Parents were pleading with the New Albany/Floyd County School Board to scrap this whole idea of closing four elementary schools. Two of those schools are four star schools, one of them President Bush visited a few years ago.
Those schools are Children's Academy of New Albany; Silver Street Elementary; Pine View Elementary and Galena Elementary. Silver Street and Galena are the two four star schools.
Superintendent Bruce Hibbard said he's the most hated person in Floyd County right now. But he said he had to choose the politically unpopular, but fiscally responsible proposal to correct the school corporation's budget woes.
This vote determined whether four elementary schools would close this May - to remedy a $7M budget crisis.
Parents did all they could to sway the board to scrap that idea.
"Show us your pride and vote "no" and save our children and our teachers," urged one parent who spoke at the open school board meeting.
"Dr. Hibbard, it would have been nice to see in that proposal, a person pay cut and benefit adjustment for you," said Kathy Ayers, another concerned parent.
"A large portion of us are disappointed you didn't include us in the discussion," said Mindy Johnson, a Galena Elementary School parent.
This also cuts 5th grade camp; 4th grade athletics and the equity and diversity department, and some other things.
The superintendent says the upside is that class size will be reduced; there won't be anymore split level classes and there will be more instructional time, among other things.
"We're sympathetic to the problem, the economic problem the schools are facing, but what you saw happen tonight was the school board choose to close two of the best schools," said Mindy Johnson.
"As you saw there were very emotional parents... But this is what we have to do to utilize our esources better," said Dr. Bruce A. Hibbard, Superintendent of the NAFC Consolidated School Corporation.
