Op-Ed: What happens when public schools lose students?
Annie E. Casey Elementary School student Adan De La Cruz sits with his father after the high school graduation ceremony.
The De La Cruz family’s school might’ve been a grade level above theirs in class rank, but Annie E. Casey Elementary School students and their parents have been living next door to each other for the last five years.
As Casey Elementary School prepares to celebrate its first graduating class of 2016, teachers have spent the last four weeks preparing the fifth grade students for the graduation ceremony.
“I had to explain to the fifth graders why they’re graduating at Casey Elementary School instead of attending Casey Middle School,” Casey Principal Melissa McKeon said. “They were very excited.”
As Casey families enjoy a free meal Tuesday night and the last day of their children’s school year, McKeon, who’s been with the school since the beginning, will be watching the students progress from kindergarten to fifth grade in the next two to three years.
A fifth grade will be the last grade of the three students in the fifth grade she’s been teaching at Casey Elementary School for the last four to five years.
McKeon knows that her four-year career of teaching at a public school will end this year.
The school district is considering changing Casey from a three-year elementary school to a two-year elementary school next year.
“We could do everything we wanted, if we’re smart enough, to keep it three years,” McKeon said. “It just makes it a little more complex to keep it that long.”
Casey Elementary School students and their parents have been living next door to each other for the last five years.
“I think the first year we were excited,” Casey Elementary School parent Jessica De La Cruz said, “but as the years went by it became more of a challenge.”
The constant movement between Casey Elementary School and Casey Middle School and Casey High School is just one of the challenges the De La Cruz family faces in the coming years.
“I’ll be the
