Pleas from community members about student success, community conditions and tight-knit neighborhoods were not enough to keep two Springfield elementary schools open.
The Springfield Board of Education, across two meetings Tuesday, Jan. 16, voted to close two schools:
- Robberson Community School will be closed at the end of this school year. Students will be reassigned to Boyd Elementary starting in the fall.
- Pershing’s elementary school will be closed at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, allowing the entire school to be transformed into a middle school for grades 6-8. Elementary students will be split between Eugene Field and Wilder elementary schools.
Both decisions were made with 7-0 votes, where board members emphasized that special atmospheres at both schools could be re-created, while SPS had an obligation to manage its resources responsibly. Both schools are projected to have dwindling populations over the next decade, according to a recent demographics study.
“I think this is true with all of our buildings across the district. It’s about the people,” said board member Kelly Byrne during the Robberson meeting. “It’s on the teachers, students, parents and administrators. Everything positive we heard tonight … is not about the brick and mortar of the building.”
About 60 people from each school community attended Tuesday’s meetings. In both cases, attendees were disappointed over the decisions.
Jennifer Dixon, a fifth grade teacher at Robberson, said moving Robberson’s students to a bigger school in Boyd will be detrimental to their academic performances.
“It’s frustrating that they are not aware that performance goes down when schools get bigger, and behavior problems go up,” Dixon said. “We have the right mixture, the right pieces with our community school that helps our population, but we’re going to ignore it.”
Courtney Keleher, a parent of three boys at Pershing, said there are too many lingering questions that went unanswered in the board’s discussion.
“I understand in some part where they are coming from,” Keleher said. “Yet I don’t think that they have made an attempt to answer any of our questions, and that’s disappointing.”
Robberson's model valued by speakers
Seven people spoke during the meeting about Robberson, all in favor of keeping the school open. The list of speakers was varied, including a former principal, teachers, parents and a neighborhood association leader.
Parents said they favored the school’s approach.
“Robberson is probably the best school you have in Springfield,” said Calli Coatney, a mother of four. “My students feel at home. The students and teachers all work together to make sure the kids are on top of where they are supposed to be … I have been to lots of schools in Springfield, and none of them are like Robberson.”
Robberson uses a “community school” model that takes a holistic look at each student and their family. Robberson uses a modified version of a year-round school calendar for adding educational opportunities and exploration time.
Former principal Kevin Huffman, who led the school for 22 years, said it adds to what a normal school offers.
“It provides a multitude of extracurricular and co-corricular experiences that students may not otherwise have the opportunity,” Huffman said. “The community school model also realizes that strengthening the skills of parents and guardians results in a stronger child. It provides wraparound services to ensure the well-being of the child.”
Huffman said Robberson had the community’s help big-time, with a level of support that other schools would find hard to match. And that paid off with excellent student performance, noting that its most recent scores in the Missouri School Improvement Plan far outpaced expectations for similar, at-risk populations
Jordan Cannefax, president of the North Springfield Betterment Association, said closing the building would have a devastating effect on the neighborhood’s economy.
“This institution is a driving force in the economic vitality of North Springfield,” Cannefax said. “Closure would not only result in job loss, but also diminishes the economic vibrance that Robberson injects.”
Board members point to their responsibility
Board members, in explaining their votes, said the decision was difficult, but their responsibility to protect the school district’s resources had to take priority.
In Robberson’s case, 166 students attend classes in a building intended for 343 students. Of that population, 148 K-5 students live within the school’s sending zone. According to the study, that number will drop to about 113 over the next five years.
Boyd has plenty of room, board members said, and has been recently renovated, while Robberson is in need of significant repair.
“As a community member who works, and has my own nonprofit in that community, I definitely recognized that an economic impact will happen,” said board member Shurita Thomas-Tate. “As a board member, it’s my responsibility to take care of the financial needs of the schools … I would love to keep all of our buildings open, but our demographics have shifted over the years.”
Board member Judy Brunner said that making this decision was difficult. She was at January’s earlier meeting held at the school, where parents and teachers were frustrated and distraught over the prospect of closure.
“Every comment that I heard at the Robberson meeting indicated to me that the staff and teachers were making the difference,” Brunner said. “Robberson has served students well for many years, but I believe personally and professionally that now is the time to turn that page and allow those students to join a community of learners at Boyd in a building that is currently underutilized and built for the 21st century.”
Pershing parents emphasize K-8 model
In the Pershing meeting, parents, a real estate agent, teachers and a fifth grader asked for the school to keep its elementary grades.
The parents who spoke all emphasized how important the school’s K-8 model was to them and their children.
“My son has been able to build solid relationships with his peers that he gets to grow up with in the same class every year,” said Brittany Rust. “I get to know them and their parents because of this model. I can tell you that means the world to me when I’m raising a son in today’s world.”
Patty Melton, a real estate agent who also attended the school and has sent her children there, said that in a previous meeting Springfield Public Schools didn’t do a sufficient job of making its case.
“The elementary budget is the lowest in the district, and upcoming bond money is to be used on the building, not grade levels,” Melton said. “There has been nothing to show the cost savings by closing a school that everyone wants.”
Brandi Frazier, the school’s kindergarten teacher, said the school’s teaching staff was filled with long-tenured experts who have honed their collaboration.
“Pershing Elementary may be small in size, but it is a powerhouse of efficiency and excellence,” Frazier said. “Our size enables us to focus on teacher collaboration and connecting similar grade levels to ensure a seamless transition for our students. This fosters deep and meaningful relationships with all our students, leading to remarkably low discipline numbers.”
Board: Small elementary takes attention from middle school
Pershing is due for a major renovation: As part of a $220 million bond issue approved by voters last April, the school will receive a more than $50 million makeover. The current building, constructed in 1957, has received very few upgrades in the years since.
Some parents at Tuesday’s meeting said that vote was intended to keep Pershing as a K-8 school. But board member Steve Makoski said that long before the election, members of a community task force wanted a demographics study done before making that case.
“Part of the decision-making process on the task force was to consider having just a middle school,” Makoski said. “They made the recommendation for Wilder and Field to be expanded to help make that adjustment.”
Pershing has 700 students in grades 6-8, and 160 in grades pre-K to 5. Pershing’s elementary school is one of Springfield’s smallest. The school has one class for each grade level. The elementary population is expected to increase to about 186 students by 2025, then remain near that number over the next decade, according to the study.
About $40 million of the $50 million is dedicated to construction, and about $4 million of that will go toward new classrooms at the two elementaries.
