The Goose Creek school board has decided to close Lamar Elementary due to a 14% drop in student enrollment over the past four years. The district plans to repurpose the building for daycare and alternative school use, as reported on Click2Houston.
The district says consolidating schools will improve efficiency and fairness in resources, but many parents and community members worry about the impact on their neighborhood. "This school is not just where my children go. It’s where my family has built a community, we’ve faced tough times, and the staff and parents here have always helped us through," said Aleyda Suarez, a parent at Lamar Elementary, according to Click2Houston.
Goose Creek CISD plans to close Lamar High School and move its students to nearby schools like George Washington Carver and Ashbel Smith, which also have low enrollment. Parents are worried that this will lead to bigger class sizes and lower education quality. Aleyda Alvarez, a parent with deep ties to Lamar, said, "Teachers would be overworked, I feel like they are already overworked, they would have more students, and they would have to tend to them, grades would drop drastically." She also expressed concern for the staff, saying, "We have some staff members that have been here over 20 years, and it would be really hard for them to go elsewhere." Alvarez is leading a petition to stop the closure as the district decides by the end of the year, as stated by ABC13.
