SEGMENT: SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION
Roger Brown>LPL Interviews A-M>LPL Interviews A-J, Segment 5
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- SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION
- One reason for consolidation was that the state would equalize the schools' debt. Fairbury had no debt so it eliminated the other schools' debt. Also, the state would equalize the teachers' contracts. Some schools were in bad shape and were already closed. Fairbury was the largest and where the high school was located; Wing had a grade school; Forrest had a grade school and junior high. No buildings were closed. Critics to consolidation said that students would lose their name or identity. Also, busing was an issue. Parents were concerned about when their children would be picked up. The positives were that they could offer higher level classes and meet the needs of more students. Before consolidation they were having trouble getting enough kids to field sport teams. The local media had previously been against consolidation, but this time was in support of it. Roger thinks the newspaper and radio had the largest impact on passing the consolidation. In having public meetings, they discovered that some people like to dominate meetings, and it takes away from the people who are there to learn. So they would break up into small groups to give everyone a chance to speak up. 1985-86 was the first school year of consolidation. The thing that brought the towns together was that they had a winning football season. There were concerns that the team would only be made of Fairbury kids, but it was distributed equally.
