The Monroe County School Corporation Board of Trustees has new guidance for the district to reach socioeconomic equity in its schools.
The school corporation is preparing to merge Childs and Templeton elementary schools, which it said will improve diversity with better outcomes for disadvantaged students.
Board president April Hennessey outlined its guiding principles in a statement read at the trustees’ Tuesday meeting (embedded below).
“Our work to balance socioeconomic status in our schools is an effort to ensure that we do not perpetuate patterns of segregation in our district,” she read.
In outlining their guidance, trustees said the merger should increase early literacy rates, improve students’ social emotional health and decrease opportunity gaps.
Despite being close to each other, Templeton and Childs are among the most economically segregated schools in the county. Sixty-four percent of students at Templeton are enrolled for free and reduced lunch compared to 15 percent at Childs.
The board also calls for a “system of accountability” to make sure the district sticks to those goals.
