Written by Angela

Let’s be real, a big shake-up is coming to our schools next year, and it’s not just rumors floating around. The superintendent already said it plain: elementary schools are going to be restructured, and some are straight up closing. That means teachers, staff, and long-time employees in the county aren’t guaranteed their usual spots anymore. Even if someone’s put in decades of work, the new reality is that if you want to keep a job, you might be shifted to do something completely different, maybe even outside of the classroom. That’s tough to swallow for people who have built their whole careers in education.

The main reason for all of this? We don’t have enough kids anymore. Families are shrinking, and in a lot of places, they’re moving out of the county altogether. It’s not that the neighborhoods are empty—far from it. You look around, you see people everywhere. But who are they? Mostly young folks in their 20s and 30s, walking their dogs, hanging out with their cats, living single. They’re not raising families, at least not here. So you’ve got full blocks of houses and apartments, but the elementary schools nearby just don’t have enough little ones walking through the doors.

That’s where the superintendent’s plan comes in. If you’ve got two elementary schools just a block apart, they’re going to pick one to keep open and close the other. The idea is to pack more kids into one building, save money, and maybe funnel resources better. But we all know how that works out—there are always winners and losers. Some schools get a second life, others disappear completely. Families get shuffled around, teachers uprooted, and the neighborhood identity shifts overnight.

Now, let’s talk about Fairmont Park Elementary, because that’s one school that’s hanging in the balance. If we’re being honest, the track record there hasn’t been the best. The kids aren’t hitting the levels they should be when it comes to learning, and the school has been struggling for years to get the right support. On top of that, the funding isn’t there. Fairmont Park sits right in a Black community, and like so many schools in underserved areas, it doesn’t get the same attention or money as schools in wealthier neighborhoods. That makes it an easy target when the district starts looking at which schools to cut.

It’s harsh, but when the county looks at the numbers, Fairmont Park might not make the cut. They’re asking: is this school profitable? Are the test scores worth the money we’re putting in? Are enough kids enrolled to justify keeping the doors open? And when the answers keep coming up “no,” it puts a giant target on the building. That’s not to say the kids there don’t deserve the same opportunities as anyone else. They absolutely do. But the system isn’t set up to protect schools in struggling communities. Instead, it leans toward cutting them out of the picture.

The bigger picture is about who actually lives in these neighborhoods now. Families are moving away, not because they don’t love their city, but because the cost of living has gotten out of control. Housing is expensive, taxes are high, and people just can’t afford to stay. So parents with kids end up looking for cheaper options in other counties, or even other states, where they can get a decent house and send their kids to a school that feels stable. What’s left behind is a lot of younger people who aren’t raising families yet, or who have chosen not to. They’re living that single lifestyle with pets instead of kids, and that changes the entire dynamic of who schools are serving.

Think about it—if there aren’t enough kids in the area to keep schools running, what happens to the teachers? They get shuffled around like pieces on a chess board. One year you’re teaching third grade at an elementary you’ve been at for fifteen years, and the next year you’re working some other job in the district just to keep your paycheck. That’s a rough reality. For the students, it’s even more disruptive. They get pulled out of the schools they’ve known, sent into classrooms packed with more kids than before, and expected to keep up like nothing’s changed.

It’s also a community issue. Schools are anchors for neighborhoods. When you close one down, you’re not just shutting a building—you’re pulling away a piece of what keeps the community together. Parents don’t have the same local spot to get involved, kids don’t have the same identity tied to their school, and the neighborhood loses one of the few places where people actually come together. If Fairmont Park shuts down, that whole side of the community feels it, especially when the people there already feel like they don’t have as much support as other areas.

So, the way it’s looking now, change is coming whether we like it or not. The superintendent is clear that restructuring is on the horizon, and elementary schools are first in line. Maybe later, high schools and middle schools too. But for now, the spotlight is on elementaries, and schools like Fairmont Park are most at risk. Low test scores, lack of funds, fewer kids, and a community that’s been hit hard by economic shifts—it’s a recipe that makes the district’s decision easy, even if it’s not fair.

All in all, it’s a complicated, frustrating situation. Parents, teachers, and whole neighborhoods are caught in the middle of choices that feel more about money and numbers than about kids and community. And while everyone’s bracing for the changes, nobody really knows for sure yet which schools will be closed. But the writing’s on the wall, and for Fairmont Park Elementary, it might be the end of the line.