TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Brevard School Board members on Tuesday voted to close a Titusville school and change multiple school boundaries throughout the county.
In a split vote, school board members decided to close Riverview Elementary after this school year, choosing an option that would move nearly 500 students, including nearly 300 Riverview students.
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"I think it's prudent for us to come to grips with the fact that we are in fact going to have to close a school" in light of funding shortfalls that district is facing, said Barbara Murray, board chair.
They also voted for a controversial proposal to move out-of-area middle years International Baccalaureate students from Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High to Clearlake Middle in Cocoa.
In other votes, the school board unanimously agreed to boundary changes, including grandfathering rising sixth-, eighth-, 11th- and 12th-graders, and giving no sibling preference:
To decrease enrollment at Viera High, in addition grandfathering in rising 10th-graders.
To reduce enrollment at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, with a change to align the boundary with Patrick Air Force Base, and switching the out-of-area middle years college-prep IB program to Clearlake Middle with the guarantee that students would be accepted into the ninth grade IB program at Cocoa Beach.
To reduce enrollment at Kennedy Middle School.
To even enrollment between Astronaut and Titusville high schools, including grandfathering rising 10th-graders.
In a split vote, the board approved boundary changes to reduce enrollment at Meadowlane and Riviera elementary schools without grandfathering students that were moved two years ago.
The discussion of whether to close Riverview lasted late into the night.
In northern Brevard, elementary school enrollment has fallen by 480 students -- about the size of an elementary school -- during the last five years, and the district is projecting a decline in student enrollment in the next five years of about 230 students.
Parent and teacher groups throughout north Brevard have collaborated on efforts to oppose closing Riverview, and many -- carrying signs or sporting school T-shirts -- spoke out against the possibility.
The staff-recommended option would have initiated a massive shuffle of students -- affecting about 950 students, a quarter of north area elementary students -- while keeping capacities under 90 percent.
Alternatively, the community-led alternative, "Option C," would transfer Riverview students to nearby schools without moving other students, but would also push Apollo and Coquina elementary schools to near capacity.