TECUMSEH — Two Tecumseh school buildings will close next year as part of a reorganization plan that the school board approved on December 11.
The buildings that will close are Patterson Intermediate Learning Center, 401 N. Van Buren St., and Herrick Park Intermediate Learning Center, 600 Herrick Park Drive. Both currently serve students in third and fourth grades.
After the reconfiguration, Young Fives through third graders will go to Sutton Early Learning Center and Tecumseh Acres Early Learning Center; fourth through eighth graders will go to Tecumseh Middle School; and Tecumseh High School will remain for ninth through 12th grades.
In announcing the decision, Superintendent Rick Hilderley cast the reorganization as an intermediate step toward having all students in kindergarten through fourth grade together.
“These are difficult decisions,” Hilderley said in a news release. “Until we can get all K-4 programming under one roof, this plan gives us the best chance to operate efficiently.”
The move, which the school district said will save about $1.8 million, comes after several years of declining enrollment. According to state data, the Tecumseh district’s enrollment, which had been holding steady at just below 3,000 students for several years, began to drop starting with the 2018-19 school year. In the most recently completed school year, the district had 2,563 students.
Patterson and Herrick Park were both built during the Baby Boom of the 1950s, which saw Tecumseh’s population nearly double over the course of 10 years.
Patterson, originally a six-classroom building, was built to relieve crowding at the district’s other buildings and was completed in 1954. It was named for Charles F. Patterson, a longtime Tecumseh school board member.
Herrick Park was built with eight classrooms and completed in 1958. It takes its name from the Herrick Park subdivision, which was founded in the late 1940s to house employees of Tecumseh Products.
For details about this decision, including the discussions and debates leading up to it, we recommend that our readers refer to the more in-depth reports published by The Tecumseh Herald.
