Administrators and school board members gathered public opinion Jan. 12 at the second public forum on the superintendent’s proposal to make major changes in the district.

Among the major elements included in the proposal would be to educate all elementary school students in four buildings — Clayton, Cherrelyn, Bishop and Hay, make the Maddox building home to the Early Childhood Education program, move the Englewood Leadership Academy to the Hay Elementary School building and close the Lowell building.

School Superintendent Sean McDaniel presented the proposal to the board at the Dec. 15 meeting. To gather public comment, a forum was held Jan. 8, the second was Jan. 12 at Maddox Elementary School, with a third scheduled Jan. 13 at Englewood Leadership Academy. The schedule calls for the board to take action on the proposal at a special meeting scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at the Roscoe Davidson School Administration Building, 4001 S. Bannock St.

Almost 400 people attended the initial forum and there were about 75 people at the Jan. 12 forum.

Again, school officials stressed no decision has been made and the school board had the final say as to whether or not the district will move forward on any or all of the items in the proposal.

McDaniel said public comment is being considered and noted that, based on the information from the Jan. 8 forum, the proposal is being modified so that all the students in the Alternative Development and Academic Program Training for children with special needs will not be in a single location instead of the original proposal to place programs at each ADAPT student’s home school.

He also noted that, as a result of comments from the first forum, the possibility of moving Englewood Leadership Academy into the Englewood High School building is now being considered as a possible option. However, the original proposal to move ELA to Hay Elementary School to create a kindergarten through eight grade International Baccalaureate program also remains an option.

Many speakers at the three-hour Jan. 12 meeting urged the school board to not vote on the proposal on Jan. 15 but to take time to look at public comments and possibly make changes.

There also were emotional appeals to make no changes in Maddox and the ADAPT program.

School Board Member Scott Gorsky declined to predict what will happen at the Jan. 15 board meeting but he did say the forums have given him several things to consider before he casts his vote.