School Reacts to Closing Idea: Hamilton’s Closure Would Thwart Neighborhood Plans, Support, Many Say

By Julie Hubbard, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Jan. 30–This time of year, Hamilton Elementary School teachers are usually focused on prepping their students for upcoming high-stakes exams.

But many of them were distracted Monday. Over the weekend, they learned about a proposal to close their school in May.

School system administrators unveiled a plan Saturday to close Hamilton and reassign students to Hartley Elementary to help even out the system’s student population.

“I really want them to reconsider,” third-grade teacher Rosalynn Jackson said Monday afternoon, taking a break from teaching her 13 students about regrouping. “I’ve been here 27 years and I feel like I’m losing everything. It’s like we’re all having to go out and find a new home.”

Hamilton principal Richard Mathis said parents called the school Monday with questions. “Right now it’s just a proposal,” he said.

But the proposal has upset parents and teachers at the historically black Unionville neighborhood school for a variety of reasons.

Pearlie Mae Owens, who has a grandchild at Hamilton, said most of the 300-plus students there walk to school now, and they would no longer be able to if they’re reassigned to Hartley.

“Why do they want to put them so far out?” she asked. “It’s a real inconvenience.”

Others said they didn’t want to lose Hamilton’s rich community support and parental involvement.

“We’ve done a lot here,” said Barbara Densley, a special education teacher. “I think (closing) would impact the community greatly because they’ve been helping our school, and it may continue (at the reassigned school), but not as much.”

Hamilton was built in 1954 to relieve overcrowding in the Unionville area. The Pio Nono Avenue school housed one of the first special education programs in the system for black students, and a decade ago it was a pilot for the Title I program, which gives federal funding to high poverty schools.

Mayor Jack Ellis attended the school when it first opened. “From a sentimental standpoint, one would like to see the school remain open,” Ellis said.

“But I understand the decisions are based on money and the population.”

Ellis said he hopes the school system is thinking long term because the decision impacts an area the city is working to revitalize. Ellis also said he wishes the school system would have consulted with the Planning and Zoning Commission and the mayor’s office on decisions that impact neighborhoods.

“Schools are such an integral part of the community, and saying schools are no longer needed is saying the neighborhood is dying,” Ellis said. “We don’t take that view. We’re working our buns off to repopulate the inner city, … building new houses … to bring life and vitality back in that area.”

In recent years, Hamilton has lost student population. Hamilton has space for 427 students but has 363 enrolled, according to system data.

Under the proposal unveiled Saturday, Hamilton fifth-graders would attend their sixth-grade year at Ballard-Hudson Middle School. Remaining students would be reassigned to Hartley Elementary at the beginning of next school year.

“Personally, I regret any time we close a school, especially one in the heart of an area,” board member Tom Hudson said. “I have to look at it from a business standpoint. We have to do things that are cost effective.”

Hudson, who represents the Hamilton district, said a handful of elementary schools sit within a four- or five-mile radius in his district. Each of those schools is under capacity, he said. Also, Hamilton has also been on a state phase-out list for the past five years.

The board also proposes closing Burke Elementary on Second Street by May 2009 and reassigning those students to Ingram-Pye, which is proposed for a $9 million makeover.

Board members will likely vote on the proposed closure within the next two months, Hudson said. The system would be required to hold two public hearings and to advertise the closing in the newspaper.

University of Georgia demographers are also slated to address the board Feb. 8 at a board committee meeting on population trends and redistricting plans.

Telegraph archives were used in this report. To contact Julie Hubbard, call 744-4331 or e-mail jhubbard@macontel.com [mailto:jhubbard@macontel.com].

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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