PORT ANGELES –Parents and some educators say they are surprised by a task force report that suggests a schedule of rolling closures of some Port Angeles School District elementary schools.
The report, designed to find ways to pare $300,000 from building operations to prevent further operating budget cuts, was presented to the School Board on Monday night.
The top proposal calls for the temporary closure of Franklin Elementary School for about two years to allow for extensive renovations.
That strategy would trigger other temporary closures for renovations at Monroe, Hamilton and Fairview schools — or the longer closure of Monroe Elementary School because of declining enrollments.
Voter-approved bond money would cover most of the renovations to Franklin in southeast Port Angeles and Monroe on the eastern side — depending on enrollments in the latter case.
Capital project funds would then be used to renovate Hamilton and Fairview, the two other older elementary schools in the Port Angeles School District that need repairs and modernization.
The strategy would shift more than 460 students to different schools within four years.
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The rest of the story is in Wednesday’s Peninsula Daily News.