HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) — The Board of Education has approved changes that will restructure Holland Public Schools.
Monday, the Board of Education voted 6-1 to approve a restructure of the district for the 2018-2019 school year.
The district currently has schools include kindergarten through seventh grade, with eighth through 12th grades in the high school. That setup, which has been in place for about eight years, was enacted to save money as the student population shrank.
Under the proposed changes, the schools would be restructured to serve kindergarten through fifth grades at Holland Heights, Holland Language Academy, Jefferson and West elementary schools; sixth through eighth grades in a middle school at East; and ninth through 12th grades at the high school.
The changes come after decades-long decline in attendance at Holland Public Schools. There are many reasons, including that the schools of choice option has drawn students to surrounding districts or charter schools. The main cause is that there are simply fewer kids in Holland because the area birth rate has declined.