Three Schools in Camden to be shut down; 200 employee will Lose Jobs

Sad news for the Camden City community. Officials are saying they may have close down three schools and lay off more than 200 employees. Apparently, the school district is facing a 27 million dollar deficit.

Superintendent Katrina T. McCombs made the tough decision based on three long-running factors: academic achievement, the building itself and enrollment. Therefore, the three schools that fell short in those categories happened to be the H.L. Bonsall Annex Preschool and Veterans Memorial Family School. Next year, they plan to turn R.T. Cream Family School into an early childhood development center.

Right now, approximately 900 students attend these three schools in total. When they are shut down permanently the students will be moved to other schools nearby on the district. The teachers and staff, however, have it way worse. They will lose their jobs altogether. Unlike the children, they won't be placed in another location. The number of employees could range anywhere from 50 to 200.

“This has been an excruciating time for me to come to these decisions,” McCombs. However, she hopes that this will be the first step to advocating new revenue and rebuilding the school district.