Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Lansing School Board is discussing the closing of either Eastern or Sexton High School, a decision which I believe would be destructive and counter-productive to the district, and indeed, to the City.  Some board members are offering as justification for this move, the report and recommendations that came out of the district’s recent planning process. This process, occurring over the past several months, involved four committees, each with representation of Lansing residents.

I served on the Community Input Committee of that planning process. That committee met one time at the start of the process and never again. Members of that committee never discussed, let alone recommended closing a high school, though I understand that the chair of that committee was one of two committee chairs who, in the final meeting of the four chairs, did make that recommendation.  The other committee chairperson supporting closing a high school was the chair of the Finance Committee, which I understand, held not a single meeting.

Neither of the two remaining committees, the academic and facilities committees recommended closing a highschool.  Indeed, the facilities committee, which focused most intensely on the issue of closings, met often and ultimately recommended closings of certain elementary schools that would have yielded $2M in savings. The facilities committee did not recommend closing either high school, nor did the academics committee. So I have to wonder, on the basis of what compelling argument has this board rushed to the prospect of closing a high school?

As flawed as that planning process, even their final report suggests that before any discussion of closing a school takes place, the board needs to establish a clear vision, principles and policies.  And perhaps that vision might include figuring out how to bring back to Lansing Schools the 4500 kids we have lost to the suburbs instead of surrendering to the inevitability of that fact?

Eastern and Sexton are an essential and stabilizing presence in both the Eastside and the Westside communities.  In addition to serving a school community, they anchor and embody the spirit of two quadrants of the City.  I worry that this board has not carefully considered all of the consequences of closing a high school, not just to the district, but to the City of Lansing.  What they are proposing to do will undermine years of effort on the part of people in both of these parts of the City to build sustainable, vibrant, and stable communities.

I will be asking the school board to consider the larger community, the vitality of the City and its core neighborhoods, as they do the important work of creating a dynamic school district. I emphatically believe that that does not involve closing a high school.  Please pay close attention to this issue and weigh in with the school board as you see fit.

Thank you.

Joan (with the full support and approval of ANC Board Members)