(12/10) On November 23, the Board of Education voted to close Sabillasville Elementary School (SES) at the conclusion of the 2020-2021 school year. This was a difficult decision for the Board which only occurred after considering a variety of alternatives, input from staff, feedback from the community and specific evaluation of the criteria outlined in Board Policy.

The Board's evaluation of this decision began on January 22, after staff met with the Board to present student enrollment projections for the school system which showed a total enrollment of 74 students at SES; SES has a building capacity for 160 students. At that meeting, the Board began discussion of the criteria to evaluate regarding closing SES and directed the Superintendent and staff to review such decision in accordance with Board Policy 200.3.

On February 26, Dr. Alban provided a report to the Board and also shared information from a public information session that was held at SES on February 20 with the SES community. Both Dr. Alban and Brad Young, serving as Board President at that time, attended. That meeting lasted over 3 hours and allowed the opportunity to respond to questions and provide information about the evaluation process for closing a school.

At the Board meeting, Dr. Alban provided an analysis of the criteria for closing a school outlined in Board Policy that included: student enrollment, age/condition of the building, transportation, financial consideration, impact on students (i.e. relocating 74 students), and the overall impact to the community. The report covered all 8 factors in the Board Policy and COMAR:

Dr. Alban specifically highlighted concerns related to the age of the building noting the facility opened in 1964 and operating systems that are well beyond expected life, resulting in maintenance costs as one of the highest in the county. Dr. Alban also shared concerns about inequity in offered educational programming due to staffing and a pattern of continual decline in student enrollment at SES.

The Board made a decision to keep the school open in school year 2020-2021 to allow time to explore alternative options for keeping SES open and to revisit closure decision before the end of December.

After the meeting in February, a dedicated email address was established for the SES community to provide specific feedback for the Board as it related to the closing of SES.

In addition, Board President Brad Young met with community representatives to solicit ideas for consideration as alternative options for keeping SES open. Dr. Alban joined Board President Young at a subsequent meeting on September 10, 2020 to review the options previously discussed.

On October 14, the Board held a work session dedicated to a review of the alternative options for keeping SES open. The Board directed Dr. Alban and staff to conduct a survey to determine if an open enrollment option was viable.

On November 23, the Board met to review a report provided by Dr. Alban regarding the survey results garnered from the Yellow Springs Elementary School (YSES) community and to again revisit the consideration to close SES. YSES families were surveyed to determine interest in having their students attend SES. Only 5 of the 143 responded in favor of that option. The Board did not view this as a viable option based on the low interest. The Board then voted to close SES and indicated that the Board believed it had evaluated the criteria outlined in Policy, explored alternatives to closing, and provided opportunity for feedback from SES which was heard and valued. The Board indicated specific rationale for the decision based on the overall condition of the facility, the consistently declining student enrollment, financial concerns regarding maintenance of the building, staffing concerns and an equitable delivery of the educational programs for students.

The Board acknowledged that there may be some interest by community members from Sabillasville who may be submitting an application for consideration of a charter school. The Board guided those individuals to resources under Policy 440.

Finally, the Board acknowledges that this decision is subject to appeal and respects the process to do so as outlined under Board Policy and Maryland law.

The Board wishes to thank the SES community and knows that SES staff will continue to provide an outstanding education for students through the 2020-2021 school year. In the coming weeks, updates with the community about what happens next will be shared and also the email address remains active for the SES community if they wish to submit specific questions.