Fairlawn Early Learning Center likely target of school closure

LINCOLN - The School Committee will begin considering whether to close a school - likely the Fairlawn Early Learning Center - when it meets Monday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in the middle school auditorium.

Also on the table is discussion about expanding to offer all-day kindergarten.

A public forum on the plans will be scheduled later in the month, according to School Committee Chairwoman Elizabeth Black Robson.

And a final decision could come in December, she told The Breeze.

Details were still being worked on, but Superintendent Georgia Fortunato will most likely recommend closing Fairlawn Early Learning Center while reconfiguring the elementary schools "with full day kindergarten being added to that configuration," she said.

Pressed for more information, Fortunato declined saying she would announce specific details at the School Committee meeting.

Fortunato did say a PowerPoint presentation would offer possible configurations of how closing a school would affect the district's current six-model elementary school system.

Saying she expects that the committee would have many questions, she is limiting the number of items that come under "Superintendent's Report" at the regularly scheduled meeting.

A microphone will also be set up in the auditorium for public comments.

Declining enrollment at Lonsdale Elementary School is the reason for closing a school. Lonsdale Elementary's current enrollment for grades 2-5 is 154.

Fairlawn Early Learning Center serves 269 students in pre-K, kindergarten and grade 1.

If the School Committee votes to close Fairlawn, the school district would have to look at how students could be absorbed into the other elementary schools.

Fortunato said it is "fiscally responsible" to close a school, as the district faces future budget struggles.

Fortunato said an earlier Breeze story about the school closing possibility prompted no calls to her office.

"People realize that, with declining enrollment, something had to give," she said, adding that the school district would persevere with "just one less building."

She noted, however, that consolidating schools and offering a full-day kindergarten program in the district are dependent upon a number of factors including resources and space.

Robson said in a telephone interview that the committee is concerned about keeping the current programs running, with the possibility of adding a full-day kindergarten program.

A committee will also be formed to provide closing plans to the state Department of Education.