Columbus Municipal School District is set to begin shifting to grade-span elementary campuses next school year, starting with the closure of Franklin Academy.
Superintendent Stanley Ellis presented a three-phase plan for the district’s five elementary schools to the board during a Saturday work session. The board of trustees voted to approve the plan during a Monday morning special-call meeting.
“We’ll start to meet with teachers, students and the principals to let them know where the shifts will take place,” Ellis told The Dispatch after the meeting. “But next year, the only major shift is going to be Franklin closing.”
The district’s strategic plan calls for full grade-span consolidation by the 2027-2028 school year, ditching the current magnet school model (with each elementary campus housing grades K-5) to have each remaining campus house certain grades.
During the work session Saturday, Ellis said declining enrollment, budget constraints and underutilized facilities all drive the need to close Fairview Elementary and Franklin Academy, leaving Stokes-Beard, Cook and Sale elementary schools taking on affected students.
“At the end of the day, (consolidating) is going to be a cost-savings measure for us because we’re not going to underutilize many of the buildings,” Ellis told The Dispatch. “… I think it’s going to be a win-win when we go full grade span because it’s going to allow us to streamline our resources.”
Along with the Franklin closure, Ellis’ plan for the first phase of consolidation includes reopening Hunt Intermediate School to house fifth- and sixth-graders. Students from Franklin will be dispersed, with pre-K through first grade going to Stokes-Beard, second grade going to Sale and third and fourth to Cook. By phase two in 2026-2027, those three elementary campuses will only house those respective grades.
The district’s alternative school, which is currently housed at Cook, will be moved to the sixth-grade hall at Columbus Middle School during phase one as well.
The third phase of the preliminary plan will focus on monitoring how student performance is affected by the change and gathering feedback from stakeholders.
The shift to grade-span comes after voters approved a $36 million bond in May to upgrade facilities across the district, including what will be the three remaining elementary schools.
What’s next?
Ellis said the district is set to begin preparing for the transition, starting with hosting school and community meetings.
“Once this board approves this, I’m going to go to Franklin,” he said Saturday. “… They’re not shocked because we talked about it last year, but I just want to be able to tell them … this is what’s going to happen. This is the transition plan. What do you need from us?”
The district also has four monthly meetings planned for February through May to answer citizens’ questions and inform stakeholders on the details of consolidating.
“The date and time and the locations are yet to be determined,” he said. “… (We’ll be) letting people know what’s going on, what that’s going to look like, so that we’re being transparent.”
The district will also be seeking stakeholders’ input about how Franklin could be repurposed after closing next school year.
Trustee Telisa Young suggested the board form a subcommittee to explore what that could look like, citing Duling School in Jackson as an example. Built in 1927 as an elementary school for Jackson Public Schools, Duling School closed in 2005 and was redeveloped as a mixed-use space that houses restaurants, retail and event spaces.
“It’s something that the board may be interested in going down there to look at,” she said. “A lot of districts are looking at doing things like that.”
Ellis presented sample surveys that stakeholders will have an opportunity to fill out to share their input about how the Franklin, Fairview and Union Success Academy facilities can be repurposed.
“If we did (phase one) over the span of next year, that would give us enough time with the stakeholders to get the surveys, to develop an exploratory committee that has a diverse group of citizens from the Columbus community that includes the business and philanthropic community to get ideas on what we should do,” he told the board.
The unofficial survey Ellis presented included examples of other ways the building could be repurposed, including as a museum, to gauge the public’s interest, especially given the school’s location.
“Franklin is centrally located,” Ellis said. “It can be very beneficial to the district and the community as well. Everybody can benefit from it, and we still can keep it in our portfolio.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
