It's Officially the end for Little Red....

Updated: 1/21/2008 11:22:01 PM

The final bell?
One step remains before Little Red School would be closed
By Christena T. O'Brien
Leader-Telegram staff O'Brien can be reached at 830-5838, 800-236-7077 or christena.obrien@ecpc.com.
Little Red School is expected to stand empty when students return for the 2008-09 school year.

The Eau Claire school board voted 6-1 Monday to accept recommendations - which included closing the town of Brunswick elementary school - from a committee appointed last year to study how to best use the school.

In addition to closing Little Red, the recommendations accepted by the board call for preserving the building and surrounding land for future district use; appointing a standing committee to provide annual recommendations to the board regarding boundary issues, capacity updates, demographic trends and other relevant data; and directing administrators to develop a plan to move the Montessori Charter School from its present site at the former Lincoln School, a three-section building by May 2008.

Before those actions become final, the board must act on the recommendations one more time at its next regular session, scheduled for Feb. 4.

If Little Red were closed, its 122 students would be moved to Putnam Heights School, a move district officials will begin addressing before the end of the current school year, said Gregg Butler, interim deputy superintendent.

Before the board took action Monday, several people, including former school board member Robert G. Janke, asked the board to leave the rural elementary school open.

"We put a lot of money into it, and I think it's worth saving," said Janke, one of four candidates seeking a seat on the board in the April 1 election.

Over the past seven years, the district has invested about $1.5 million in the one-section school - a school with one section per grade. (In its proposal, the committee recommended that all single-section schools be held to the same standards for fiscal accountability as multiple-section schools.)

Less than a year ago, the school board voted to close Little Red as a cost-saving measure because of a budget shortfall. The board reversed its decision and appointed the committee to determine whether the school should remain open past the 2007-08 school year.

"Fiscal issues have to be considered," said Mike O'Brien, board president and one of three members to serve on the study committee. He added that he hoped the building will be used again in the future.

Before making a decision on closing a school and moving the Montessori program, board member Trish Cummins, who voted against accepting the committee's recommendations, said those decisions need to be part of something bigger. Her comments drew applause from the audience that packed the board room.

Closing Little Red is estimated to save about $500,000 a year, according to district officials who are projecting a $2.8 million budget deficit for 2008-09.

Janke encouraged the board to explore options to save on health insurance premiums and to be transparent in their efforts.

Tanya Miller, a Little Red parent, had hoped to raise $500,000 to keep the school open for another year. To date, she has raised only $219, she told the board Monday, but she hopes to raise more funds before Feb. 4.

"Little Red is an exemplary school," she said. "If it is closed for a year, (my fear is) it will not reopen."

In its recommendation to close Little Red, the committee did not suggest closing the school permanently, said board member Carol Craig, who also served on the committee.

"I'm hedging my bet on the fact that (the district) will need a two- or three-section school down where Little Red is located" at some point, as the south and west segments of the district continue to grow, she said.

In addition, she said she believes the committee's findings and the board's decision to close the school "will be the catalyst to push us into ... long-range planning."