What comes next now that South Bend has decided to close Clay High School and consolidate?

SOUTH BEND — South Bend school board members approved plans last week to close Clay High School and consolidate across Michiana’s largest school district.

The plan, seeking to solve for years of under-enrollment, will shutter the north side high school in summer 2024 as well as Warren Elementary school on the corporation’s far west side.

5 things to know: About Clay High School closing, consolidation in South Bend

It also proposes a drastic revision of school structures across the district. While corporation practices now allow a great deal of movement between schools, this new plan will restrict students’ elementary and middle school attendance to only several buildings within one of three designated geographic attendance boundaries.

The corporation is also seeking to open up new pathways of preK-8 education as an alternative to the traditional elementary-to-middle school path. Though, that traditional option will still be offered to those who want it.

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The plan requires significant investment to renovate existing schools to take on new students, draw geographic boundary lines and align transportation routes to new feeder patterns. It’s an effort administrators say they hope can provide clarity in a school system that has otherwise lacked structural direction as students advance through their K-12 careers.

“We’re trying to ensure right now that students have access to a high quality education,” said Kareemah Fowler, the district’s assistant superintendent of business and finance. “While we know it’s going to make a few ripples and it’s going to be uncomfortable, we believe that a few students leaving or the uncomfortableness to get to where we’re trying to go is very necessary.”

Where will Clay High School students go next?

Some parents, students and even school board members, however, have expressed concern that not enough has been said about specifically how the district will implement these changes.

Where will academic programs and other student activities go, they ask. And, what counseling and transitional support will be provided to students experiencing yet another upheaval in their academic careers? Students say they were just finding their footing again after remote learning during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Now, some students say they’re not sure where they’ll go to school next. South Bend’s open enrollment policies at the high school level mean students can follow the district’s fine arts program as it moves to Riley High School or pick another school. The district’s plan shows that Clay students will be given priority in selecting other South Bend schools.

Wherever they choose to go, students will have at least part of next school year to decide as Clay winds down in its last year.

Some students, like sophomore Nolan Dool, though, say they’ll transfer right away rather than spend another year at Clay. Dool said he wants to know what will happen to Clay’s career and technical education classes and fears he might have to transfer to another school early to secure his seat and ensure he can stay on track with credits he needs to graduate. Freshman Hannah Jeeninga says she’s considering leaving the district altogether.

“It just sucks,” said sophomore Maliya Freeman, a four-sport athlete worried about what the transition will mean for college recruiting. “I feel lost. Like, I don’t know where I’m going or what to do.”

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Others worry about the loss of a community created at Clay, a school many say they chose specifically for its welcoming environment and emphasis on the arts. Junior Don Little says he’ll finish out his high school career at Clay, but worries about what happens next for his classmates who found acceptance at the school.

“This is a very fun place,” Little said. “It’s a well-known thing between kids that ‘oh, school sucks,’ but (Clay) makes it different because you’re not just learning boring math and stuff. You get to perform and do all the things you love here.”

What are South Bend administrators’ next steps?

At least some of the lack of clarity may be due, in part, to the fact that school board members gave their approval only last week. Administrators say now they’re able to turn attention to what it means to put their plans into action.

Fowler, the finance chief, said she expects to begin the process of issuing bonds — a formal step that allows the district to begin projects to be funded out of the district’s 2020 capital referendum — within the next three weeks.

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The corporation has taken on some deferred maintenance and secured entryway projects, but about $30 million of its $54 million capital referendum still remains to be budgeted.

Proposed projects related to consolidation include renovations at Riley to support Clay’s fine arts program, improvements at Washington High School to support growth of its medical magnet and conversions of multiple elementary and middle schools to other purposes, such as K-8 academies, early childhood education and an alternative education program.

The district will also in the near future look to offload several unused buildings, Clay and Warren included.

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Fowler said administrators last week discussed their next steps in listing the district’s closing Clay and Warren schools with the state for charter interest. By Indiana law, public school corporations must offer closing buildings to charter schools to sell or lease for $1. The corporation sold its closed Tarkington Elementary to Indianapolis-based charter Paramount School of Excellence under this law in June 2021.

Fowler said last week that she’s heard no informal interest from charters in the Clay and Warren schools.  If, 30 days after listing the buildings, no other schools have expressed interest, the district can move forward in deciding what to do next with these properties.

District leaders: Expect more public updates

The district will also begin refining its geographic attendance boundaries this summer. Consultants have already provided the corporation a rough idea of what this could look like with students’ assignments aligned closely to schools within the neighborhood of their nearest high school. District leaders, however, say they hope to form a community committee to help finalize these plans and could turn to South Bend’s many neighborhood associations for their input.

“The boundary process allows you to go a little bit deeper,” Fowler said, “To go into the neighborhoods, speak to the people and really look at, ‘OK, where does this boundary cut off? Should it be, you know, two blocks north or two blocks south?’”

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The boundaries, when decided, would not go into effect until the 2024-2025 school year. The maps will also need approval from the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the district’s consent decree, a federal order establishing that each South Bend school’s enrollment of Black students should be within 15 percentage points of the district’s overall Black student population.

Fowler said she also expects more public discussion to come soon of the corporation’s work exploring interest in a county-serving career center.

The district has partnered with enFocus and the South Bend Regional Chamber over the last year or so to study governance structures, locations and alignment with workforce needs. The corporation set aside $8.5 million of its $54 capital referendum for a career innovation center, and district leaders have expressed preference to build something new rather than work within an existing structure.

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Fowler said the next step will be deciding a location. She expects a public update on progress could come within the next eight weeks.

“Every decision that we make, we’re keeping it student-centered,” Fowler said. “This is a community effort and I think that every household in South Bend school district is impacted by this, and we don’t take that lightly.”

Have a question or story idea related to South Bend's school consolidation? Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter:@carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend chose to consolidate, close Clay High School. What's next?