Serena Elementary considers changes

Because of lack of state funding and fluctuating enrollments, another area school district is looking at the idea of “attendance centers”.

          When the Serena Elementary Unit Two District meets March 25^th, they’ll vote on whether to keep things the same of go the route of attendance centers. 

          The first option supported by Superintendent Dan Joyce is to go away from K thru 8^th grade schools in Harding, Serena and Sheridan to graded attendance centers with a K-2 building in Sheridan, 3^rd-5^th grade building in Harding and 6^th thru 8^th graders at Serena.  The change would start with the 2011-2012 school year. 

          Joyce believes the attendance center move would centralize curriculum and save around $170,000 per year with four teachers being cut.

          The second option for the school board is to not change how their schools are structured and hope funding turns around.  However the board will still work with the superintendent to develop criteria where the attendance center would be pursued in the future. 

          The board plans to assess its school setup yearly.