Dist. 26 to close Maplewood School

Despite impassioned pleas from parents and teachers, the Cary Elementary District 26 school board voted Monday to close Maplewood School - the district's oldest and smallest building.

The move came at an emotional meeting that pitted supporters of Maplewood against faculty and parents at Prairie Hill School, which district officials had also considered closing.

In voting 5-2 to close Maplewood at the end of the 2009-10 school year, board members cited the district's declining enrollment and a desire to preserve team teaching and other educational tools used only at Prairie Hill.

"The facility at Prairie Hill - provides educational opportunities to all of our children that would be lost if that building closed," said Vicki Pesch, who voted with the majority.

Closing Maplewood will shave an estimated $900,000 off a budget deficit expected to grow to $5.3 million at the end of the 2010-11 school year.

To close the budget gap, the administration has proposed about $5.4 million in reductions, including deep cuts to art, music and physical education.

The District 26 board is also weighing a recommendation to ask voters for $2.5 million in new taxes. The board is set to vote on the matter Nov. 23.

Twenty to 30 parents and teachers rallied against the closing of Maplewood before Monday's meeting. Several dozen parents and staff, many wearing Maplewood red, turned out at Monday's meeting at Cary Junior High.

One of the parents, Natalie Videtich, said she and her husband moved to Cary four years ago so their eldest son could attend Maplewood.

"It's like his second family over there," Videtich said. "He just feels very safe there."

Most of Maplewood's students will attend Briargate School next year.