MANSFIELD — The Mansfield City School board will vote next month on a possible reconfiguration of the district’s buildings and grade levels for the 2022-2023 school year.
The board heard a proposal from district administrators Tuesday night.
“Currently we have nine schools. Our proposal is to go to eight,” Supt. Stan Jefferson said as he began the presentation.
Administrators say the new set-up would allow the district to expand its preschool program, expand educational opportunities in K-12 and increase efficiency.
The proposed plan includes closing the Brinkerhoff building, which currently houses the Spanish Immersion program. The plan would maintain the Spanish Immersion School as an educational option, but move its students out of the school’s current location at 240 Euclid Ave.
Spanish Immersion students in grades kindergarten through 6th grade would move into Woodland Elementary; seventh and eighth graders would move to an open wing of Mansfield Middle School.
Jefferson said the costs of maintaining Brinkerhoff no longer outweigh the benefits due to the building’s age and need for costly updates.
“Woodland is a better facility for (Spanish Immersion students) than where they’re currently at now – newer windows, roof, landscaping. We can cool the building much more easily and eliminate the need for the expenditures that we are paying right now.”
Meanwhile, Woodland Elementary students in kindergarten thru second grade would join their peers at Prospect Elementary.
Third graders from Woodland, Prospect and Sherman Elementary would move to the Malabar Intermediate building. Malabar would continue to serve all district students in grades 4 thru 6.
Sherman would use its extra space to house the district’s growing pre-kindergarten program, which currently operates out of Springmill STEM Elementary School. This would allow Springmill to add a grade level, making it a kindergarten thru sixth grade school.
“Currently, at Springmill STEM, you have two programs growing and they can’t grow any more collectively,” Jefferson said. “Our Pre-K program needs additional space. It’s a five-star program, so we need to treat it as a five-star program.”
Jonathon Burras, director of pupil services, said the district would like to add about 40 more spots in pre-kindergarten if the move goes through.
The Tyger Digital Academy and Mansfield Senior High School would be unaffected by the plan.
District seeks community feedback before vote
If the school board passes the proposed grade configuration at its Feb. 15 meeting, the changes will be implemented next school year.
District administrators will hold “office hours” over the course of the next three weeks to take comments and questions from the community before bringing the plan to the school board for a final vote.
Community members who wish to comment or inquire about the proposed grade level and facilities changes can stop by the board office on Jan. 31, Feb. 7 or Feb. 14 from 8 to 9 a.m. Anyone who cannot make it at that time is encouraged to contact the board office and set up an alternate time.
“If they need that time to be in the evening, after 5 o’clock, that I will make sure that we have somebody around to address that as well,” Jefferson said.
Personnel director said no jobs will be lost
Jefferson and Mark Wilcheck, the district’s director of personnel, said no jobs will be lost as a result of the reconfiguration.
Wilcheck has worked with Brad Strong, president of the Mansfield School Employees Association, to ensure the terms of the union’s contract will be upheld.
Both Jefferson and Strong confirmed class sizes are unlikely to change.
Administrators, board voiced support for the plan
Spanish Immersion Principal Michael Brennan called the proposed plan “a step in the right direction.”
“It’s been done in a lot of different schools, having an immersion school within another school,” Brennan said. “The way that I like to look at it is that it’s a small school within a large school. So they get a small-school feel within a large school’s ability to have electives and sports programs.
“So I think it’s a win-win for everybody.”
He said all Spanish Immersion students would benefit from newer, more up-to-date buildings. The current building has no central cooling and is not handicap accessible.
“The district has tried to use every trick that they could try to make it cooler when we were in there, but it is expensive and really wasn’t as effective as we wanted it to be,” he explained.
Treasurer Tacy Courtright said the district spends about $65,000 on the Brinkerhoff building per year in cooling, electric, telephone, internet and maintenance costs — although the district has invested less in upgrades at Brinkerhoff than other buildings.
According to Brennan, the change may also increase the program’s kindergarten enrollment capacity from just over 40 students to 60 students.
The reconfiguration plan will not move forward until the board votes next month however, board members Sheryl Weber and Renda Cline both voiced enthusiasm for the proposal.
“Anybody who’s been in the district can see how we’ve ebbed and flowed and how we needed to make adjustments,” Cline said. “I’m most hopeful and really looking forward to the opportunities that not just our students, but our staff will also have by making this adjustment.
“It just makes more sense and we can maximize our tax dollars and not stretch them so far.”
Reconfiguration a step towards new facilities
Jefferson said the reconfiguration is a first step for bringing district facilities up to 21st-century standards.
“We need 21st-century buildings. The last building that was built in our district is now 18 years old,” Jefferson said, referencing the joint middle and high school building.
Brinkerhoff was built in 1950 and added onto six years later. Woodland was constructed in 1936, with an addition following in 1950. Prospect was constructed in 1950 and added onto in 1961. Both the Sherman and Springmill elementary buildings were constructed in 1961. Malabar followed in 1962.
Stephen Rizzo, chief academic officer, said the district has leveraged regular funding as well as COVID-relief monies to upgrade its older buildings. However, the age of the buildings limits what the district can do.
“As we dig a little deeper, it’s not just about being able to bring all the buildings up to speed,” he said. “Are they handicap accessible? Are they meeting our program needs – meaning classroom teachers have adequate space, they have storage space, they have collaborative space? Are we providing adequate space for labs, visual literacy, students supports?
“So as you dig a little bit deeper, and you look at classroom size, age of building costs … We want to do better in our strategic plan and provide our students and families 21st-century facilities.”
Jefferson said the next steps are to ensure the district is fiscally sound and then put a bond issue on the ballot. He declined to specify a target date for a bond issue, but implied it would be soon.
“We can’t wait 10 years,” he said. “I don’t even know if we can wait five years.”
