in relation to Athens County.
Theresa Mulligan, another Chauncey alumna and parent, said being one of the smaller cities outside Athens, there isn’t much to attract more families.
“Without Chauncey Elementary, Chauncey has nothing,” Mulligan said.
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