PORT ANGELES — The principals of Fairview and Hamilton elementary schools said Tuesday they support a recommendation made the night before to close either school in 2007.
The Port Angeles School District’s 16-member Facilities Efficiency Task Force delivered the recommendation to the School Board on Monday.
“Fairview Elementary is one of the smallest schools in our system, while Hamilton is now one of the oldest,” said Fairview Principal Doug Hayman and Hamilton Principal Loren Engel in a joint letter sent Tuesday to parents of students in both schools.
“Fewer schools will mean more dollars to support the effective and important work done at all of our school sites, and a likely end to painful and annual significant budget reductions,” Hayman and Engel said.
The task force’s recommendations were part of two preferred options out of six that could save the district $960,000 over the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years.
The district expects enrollments to drop by 370 students during the next four years, which translates into a loss of $1.8 million in state and federal funds, Schools Superintendent Gary Cohn said.
Enrollment declines have forced the district to cut more than $3.9 million from its operating budgets over the past four years, including $600,000 this school year.
The declining enrollment is to due to a lack of family-wage jobs in Port Angeles, an aging population and skyrocketing housing prices, Cohn said.
