Elementary Building Realignment

Immediate release
April 22, 2024

Franklin City Schools announces new elementary building configuration will begin Aug. 2024

The Franklin Board of Education approved a realignment at their meeting on Monday, April 22. The realignment is necessitated by the failure of the operating levy in March.

“We know that families are eager to know which building their children will attend, so we wanted to get this information out as soon as possible,” said Dr. Mike Sander, superintendent of schools.

The building configuration will be:

“Moving to grade-level buildings has a number of benefits,” said Sander. Those include:

• Evenly distributed class sizes.
• Consistency of curriculum across the grade level.
• Dedicated space for specials like art and music and a dedicated media center. (Media centers in several buildings are housed on the stage.)
• The ability for the district to maintain open enrollment.
• Every building will be a Title building, which means the district will receive additional money from the state.

A playground will be installed at the modular campus behind the junior high to serve students in grades 3-5. The back gym at the junior high will be used for indoor recess. Each elementary facility will include classroom space for tiered instruction and support services. Support services for the district include occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech services.

Bus routes and building start and end times will be released closer to the start of school; start times will not differ significantly from this year’s times.

After the realignment, cost savings are estimated to be $2.25 million annually due to staff reductions and removal of the modular buildings at Gerke and Hunter. The district will have 13 fewer teachers next year, with reductions accomplished via retirements and attrition.

In November 2020, district voters passed a bond issue for the construction of new facilities (new high school, three new elementary buildings, and renovation of the old high school into a middle school). While the district will eventually receive money from the state to construct new elementary buildings, no timeline has been given. If the district were to receive funds today, it would be a minimum of three years before a new elementary building could open.

Persons with questions should call the superintendent’s office at (937) 746-1699.