VERMILLION COUNTY, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – The South Vermillion Community School Corporation hosted a community meeting to discuss the future of its three elementary schools on Thursday.
The three schools in question are Van Duyn, Ernie Pyle and Central Elementary schools. These are the oldest buildings in the corporation.
SVCS is one of many corporations in our area that is experiencing a steady decline in student enrollment. Corporation officials said that this makes it difficult to operate three small elementary schools.
Three options were presented to the community, and all three include possible plans to shift grade levels to specific schools in order to compensate for declining enrollment. Although this plan is centered around elementary schools, the middle and high school also come into play in a few of these options.
- Option #1. A new K-4th building would be added onto South Vermillion High School, South Vermillion Middle School would become 5th through 8th grade and Van Duyn Elementary would become Pre-K.
- Option #2. South Vermillion Middle School becomes 3rd through 8th grade and Van Duyn Elementary becomes Pre-K through 2nd Grade.
- Option #3. South Vermillion High School becomes 7th through 12th grade. South Vermillion Middle would become 1st through 6th grade. and Van Duyn becomes Pre-K to Kindergarten.
NOTE: Ernie Pyle Elementary School and Central Elementary would both be repurposed in all options, and decisions on those schools would be made later.
Superintendent Dave Chapman said that the corporation wants the process to be about the community. The School Facility Advisory Committee who is helping oversee this process is made up entirely of community members.
“This is a community effort,” Chapman said. “We want to hear from our community and we want to hear what their concerns are.”
The next community meeting will be at Central Elementary School on June 2nd.
