Schools

Should S.T.A.R.S. Pre-K Close?

Bartow Schools Superintendent John Harper said beginning in the fall, pre-kindergarten programs would be absorbed in Bartow's elementary schools.

With ' new Learning Center in the facility that once housed already operational and another hike in employee health care costs, administrators are looking at ways to further trim the system's budget.

Next in that regard could be closing another of the system's facilities—, which also houses its Ombudsman program, an alternative school for non-traditional students; traditional pre-school and six pre-school classes for special needs students; and a therapeutic school for students with severe emotional or behavioral disorders and autism, the Northwest Georgia Education Program.

The school board at its Monday business meeting voted to cancel its $369,000 contract with Ombudsman, opting to move that operation to the learning center. While it has not approved closing the doors of S.T.A.R.S., Superintendent John Harper said beginning in the fall, pre-k programs would be moved back into the county's elementary schools with no changes to the level of service, reports.

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Calling the current operation an "exceptional model," at least one teacher voiced concern on the relocation of pre-school classes for special needs students, but Harper said those programs also would move with no loss of quality, the newspaper reported.

Following for certified staff and a continuing decline in state funding and property tax collections, Bartow Schools last fall and further trimmed . Now school systems are facing another hit—a 200 percent jump in health care costs for classified employees, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

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With the recent last month, Harper was able to hit the ground running on the . He's looking to add to offerings at the old Cass High, but needs charter-school status and funding.

“You take kids who are currently in our high school program who say they want to follow a very definite career track and we'll put some of those career tracks in that building,” Harper said last year. “What we were really hoping to do was piggyback with Chattahoochee Tech and let them locate here.”

The school board has approved an application for federal aid that could allow the charter school to move forward, but most grants only fund personnel, education and curriculum costs.

In his latest proposal, Harper said the system would save money its spending to operate the pre-k facility, which throughout the years has housed a number of schools, including Cass High and Cass Middle.

He added it would save jobs. As the proposal stands, none of the approximate 40 current S.T.A.R.S.' positions would be cut, according to The Daily Tribune News. About 180 students attend the school.

It's unclear what would happen to the therapeutic school, a program of Northwest Georgia RESA, that serves both Bartow County and city of Cartersville students.

Bartow already has started .

Is closing S.T.A.R.S.—Students Transitioning Academically, Responsibly and Socially—the right move? Is the school system trading a pre-k facility for its new learning center? How will the changes affect students, others and the community? Tell us in the comments.


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