LOOK FOR FALL EVENTS ON PAGE 21A, MORE AT CANDGNEWS.COM OCTOBER 4, 2023 • Vol. 20, No. 21
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Photos by Patricia O’Blenes
Some individuals who attended a West Bloomfield School District Board of Education meeting Sept. 18 — including Keego Harbor Mayor Rob Kalman, above — were not pleased when learning that a recommendation to demolish the Roosevelt Elementary School building in Keego Harbor was approved.
School board recommends demolishing Roosevelt BY MARK VEST mvest@candgnews.com
WEST BLOOMFIELD — Roosevelt Elementary School in Keego Harbor has been the subject of controversy for years, and the saga took another turn at a West Bloomfield School District Board of Education meeting Sept. 18.
The meeting at West Bloomfield High School was attended by multiple residents and focused on whether to pass eight recommendations from the district’s Strategic Visioning Committee. The recommendations were to convert all four elementary schools in the district to kindergarten-grade five buildings; close the Roosevelt Elementary program at the end of the 2023/24 or 24/25 school year, depending upon enrollment and reduction of School of Choice; create preschool space at Sheiko Elementary, which is on the south side of the district, and Abbott, which is in the north; demolish the Roosevelt building and play-
ground; move the district’s Magnet Program to Scotch Elementary; move administrative and community service staff to Abbott; keep the current administration building for preschool and district storage throughout the 2023 bond; and plan for a future bond initiative that includes a new K-5 elementary at the Abbott site to serve students on the north end and new educational spaces at West Bloomfield High. The Board of Education passed the eight recommendations 5-2. Deborah Evans and Carol Finkelstein were the members who voted against the recommendations, with Julie Beaty, Stacy Brick-
man, Nelson Hersh, Ashleigh Davis and Wm. Art Holdsworth voting in favor of the recommendations. The issue that brought most attendees to the meeting and drew the biggest amount of attention was the recommendation to demolish Roosevelt, which is located in Keego Harbor. Students who previously attended that school have been going to Abbott since a roof collapsed in an unused room at Roosevelt last year. Abbott previously operated as a middle school in the district. The Strategic Visioning Committee was See ROOSEVELT on page 10A
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‘Planning is key, especially when faced with declining enrollment in our district’