MONTGOMERY — Dr. Brian Harmon, superintendent of Barr-Reeve Schools, will go to Indianapolis today to fight state-forced school consolidation — something he says not one school patron or parent he’s talked to wants.
At the state level, the Indiana Legislature is considering a proposal that focuses on school consolidation. Introduced by Sen. Gary Dillon, R-Pierceton, the measure calls for the state's 48 school districts with fewer than 1,000 students to consolidate. Barr-Reeve’s total enrollment stands at 740.
An Indiana Senate hearing on Dillon’s bill is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Statehouse and Harmon intends to be there, along with representatives from the Barr-Reeve Classroom Teachers Association.
The forced consolidation is based on recommendations made by the state Commission on Local Government Reform, which was created by Gov. Mitch Daniels and chaired by former governor Joseph Kernan and Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard to look at ways to streamline state and local government and eliminate wasteful spending.
Harmon, in a Tuesday morning school board meeting, called the Kernan-Shepard report “opinion,” and said prior to the Legislature forcing consolidation there should be some type of actual research to show what schools are managing efficiently.
Today’s Senate committee members looking at the Dillon bill could take a variety of actions, including approving it for full Senate consideration, voting it down, tabling it or asking for more information before they decide.
Gov. Daniels has said repeatedly he doesn’t want to see small schools closed, but only to see their administrative duties and central offices combined to save money. However, Harmon said research shows that within eight years of consolidation buildings begin to be closed and local control of the school is lost in that of the three school board members now serving Barr-Reeve, most likely only one would be serving on a new larger neighboring school board.
“When you dilute local control...when you take the destiny of Barr-Reeve away from (Barr-Reeve board members) Joe Cummings, Galen Graber and Scott Lottes and you give it to one of them on a new five-member board, buildings start to close,” Harmon said.
As to which school Barr-Reeve may be consolidated with is unknown, according to Harmon.
Donna Keller, a 34-year Barr-Reeve elementary teacher, who represents the BR CTA told board members, “We (fellow teachers) don’t want consolidation. If I wanted to teach in a big school, I’d applied at a big school to start with.
“When I can help put kids in a car without saying a word because I know what the parents look like, I know the grandparents...I can get kids loaded on buses and in cars in a few minutes because I know (the people) because it’s a small school. I wouldn’t teach anywhere else,” she said.
“In order to be for consolidation, you’d have to say that small schools are not being run efficiently now,” Harmon said.
The superintendent said consolidation should 1) save money, 2) increase achievement and 3) patrons should want it. He’s not convinced any of the above to be true.
In other business
HEATING-COOLING UPDATES
Johnson Control representative Don Wood told the board of a needed update for the schools heating and cooling control system which would be phased in over three years at a cost of about $63,000 per year, but because it would allow flexibility in turning the thermostat up and down in different areas in off-peak times, the school should realize some energy savings.
SECURITY SYSTEM
About $8,000 for additional cameras and equipment will complete the school’s security system to cover all the parking lots, hallways and general areas of the high school and elementary, but not the classrooms.
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Harmon headed to Indy to fight consolidation
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