NCS local planning committee reviews demographics, middle school options

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 — The Nelson County Schools Local Planning Committee met Wednesday for a review of the local demographic and growth trends and a discussion of ways to improve academic equity and student opportunity among the district schools.

Jan Johnston-Crowe, the director of the Nelson County Planning Commission, provided a presentation that identified areas for potential future population growth in Nelson County.

She noted that some areas identified for potential growth lack the infrastructure to allow that growth to happen. In many cases, housing growth is limited by a lack of sewers — those areas included the US31E/Louisville Road corridor, as well as areas south and east of Bardstown.

While KY 245 has seen considerable growth in recent years, the key factor in starting that growth was the sewer line built along KY 245 that serves the Corman’s Crossing housing development.

Without the extension of sewers further into the county, most areas will see limited growth in the future — despite growing needs for housing.

Superintendent Wes Bradley — a non-voting member of the committee — presented a matrix that showed four possible paths the committee could pursue.

The first was to keep the four middle schools the same and change nothing.

The second option is consolidating middle school students into two separate free-standing middle schools.

The third option was to recombine the schools to create one large middle school, and one large high school.

The final option was the community campus model, which would move the middle school students to buildings that would be located on each high school campus.

COMMITTEE DISCUSSION. The committee spent quite a bit of time discussing the options and the process.

Committee Chairman Eric Shelburne said he felt overwhelmed by the amount of data being presented, and suggested perhaps the pace of the process could be slowed to ensure all ideas received careful consideration.

He said that he felt the in addition to the four options presented during Bradley’s pressentation, the Local Planning Committee (LPC) should really be the entity that brainstorms and comes up with the ideas.

“If it were up to me, I would stick with the original DFP (District Facilities Plan)” which would focus on upgrades at schools like New Haven.

If the goal of LPC is to improve opportunities for students, some questioned if the creation of additional opportunities would translate into improved academic performance.

Discussion also touched on the economic role schools play in a small community, particularly with the potential closing of Bloomfield Middle School if the community campus idea is adopted.

PUBLIC FORUM. During the public comment meeting, retired teacher Susan Santa Cruz Rogers read part of a research report that examined opportunities for students at large vs. small schools, noting that competition for student opportunities is greater at the larger-sized schools. The study also compared the academic performance of large and small schools.

She questioned if students with special needs, physical limitations or anxiety will receive adequate opportunities in a larger school population.

Parent Debra Bohachevsky said after reviewing local testing scores, questioned if the additional opportunities at a larger middle school setting will truly provide students with an adequate education.

Pam Dockery told the committee that she sees the K-8 model in Boston and New Haven limiting the opportunities the schools can offer their middle school grades.

“I challenge you, the Local Planning Committee, to focus your time and attention to increase opportunities and access for all Nelson County students,” she told the group. “This isn’t political, and it isn’t a joke. This is doing what’s right for our children.”

Parent Jessica Ballard told the group she would like to see the four options fleshed out with how they might be implemented in regard to the opportunities they might offer middle schoolers, starting with the current middle school configuration.

NEXT UP. The next Local Planning Committee meeting is 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, at the New Haven School, with a public forum scheduled at 6:30 p.m.

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