Because of a weather cancellation, the Springfield Board of Education will consider two school closures during a special meeting Jan. 16.
Springfield Public Schools released an updated schedule for public hearings and school board votes related to potentially closing Robberson Community School and Pershing Elementary School:
- Robberson’s public hearing and board vote, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will be held at 4 p.m. Jan. 16. Board members will consider a recommendation to close the school at the end of the current school year and reassign that school boundary to Boyd Elementary.
- Pershing’s public hearing and board vote will be held at 5:30 p.m. that same Tuesday. Board members will consider a recommendation to convert Pershing to a middle school for grades 6-8, and reassigning K-5 students to either Eugene Field or Wilder elementary schools. The shift would happen at the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
Each hearing will give members of the public a chance to express their views to the full board before members cast their votes. The hearings will include an impact analysis that shows possible alternatives, projected impacts and enrollment data for each affected school.
Springfield Board of Education meetings usually allow a period for public comments for people who register in advance. The registration opens at 8 a.m. on the Monday before the meeting, and the first 10 registrants are accepted. Speakers are usually limited to three minutes.
Informational sessions about the potential closures have already been held at Pershing and at Robberson. Two board members attended the Robberson session last week, and almost the full board was present for portions of the Pershing session.
The board will also hold its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 16. An updated agenda for the meeting will be published on Friday, according to the school district’s website.
