GWINN, MI— The Gwinn Area Community Schools District will consolidate elementary students in two school buildings next school year.
Kindergarten through second grade will attend KI Sawyer Elementary, while third through fifth grades will go to Gilbert Elementary.
Superintendent Sara Croney says declining enrollment meant a reduction of about $500,000 in state funding this year. She says the district has been splitting teacher time between different grades, which reduces the amount of time spent teaching critical subjects like reading and math.
Croney says the move is an effort to “right-size” classrooms.
“The advantage of having all kindergartners together allows for that right-sizing to happen. We can have four classes, which we currently have, of kindergarten, but now that you get to third grade and you having a little bit bigger class sizes, you can get away with three teachers per class, rather than the four.”
Croney says declining enrollment will continue to challenge the district to right-size its classes.
The changes will begin this fall.
