What to know about the Childs, Templeton merger: Timeline, grades, redistricting

Monroe County Community School Corp. (MCCSC) is ironing out plans to merge Childs and Templeton elementary schools for the 2025-2026 school year.

At MCCSC's July school board meeting, new interim superintendent Dr. Markay Winston outlined details of the merger, including a tentative timeline for approving a merger plan by December of this year.

When will Childs and Templeton merge?

Merger initiatives will begin in late July with multiple community engagement meetings with various stakeholders, including parents and community members, the president of the Monroe County Education Association and faculty and parent-teacher organizations (PTOs) from the respective elementary schools.

Upcoming community engagement meetings are:

• July 25: MCEA president meeting
• July 31 and August 8: Childs-Templeton Advisory Group meeting
• August 13: Templeton Elementary faculty meeting
• August 15: Childs Elementary faculty meeting
• August 15: Childs and Templeton PTO meeting
• August 27: MCCSC Board of Trustees meeting (public)
• August 29: Community member and parent meeting (public)

From there, MCCSC will begin a building assessment of Childs and Templeton with the Indianapolis-based architecture firm CSO Architects to explore necessary facilities and building improvements for the merger.

Every following school board meeting this year will include an update on the merger plan.

Winston’s “project charter” timeline lists the school board reviewing the facilities assessment in October, reviewing a draft of the merger plan in November and approving the final plan in December.

The tentative schedule is:

• September: A “general status update” on the merger plan, including reviewing community engagement feedback, will be presented to the board.
• October: The Childs-Templeton building assessment from CSO Architects will be presented to the board.
• November: A first draft of the merger plan will be presented to the board for feedback.
• December: A final draft of the merger plan will be presented to the board for approval.

What grades will go to Templeton? What grades will go to Childs?

The Childs-Templeton merger was first proposed by former MCCSC superintendent Jeff Hauswald during a board meeting last December, when he also introduced a now-abandoned merger of University and Fairview elementary schools.

Since then, the breakdown of which grades would go to which facility have not been discussed.

The original proposal recommended Childs serve pre-K through second grade and Templeton serve third through sixth grade.

Is the Childs and Templeton merger official?

Yes. The Childs-Templeton merger was voted on by the school board back in April . It was approved by a 6-0-1 vote, with board member Ross Grimes abstaining.

During the July meeting, Winston said the discussion would not include “whether the merger should or should not happen.”

“That’s off the table,” Winston said. “The decision’s already been made.”

Is redistricting for MCCSC still being considered?

Yes. The school board has contracted with Missouri-based data analytics company Business Information Services (BIS) to explore potential attendance zone redistricting . The board is currently working with BIS to provide information on building capacities and population demographics to create draft proposals.

In the months following the first proposal of the Childs-Templeton merger, community members encouraged the board to look at broader, corporation-wide redistricting to achieve the merger’s intended goal of balancing socioeconomic status across schools.

In February, the board unanimously approved a motion to begin exploring redistricting . The board has not formally committed to redistricting, nor does redistricting have a projected timeline.

Why is MCCSC merging Childs and Templeton elementaries?

The merger was first introduced by former superintendent Jeff Hauswald as a means of balancing major socioeconomic disparities across elementary schools.

Despite being less than 2 miles away from each other, Childs and Templeton elementary have vastly different percentages of children enrolled in free and reduced price lunch, a measure used to gauge socioeconomic status. At Templeton, 64% of students were enrolled in free or reduced lunch in the 2023-2024 school year, compared to 15% at Childs.

The Childs-Templeton merger has been controversial in the MCCSC community, with many parents and community members saying the merger would cause disruptions to student routines, socialization and school culture . Prior to voting on the merger in April, the school board held several community engagement sessions to receive feedback on the merger and potential redistricting.

Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com . Follow him on Twitter/X at @brianwritesnews .

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: What to know about the Childs, Templeton merger: Timeline, grades, redistricting