ACS: Challenges Ahead

Dave Stafford, education reporter at The Herald Bulletin, looks at the continuing struggle of Anderson Community Schools as the district faces shrinking enrollment, school closures and the search for a new superintendent.

ACS: Difficult years ahead for system ANDERSON — It was a tough year for Anderson Community Schools. Years to come might not get any easier. Trends that have become constants for the system — declining enrollment, shrinking revenue and a dismal graduation rate among them — reached worrisome levels. ....more>>

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  ACS: Interim chief: 'I will attack this position'
  ANDERSON – A few words from Lennon Brown eventually get around to a conundrum engraved on a plaque in his office. “Everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” The man who will serve as interim superintendent after 36 years with Anderson Community Schools laughs that he’s gotten calls congratulating him, and calls asking why he’d give up retirement for this.
  

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  ACS: Parents' involvement makes difference
  ANDERSON – Parents’ involvement in their children’s education can make difference. It might even save the kids’ school. When the board of Anderson Community Schools this year considered a proposal to close Killbuck Elementary, Dave Lewis took it personally.

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  ACS: By the numbers
  ACS by the numbers
  — 9,421: Number of students enrolled, K-12, 2008-09
  — 12,804: Number enrolled, K-12, 20 years ago
  — 26.4%: Decline in number of students in past two decades
  — 8,623: Projected enrollment, K-12, in 2012-13, a decrease of 9.5 percent

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  ACS: A timeline
  Last week, Anderson Community Schools closed facilities and laid off three dozen teachers in response to a $5 million budget deficit. The action has been six months in the making.

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