ST PAUL, Minn. — Members of the St. Paul School Board voted to close six schools in the district, citing declining enrollment.
Despite last minute objections, the board went forward with the decision in a meeting on Wednesday night.
Among the schools slated to close at the end of the current school year are Galtier Elementary School; Jackson Preparatory Elementary School; John A. Johnson Achievement Plus Elementary; L'Etoile du Nord French Immersion Lower; Parkway Montessori and Community Middle School.
Barack and Michelle Obama Elementary will close at the conclusion of the 2022-23 school year.
St. Paul Public Schools officials say some of the buildings will be repurposed for other uses within the district, like early education hubs. In the case of Obama, the school will reopen with a middle school in 2024 or 2025. At the end of the day, school district officials determined that having fewer school buildings open in St. Paul would allow them to better allocate resources.
"Where we can create capacity in one space, it makes a lot of sense, so we are going to need to be flexible," said SPPS Superintendent Joe Gothard before the final vote.
In an interview afterward, Gothard said the district will "attempt to make this as seamless as possible" for parents.
"We have many great schools around our district, but right now, we have too many. We have too many for us to spread our resources," Gothard said, "so I’m really looking at this as an opportunity to add what students are experiencing."
According to data provided by the district, the plan will impact more than 2,000 students -- about seven percent of the total enrollment. Before public outcry in recent weeks, the "Envision" plan was even larger, with three additional schools on the closure list. Wellstone Elementary, for example, was taken off the list after parents distributed more than 200 yard signs across the city in an attempt to save the school from a merger.
Stephanie Anderson, who has two kids at Wellstone Elementary, said before the meeting on Wednesday that she was grateful to have the school removed from the closure list.
However, she did not want the board to close any schools.
"I think it's a bad deal," Anderson said. "I think shuttering schools, it causes a lot of trauma and disruption and it's not creative."
With so many mergers, closures and rearrangements on the horizon for the 2022-23 school year, the district will be notifying parents of their options in the coming weeks.