Dec. 21, 2020 10:20p
(WGTD)---Racine Unified has been all-virtual since the beginning of the school year. The district is expected to decide in the second week of January what the next move will be, as the pandemic continues yet as calls for in-person instruction grow louder.
In an update to the school board Monday night, Superintendent Eric Gallien said administrators are looking at possibly modifying its all-virtual mandate for grade school students and high school seniors. Such a move for the latter group would be a nod to the importance of getting as many seniors as possible to graduate on time.
Also Monday night...the board was sharply divided over whether to green light a proposed charter school for the district.
Racine Scholars Academy, which has been in the planning stage for three years, would cater to disadvantaged youth with a rigorous college prep-styled curriculum that would heed core values and cultural competencies.
The driving forces behind the new school include Beverly Hicks, a retired RUSD elementary school teacher and a former president of the local branch of the NAACP and Milt Thompson, a former principal of Wilson Elementary in Kenosha and a co-founder of 21st Century Prep, a charter in Racine that runs under the auspices of UW-Parkside.
The board voted 5-4 Monday night to direct administration to come up with a location for the new school.
Unified operations chief Shannon Gordon said no room currently exists under the district's consolidation and modernization plan that includes the net loss of four schools. School finance head Mark Duff also noted that the district's financial picture has changed drastically because of an unexpected drop in enrollment due to COVID-19. The pandemic has also made uncertain the level of state funding. Racine Scholars could cost $1 million to implement, one board member noted.
But board member Mike Frontier said the district can't afford to pass up the opportunity of adding the new school to its lineup of 'choice' schools, noting that the proposed curriculum has achieved great results elsewhere. "Dr. Gallien had the courage to tell us a few months ago that our district is not trending in the right direction and we need to change," Frontier said.
Countering criticism that approving the new school would fly in the face of downsizing, Frontier said: "In working to pass the referendum, my sense it was not to create a strictly lean and mean system--it was to make us more nimble."
About a year ago, the school board authorized the leaders of the new school to apply for a state planning grant which it received.
The motion that passed Monday night directs administration to come back with a possible location for the new school late next month. District Operations Chief Gordon said that may include a recommendation to close another school ahead of schedule.
As expected, the board voted Monday night to close Giese and North Park elementary schools at the end of the school year.
Those cost-cutting moves are in line with the district's facilities plan, although the North Park closure was accelerated by several years.
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