By Kristine Thomas
The closure of Monitor Elementary School this June will result in new students for both Scotts Mills and Butte Creek schools in the fall of 2010.
Kindergarteners through fifth grade students will attend Scotts Mills Elementary, while sixth through eighth grade students and their younger siblings will move to Butte Creek School.
The Silver Falls School District Board of Directors reached its decision Feb. 9 in a 6-1 vote with board member David Beeson dissenting.
Beginning in the fall of 2011, children in the former Monitor attendance area will be assigned to Butte Creek. Bus service will be provided for up to eight years from the Monitor attendance zone to Scotts Mills School.
“The Boundaries Task Force and board worked very hard to find a method of dealing with the impending closure of Monitor Elementary that balances the desires of parents with good, sound fiscal practices,” Superintendent Craig Roessler said.
The school board members decided last year to close Monitor Elementary School for several reasons including declining enrollment.
At the May 11, 2009 school board meeting Roessler said Monitor had 70 students. For 40 percent of the students English was not their native language.
At the time, Butte Creek had 285 students with a maximum for 300 and Scotts Mills and Monitor were at less than half of their capacities.
Closing one school, Roessler told the board in May, would bring more resources to the remaining school and result in a better overall quality of education
Beeson was in favor of expanding Butte Creek’s capacity by placing a modular there, which would have cost an estimated $30,000.
“I think that closing the school and dislocating the community… is a pretty extraordinary event and we should do everything possible to accommodate those families and students,” Beeson said.
Board member Tim Roth disagreed, saying he couldn’t justify spending the money when there was space for students at Scotts Mills, which has room for about 90 more students.
The board also voted 6-1, with board member Garth King dissenting, to realign the boundaries of the Monitor attendance area with the Butte Creek attendance area effective July 1.
As part of the realignment, a portion of the Nowlens Bridge and Maple Grove area will be shifted from Butte Creek to Scotts Mill. The North Abiqua area will remain in the Butte Creek attendance area.
To see a map of the new boundaries, visit silverfalls.orvsd.org
Monitor parents can request student transfers to another school beginning March 1.
