The Winn Parish School Board held a special meeting Tuesday evening regarding a formal consideration to remove several grade levels from Atlanta High School.
The Winn Parish School System normally has its meetings in the board room at the school board office, but they held the meeting at the Winnfield Senior High School auditorium at 5:30 p.m. to accommodate the anticipated size of the crowd.
According to the school board’s Tuesday special meeting agenda, the board considered transferring certain grade levels from Atlanta High to Winnfield schools.
KNOE spoke to a few parents Tuesday afternoon while they were picking their children up from summer school at Atlanta High, and they did not agree with the idea of transferring grades. Some said this decision would wipe out the achievements their kids have worked for, while others said they don’t believe their children will thrive in a new setting.
Winn Parish School System’s superintendent Al Simmons says student enrollment has dropped by almost 900 students over the last 20 years, and he’s trying to build a stronger system.
“You get to the point where your MFP allocation is not sufficient to fund the number of positions you’d like to have,” says Simmons. “And so, to reduce our expenditures requires us to reduce salaries and benefits numbers, and the only way to do that is through attrition to reduce the number of teachers we have.”
Atlanta High School serves grades pre-K through 12. Simmons says he made a recommendation to the school board to remove grades six through 12 from Atlanta High School to Winnfield schools.
“So that through the vacant positions that already exist at that school, moving teachers and those middle and high school grades into vacant positions and other schools - have a stronger system and more opportunities for students academically and still be able to meet our fiscal responsibility to our taxpayers,” says Simmons.
During the special meeting, the school board voted down a move to consolidate Atlanta High School. Some attendants of the meeting said the decision was too rushed, but others said it was necessary due to finances. A recent graduate from Atlanta High agrees with the decision.
“It is a family. It is a small family of students that all live, breathe and work. We’re all there. That’s where we belong. I feel like it’s not our turn to lose anymore. Tonight, we won, and it was very much well deserved,” says Atlanta High graduate Zaibriana McLaren.
Atlanta High School will continue to serve pre-K through 12th graders. Winnfield Senior High will continue to teach ninth through 12th graders.