SBCSC leaders eye Coquillard as site for career hub, met with pushback
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The faces that make up Coquillard Elementary School made it clear Wednesday night that they want their students to stay right where they are.
"You said Dickinson is better for the kids, no it's not," said one Coquillard teacher.
"Now Coquillard's a big deal. We can do this with Coquillard, we can do that with Coquillard. What about when Coquillard was just Coquillard?" adds another Coquillard teacher.
They're responding to a proposal by South Bend School District leaders which envisions transforming the west-side elementary school into a re-imagined Saint Joseph County Regional Career Hub, an established home for Career and Technical Education.
"Having a career corridor on the west side of South Bend, having it accessible to a large portion of our community, it made a lot of sense," says Chad Addie, Assistant Superintendent of College and Workforce Readiness for the district.
As Addie explains, it doesn't hurt that the school is just a few miles from monumental investment that will shape the future of Michiana's workforce, like the Amazon Data Center and GM Battery Plant.
"It made total sense for us to land it right in the middle of that hub," Addie says.
On paper, with an initial estimate for renovations at $10.5 million, it makes sense to school leaders.
But when it comes to students that will need to uproot to a new school, Dickinson, that's where parents and teachers voice their concerns.
"With us, it's not about the money, it's about the kids," said a Coquillard teacher in the meeting.
Though, Addie says there were always plans for the traditional middle school to incorporate more students as a K-8, and it's one of the most structurally compatible buildings to house CTE programs.
He says the group behind the plan will continue to take feedback and use it to craft other options.
"Our job at the district level is to make sure we're listening, hearing and coming alongside saying 'Yeah we've heard you loud and clear,'" says Addie.