Monday, March 21, 2011

Larkdale Elementary (or a Larkdale School) Plans to Remain Open

On February 28, a Special Meeting of the City Commission took place to inquire about paperwork it received concerning the closing of Larkdale Elementary. The school has failed to adequately perform in annual FCAT testing, and if they fail again this year, the school would be subject to Intervention from the State.

At this meeting, the Commissioners, Mayor and Staff were advised about the situation, and the following explanation given:

If Intervention occurs, the school would have to face one of 3 choices. #1 close and become a Charter School; #2 close and become a private school; #3 reassign the students to another school.

At this point it is unknown if Intervention will be required. But if it is, the Broward School Board has already selected alternative #3. What will be happening is the Larkdale Elementary School, as it is known, will be closed. In its place, 2 new schools will be opened on the same site, Larkdale Primary School, and Larkdale Intermediate School. They will run next two each, but will be run separately.

Primary Schools normally run from Pre-K to 3rd grade. Intermediate School is 4th and 5th grade. However, this designation can be modified slightly.

Then once the 2 schools are open, they will be independently run, and tested.

The hope is that the extra attention by splitting the school, will give the students the needed help to improve student performance.

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