Since the closing of the Monterey Elementary School, there have been rumors that some of the students will go to the Eastern Pulaski School system, instead of going into Culver Community.
Culver Community School Superintendent Brad Schuldt was asked if he anticipates losing students because of the closure.
“We expected this to be an issue, and in fact, when we did some financial planning, the numbers that we used did include a reduction of students over the next two years,” said Schuldt. “Of course the big question is going to be how many students will be moving. That is a number that is changing rather regularly. I know that some of the families have requested transcripts to be sent to a new school corporation. That’s pretty much how we can keep track of people who have actually made the move.”
To date, Schuldt said there have not been many transfers. To get ready for the school year, Culver will be keeping in touch with parents.
“In the next couple of weeks, we will be preparing information to go out to families in that area to answer any questions they might have. Our plans are to actually list the bus routes by address and times so that people can get some facts about the reality of when our buses will run.”
The Monterey Elementary was closed in a budget move. Superintendent Schuldt was asked what will happen to the building.
“There really aren’t any concrete plans,” he replied. “If anybody has any suggestions or ideas, I would encourage them to get those to our Board members or get that information to me and I’ll make sure that the Board gets the information.”
Last week, Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said his Board has instructed him to provide bus service to those students who want to transfer into Winamac if ridership warranted it. Superintendent Schuldt said he and Dr. Klitzman have been in contact and feels there is no overt recruitment going on by the Winamac School Board.
“Dr. Klitzman and I have talked about this a couple of times. There’s absolutely no issue or no problem with what’s going on in that regard. We both understand that kids are kids. They need to be taught and whether that’s at Winamac or Culver, we’re both public schools that can do the job and can do it very well.”
Because of a declining enrollment over the past 12 years, Superintendent Schuldt said every teacher coming into Culver from Monterey will have a classroom. The students from Monterey will be integrated with the other children who are already at Culver.
