SBCSC proposes closing Coquillard Elementary for St. Joseph County Career Hub

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- There’s a growing dispute overturning a South Bend Elementary School into a brand-new Career and Technical Education Hub.

The School Corporation held a meeting Monday evening at Coquillard to take feedback and answer questions about the proposal.

Black Lives Matter, the NAACP, and the Advocacy Group, JAX Aspire were present at the meeting after holding a virtual press conference of their own Monday afternoon.

They came together to condemn the plan and would rather see the $10.5 million dollars being used for the career hub invested in SBCSC Elementary Schools.

"And so closing the school again would be detrimental to this local community and the students it serves we demand that they instead invest money into Coquillard, maybe split that 10.5 million into all three sides of town,” said Tiana Batiste- Waddell the Executive Director of the JAX Aspire Foundation who believes the closure will have a disproportionate negative impact on black students.

The proposal would transform the 18-acre property into the St. Joseph County Career Hub that would feature welding, early childhood education, and other specialized programming open to not just students from South Bend.

The School Corporation said Coquillard’s central location and proximity to key partners makes it the ideal property for the facility, as it gears towards more CTE focused programming.

"The thought we had together with those partners is we can really do something special generationally, changing the opportunities for our students,” said Chad Addie the SBCSC Assistant Superintendent of College & Workforce Readiness.

District officials also say the change would help them to continue to right size their portfolio, with Coquillard students moving to a K-8 Dickinson.

"We think it's a really wise move, not just fiscally, but we also believe for our families which our primary we believe it could be very encouraging overtime,” added Addie.

An updated presentation on the Career Hub will be given in front of the school board Wednesday, before they vote at the meeting December 16th.

If approved, they expect to begin programming as soon as August of 2025.