Three months after Jeff Talbert conducted a virtual listening tour to hear from residents, the Canton City Schools superintendent was back on tour answering their questions about the district’s sweeping restructuring proposal.
Talbert spent more than five hours during five virtual community meetings over the past two weeks fielding questions about the Design for Excellence plan, which restructures each of the district’s 22 school buildings in an effort to reduce the number of buildings and amount of staff to match declining enrollment while giving students more educational opportunities.
“It was good to hear from the community about what was important to them, said Talbert during an interview with The Canton Repository on Friday.
Of the 16 messages the board received, roughly half of them concerned the Arts or AIM academies.
“I understand you are trying to make the most of what we have here but if there is any way the Arts Academy can remain the way it is and a K-8 school, I feel like I would not be the only one relieved,” wrote Angela Bilbrey, whose children are in kindergarten, second, sixth and eighth grades at Arts Academy. “We chose to have our children there because, to me, it just feels like a better option for a school.”
Jennifer Anderson questioned moving seventh- and eighth-graders from the Arts Academy to middle schools that won’t be renovated for at least another year. The restructuring plan calls for expanding Crenshaw Middle School to add a gymnasium and dedicated space for industrial arts and extensive renovations to the STEAMM Academy at Hartford to create an exhibition area, theater, greenhouse, maker space and woodshop.
CANTON Richie Harper will walk his 7-year-old son to Dueber Elementary today for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began.
They are both excited that the first-grader will get to see his friends and teachers again after so many months of virtual learning.
The return is bittersweet for Harper as it comes with the backdrop of knowing that Dueber, a place he attended roughly 20 years ago, likely won’t be open for his son, Chandler Abbuhl, next school year.
Canton City Schools Superintendent Jeff Talbert last week unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan for Stark County’s largest school district that seeks to lower its operating costs, reduce the number of its facilities and staff to match its declining student enrollment while giving students more choices in school programming and extracurricular activities. If approved by the school board, the plan would take effect this fall.