Skip to Main
News

Benzie County Community Members Concerned Over Possible Merging of Schools

“I hate to see it close but I think…we do not want to the state to take over our school system.”

There were mixed reactions at Monday’s presentation on consolidating two Benzie county elementary schools into one.

It would mean the closure of Platte River Elementary and moving those students to Crystal Lake Elementary.      

This consolidation is one way to address a $300,000 budget deficit.

Superintendent Matt Olson says this is the best option but community members voiced their concerns after the presentation.

“I would ask if we could please have this tabled for one month so that people could do more research because I do see that our community is concerned now."

Superintendent Matt Olson would like a decision by next Monday on merging Platte River Elementary into Crystal Lake Elementary. He says the sooner a decision is made, the better.

“Anytime you go through a situation where closing a building or making a drastic change like this, there’s a lot of transitions that have to occur and those transitions need to be very well thought out, they need to be very intentional and people need to put a lot of work and effort into making sure students are getting what they need through that transition,” says Matt Olson.

Consolidation could save $250,000 and with a budget deficit of almost $300,000, Olsen says this remains the best option to close the gap.

“Doing these difficult steps helps the district save the dollars that we need to save to remain solvent. Put the dollars that we need into the classrooms and ultimately have the least impact possible on instruction of kids which is our core mission,” says Olson.

With moving to Crystal Lake Elementary…class sizes, playground and cafeteria space, parking and most importantly the safety of the students were a few of the concerns brought up.

“I’ve watched numerous kids not pay attention to what they’re doing and run out in front of cars and it’s very unsafe and parents don’t follow the parking rules over there. We’ve gone to administrative, gone to the cops, it is very unsafe,” says a concerned community member.

It’s up to the school board to decide on the consolidation, which they could do next Monday.

Local Trending News