Overview
- The school board approved the Strategic Work Plan on Monday, with changes set to start in the 2026–27 school year and a vote that reporters said came before public comment.
- Owen Elementary and Kennedy, which serves students with disabilities, will close at the end of this school year, and Alcott is slated to close in a later year.
- The plan sends Owen students to Alcott, splits Owen staff between Alcott and Pontiac Middle, moves Kennedy’s program to Pontiac High, and converts Pontiac Middle to a grades 5–8 school.
- Parents and educators criticized the process as opaque and warned that moving special‑needs programs and placing fifth graders with older students could unsettle children.
- The board also postponed a vote on a tentative teachers’ contract, extending a near‑300‑day dispute, while district leaders point to enrollment falling from about 14,000 in the late 1990s to under 4,000 today.