Greenfield-Central Com Schools officials on a livestreamed community night presented a three-part plan to reorganize grade configurations and repurpose buildings to address declining enrollment and a projected drop in state revenue. Superintendent Dr. Harold Holm said administrators and three outside consultants studied enrollment, demographics and finances and recommended merging the district’s two intermediate schools into one site at Maxwell, combining Weston and Harris elementary students onto the Harris/GIS site, and centralizing preschool at Weston.

The district cited a steady enrollment decline from a 2011 peak of about 4,600 students to about 4,181 this year and a state school-finance change (SEA 1) that district staff estimate will reduce local operations-fund revenue by roughly $1.6 million a year over five years. “We have calculated that merger would save us $786,000,” Holm said of the intermediate-school consolidation; he later summarized that the combined recommendations could yield more than $1,757,800 in annual savings.

Business manager Nate Day outlined how the district’s three core funds operate — education, debt service and operations — and said SEA 1 changes how tax rates and revenue streams are calculated. “This really changes how we calculate tax rates,” Day said, and the district models show a multi-year revenue reduction that would require efficiencies or else risk larger class sizes, frozen salaries or program cuts.

Administrators estimated roughly $2 million of hard-construction costs at each of the three sites for required renovations and restroom or classroom conversions, funded from debt-service capital planning, and said some work could be done by 2026 (intermediate merger) with further steps by 2027 (preschool consolidation). The district said Maxwell has the classroom capacity to host combined fifth and sixth grades in the near term, and transportation staff will model routes with Traversa to avoid excessive ride times.

Parents and staff at the meeting raised practical concerns about the proposal. A Maxwell cafeteria manager identified in the meeting as Amber urged planners not to rush changes and warned food-service capacity and staffing would need careful study. “Don’t set us up for failure,” she said. Other parents asked about lost jobs, redistricting and the social impact of moving established school communities; Holm acknowledged the intermediate move “would be about 14 and a half positions” in FTE reduction and said the district will attempt to place affected employees where vacancies exist and limit disruption.

The district said it will collect community feedback via the QR code used during the presentation, email (holm@gcsc.k12.in.us; board@gcsc.k12.in.us) and at three upcoming board meetings scheduled within the next five weeks. No formal board action was taken at the community information night; administrators framed the session as an informational presentation and a chance to gather public input before the board considers next steps.