Miamisburg Schools hold town hall for school changes

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Hundreds of new students are expected to be moving into one Miami Valley school district in the next two years because of new housing developments in the district.

The Miamisburg City School District is holding town hall events for educational leaders to hear directly from the public.

The Miamisburg City School District has the potential of seeing 500 more elementary students enroll in the near future. That anticipated increase in enrollment has the district searching for solutions to prevent overcrowding in its seven elementary schools.

One of seven townhalls was held at Jane Chance Elementary School Thursday night for families to come hear the district’s ideas and suggest their own.

“I still feel like we’re trying to find a lot of information,” parent Brian Greenlee said. “I love the townhall concept because it’s it’s an open opportunity for parents to come and express concerns or have questions. To me, I feel like it beats a survey.”

Idea One would include a single kindergarten building at H.V. Bear Elementary with six other buildings for grades 1 through 5. Families would be picked up in their neighborhoods by buses, and kindergarteners would be shuttled to Bear Elementary each day. Three classrooms under this plan would be split between two grade levels.

Idea Two would take a complete redistricting. All kindergarteners would attend Bear Elementary, then three buildings would be for grades 1 and 2, and three buildings for grades 3 through 5.
This plan would not split classrooms, but kindergarteners would still have to be shuttled.

Idea Three would keep all elementary buildings grades K through 5. There would have to be a partial redistricting to accommodate the new development, and 10 classrooms would be split into two grade levels.

Idea Four would divide buildings into grades K through 2 and 3 through 5.

With all these ideas presented, the district wants feedback from families.

“We’re going to compile all this data,” Miamisburg City Schools Superintendent Dr. Laura Blessing said. “We’re going to work on the challenges that we’re hearing and the concerns. And we’re going to try to address those and come up with a plan that would meet most of our needs or all of our needs.”

Parents at the meeting expressed concerns, and said they don’t want the district to rush into any decisions.

“That doesn’t leave a lot of room for adjustments for family life or even when it comes down to making sure that everything is in the right order,” Greenlee said.

The school board is expected to vote on a plan in late February so it is in place in time for elementary enrollment, which starts in March. The district’s goal is to implement the new plan next school year.

There are still five more townhalls scheduled, any families in the district are welcome to attend.