Bedford Board of Education votes to close district's oldest elementary school

3/7/2013

TEMPERANCE -- The Bedford Board of Education tonight unanimously approved a measure to close its oldest elementary school to save money.

The board voted 6-0 to close the school at the end of this school year in June.  Board member Joe Gore was absent.

The K-5 students at Temperance Road will be placed with the district's other three elementary buildings.

The district, which is forecasting up to a $1 million deficit in June, has estimated that the closing will save about $850,000 annually, and that closing an elementary school was among the reductions in the debt elimination plan the district submitted to the Michigan Department of Education.

The three-year plan is designed to bring spending into alignment with revenue by the 2014-15 year.

It's the second time in two years that Bedford Schools administrators sought the closure of an elementary school.

The district closed Smith Road Elementary in June, 2011, and shifted the sixth grade students in the elementary buildlings to the junior high.

Temperance Road Elementary, at 55 years, is the oldest elementary building in the district.