Board members Heath Rush, Matt McArthy, and Superintendent Matt Vollman at last night's hearing.

After three public hearings at which many members of the school district expressed disappointment, hurt, and even anger, the NCOE school board remained convinced that closing the school and bringing those students into Norris City was the best option for the district. Other ideas had been offered by those attending the hearings, from retired teachers filling in for the loss of the district's teachers to using the school to house the junior high and preK students. But in the end, the plan that the district has been preparing for since the June meeting prevailed. The loss of the special education teachers and other staff was a hill too high to climb to resolve the loss of teachers in the short term. At the meeting held in the high school auditorium last night, Superintendent Matt Vollman said that a previous appeal for a special ed teacher had garnered no applicants. [Read more...]