ROSEBURG (KMTR) Facing cuts into the millions, the Roseburg School District might have to close schools. The question they're posing to the pubic is, which ones? School officials stress that while the budget is a major factor in their school closure considerations, the main focus is efficiency.
They say a each year they lose about one hundred students across the district. With fewer students, they say the workload doesn't necessarily decrease, but the funding does.
They're looking at consolidating schools as a way to teach more kids with less money. The superintendent is stressing that nothing's been decided yet or if they'll even need to close a school in the next couple of years. He says they want to hear what the public has to say.
"We haven't started that process yet, we've just begun the initial development of the criteria.” Superintendant Larry Parsons says, “Maybe the public will give us an idea that we haven't considered yet that aught to be considered for the criteria."
The first forum will be at Fremont Middle School this Thursday, then a second meeting on Tuesday at Joseph Lane Middle School. Both meetings will run from 6:30 to 8 at night. School officials say even if you don't want to voice your opinion, or you'd just like to learn more about the potential future of Roseburg’s schools, there will be enough room for everyone.
