Enrollment in Akron Public Schools continues to decrease, and that may be increasing the likelihood of some of the city’s best-known high schools going away.
Akron voters O.K.'d a tax increase a dozen years ago to help pay for re-doing the City School District’s infrastructure.
Twenty-nine projects later
The program is focusing on North and Kenmore high schools. And, with the student population of each school barely over half what it was built for, Akron Superintendent David James told a community meeting this week one or both may close. “There were a lot of angry people. And I understand their anger. But I have to think about the whole district. Well, why do upgrades to buildings when we have other buildings that have extra capacity that are newer—that we could merge—versus putting money into buildings that we really don’t have the students to keep filled.”
Input Request
There are more community conversations scheduled for this week. David James says he hopes to have all of the information gathered, and options laid out for consideration with the Construction Commission when it holds its next quarterly meeting—scheduled for October.
