TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Meadows Elementary School in Terre Haute, Ind. will be consolidated following a meeting held Monday night by the Vigo County School Corporation.
The vote to consolidate Meadows passed 5 to 2 during the VCSC meeting Monday. The school will be repurposed into a learning lab.
Over the past few weeks, the board received community feedback during listening sessions, during which a number of parents asked the board to keep Meadows open.
But VCSC Superintendent Dr. Rob Haworth said Monday this is what the school corporation needs and that the board has sympathy for the families and staff.
“If somebody was closing my elementary school in my southern Indiana town, I would be down there advocating for more information,” Haworth said. “Tell me this, tell me this, why are we doing that. And that’s exactly how they were responding. They were trying to save that school. So, I’m very very much appreciative of their efforts.”
Consolidation plans were first presented to the VCSC school board in December of 2020. Meadows, currently the smallest school in VCSC with roughly 200 students, is also one of the area’s oldest. School officials said the closing is being done to reduce spending because of declining enrollment across the corporation.
However, many parents are still upset with the board’s decision to follow the administration’s recommendation.
“Pretty frustrated. You know it feels like except for two board members, the rest of the board came in with their minds made up and they were going to rubber-stamp the administration recommendation without question,” parent Angela Tanner said. “It seems like their priorities are really skewed.”
VCSC interim spokesperson Katelynn Liebermann said Meadows students will remain at the school until the end of the school year. Next year, they can attend Lost Creek, Benjamin Franklin, Devaney or Davis Park elementary schools.
This is a developing story. Follow MyWabashValley.com for updates.
