Regulation 0716-10
School Decommissioning
This Administrative Regulation applies to all schools within the District and governs the process of decommissioning school facilities. A school may be decommissioned when such action is determined to be in the best interest of the District as a whole. Such determination may be based upon various concerns including but not limited to:
- Declining enrollment/change of student residential locations
- Building conditions
- Building safety
- Programmatic needs
- District budgetary constraints
Procedure
Absent an Emergency Declaration from the Board, the following procedure will be followed and must be completed no later than the last November meeting of the Board of Trustees prior to the school year where the proposed changes would take place:
Step 1: Administrative Assessment and Preliminary Recommendation
The District Administration periodically assesses the overall enrollment and conditions for school facilities across the District. If from these assessments a particular school is determined to be a potential candidate for decommissioning, an in-depth report will be prepared by District personnel and shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following components:
- Identification of the building at issue.
- Relevant dates and timeline for implementation.
- Recommendations, if any, from the Long-Range Planning Committee.
- A plan for disposition of the school, which may include recommissioning in a different form, selling of the facility/real property, renting/leasing to external providers, or maintenance pending further action, etc.
- A plan for recommended staffing transitions, if any are applicable.
- A plan associated with student transitions, if any are applicable.
- A plan for communicating the recommended actions to the public.
- A statement affirming that all actions are in conformance with applicable law and regulation.
Such report will be presented to the Board for first consideration.
Step 2: Community and Stakeholder Engagement
At the Board's direction, the District shall initiate a structured community engagement process involving parents, staff, students, and community members. This process may include:
- Posting of the draft report in an easy-to-access online format.
- Public meetings to present and discuss the draft report.
- Community surveys on aspects of the report subject to revision.
This engagement will be used to revise the draft report as necessary, in order to present to the Board for final consideration.
Step 3: Presentation and Board Action
At completion of the engagement period, The District presents a final report, including all relevant community and stakeholder input, for final consideration after which point the Board may decide to take action on the recommendation.