Cary D26 votes to close Prairie Hill

Prairie Hill Middle School in Cary will close at the end of the school year, but the decision could be reversed if Cary Elementary District 26 reaches an agreement with the teachers union regarding wage and benefit concessions.

The school closing, approved in a 5-2 vote by the school board Tuesday night, will save the district more than $1.4 million and will balance the 2011-12 fiscal year budget, projected at $29.2 million.

Altogether, the district plans to implement a total of $2.1 million in cuts next year, including $700,000 in first-tier reductions approved by the board in March.

Board members Scott Coffey and Kevin Carrick voted against Tuesday’s second-tier reductions, which include the school closure and a staff reduction equivalent to 28½ full-time positions. Both said they were unwilling to compromise the students’ quality of education in order to balance the budget.

The district and the teachers union, the Cary Education Association, have been unable to reach an agreement on $2.5 million in wage and benefit concessions approved by the board in early March.

Board President Chris Spoerl said he is hopeful that an agreement can be reached by July 1, which Superintendent Brian Coleman said is the deadline for the administration to effectively deal with an eventual reversal of the school closure.

Under the plan presented by Coleman, Briargate Elementary will become a first- through fifth-grade school and Deer Path Elementary will become a first- through fifth-grade school with full-day kindergarten. Three Oaks Elementary will host half-day kindergarten and students up to fifth grade, while Cary Junior High School will host sixth- through eighth-graders.

Current fourth-graders will attend their neighborhood school for the fifth grade, and fifth- and sixth-grade students will attend Cary Junior High School next year, Coleman said. An additional assistant principal would be needed at the junior high school to deal with the increase in students.

Coleman also presented to the board the option of closing Briargate Elementary, but said closing Prairie Hill has several advantages, including a larger savings to the district and a lesser impact to students and families from maintaining a school on both sides of town.

With the closure of Prairie Hill, the district’s average class size will increase by 2.1 to 31.8, Coleman said.

Enrollment, now at 3,005 students, has declined by nearly 650 students from 2005. The district is striving to cut a total of $5.5 million out of its budget by 2015.