Board approves preschool at Mark Twain site

Jan. 23—The St. Joseph Board of Education voted Monday to convert Mark Twain Elementary School into an early childhood learning center for the 2023-24 academic year.

The move is meant to address a shortcoming in the number of children who are ready to start kindergarten, but it will require students and staff to move to other elementary schools in the St. Joseph School District. About 44% of SJSD students are screened as ready for kindergarten, compared to 65% statewide.

"Ultimately, at the end of the day, you have to make decisions that are hard sometimes," said Gabe Edgar, the superintendent.

Heading into the Monday meeting, the board was expected to discuss the future of Mark Twain prior to a vote at the February meeting, but staff members at the school expressed a desire to vote quickly in order to have more certainty about future plans.

The expedited timeline caused some concerns from board members like Isaura Garcia, who expressed reservations about class sizes and whether special services would follow students to other schools. At Mark Twain, 88% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

"These kids have one chance of an education," Garcia said. "Although there's benefits to what we're doing, we have to be able to account for what we're doing. We have to make it make sense."

In the end, the Mark Twain conversion passed on a 6-0 vote with the understanding that board members would be able to revisit the issue of boundaries and the impact on Twain students as well as other schools. Twain students are expected to be sent to Coleman, Skaith, Edison, Carden Park and Parkway schools.

"There is no sense in just twisting in the wind on this," said board member Ken Reeder, who advocated for a rapid vote on the conversion and a doubling of preschool capacity.

Asked by board members, Edgar said he didn't think anyone would lose their jobs with the change at Mark Twain. The district fills more than 100 open positions a year.

The board's decision leaves the SJSD with 13 elementary schools as enrollment has fallen 9% in 10 years, to 10,312 students in the fall of 2022. The district closed Humboldt and Lake Contrary elementary schools in 2018. Lake Contrary was repurposed into a preschool facility in 2021. It will offer about 15 early learning classrooms along with 15 at Mark Twain.

Prior to the vote, one parent expressed reservations about the plans to close Mark Twain and the impact on students who would be required to move to new schools.

"I feel like it looks great on paper," said Destany Stocking, the mother of three children who attend Mark Twain. "These kids aren't numbers."

Greg Kozol can be reached at greg.kozol@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowKozol.