School Consolidation Proposal

If you take a look at the numbers.. the future of Booker T. Washington High school appears to be in jeopardy. Enrollment is nearly a third of what it was 10 years ago. "Booker Washington is the only school that doesnt have a true feeder school," said District 3 school board member Willie Burton. District 3 School Board member Willie Burton says his feeder school proposal could be a solution to the problem. he suggests making J.S. Clark Middle the feeder school for BTW. He says Of the students who graduate from J.S. Clark half go to Booker T. Washington and the other half go to Fair Park. Burtons plan would essentially force J.S. Clark Graduates to attend B-T-W, which is their neighborhood school. "Many students from JS Clark are being bused to other schools when they are right down the street from Booker Washington," said Burton. But even that may only put a bandaid on the problem. Back in 1997 about a thousand students attended BTW. In 2002, that number was nearly cut in half. And as of 2007 only 382 students went to Booker T. Washington. Despite the numbers. Burton is still confident about the future of BTW. "We are renovating the Allendale/ Lakeside Area. There are new houses coming up there now as I speak. So its gonna be alright. Just want to get the feeder pattern started." Burtons feeder school proposal is just a small part of a special committees plan to deal with dwindling enrollment in several district 3 schools. Under their school consolidation plan, not only would J.S. Clark become the feeder for BTW, but Ingersoll and Central Elementary would merge, something that Burton says hes not opposed to. ((Willie Burton))- "A lot of the stuff that came up with the committee probably needs to be looked at." Its important to note that the school consolidation plan and the feeder proposal are not being voted on yet. But if approved neither would take effect until at least 2008.