Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Kalamazoo's El Sol Elementary may move from the Vine Neighborhood to the East Side

Snow on the grass in front of El Sol Elementary School. The trunk and branch of a tree frames the sign on the building.
Leona Larson
/
WMUK
El Sol Elementary School in Kalamazoo's Vine Neighborhood.

The head of the Vine Neighborhood Association said school officials told him this week that El Sol was likely to move, in part to make room for more parking.

The Kalamazoo Public Schools is holding three community meetings Monday to discuss where to build the new El Sol Elementary School.

The school may stay at the corner of Oak and Vine streets in the Vine Neighborhood, or it may move to the east side of the city, according to district spokeswoman Susan Coney.

Coney said trustees will receive a final recommendation when they meet a week from Thursday on Dec. 12.

Steve Walsh of the Vine Neighborhood Association told WMUK he met with KPS officials this week, who told him the school was likely to move.

Walsh said the officials cited low neighborhood enrollment and a need for more parking for programs at the Old Central High School building and Chenery Auditorium, which are adjacent to El Sol, as reasons why the school may need to relocate.

Walsh wants to see El Sol stay in the Vine Neighborhood.

“It’s disappointing that there isn’t more forethought in terms of what a building like this could mean, or does mean, to a neighborhood like this. And that it really is an asset that helps people choose the Vine Neighborhood when they’re looking to move and you have school-aged kids.”

Walsh said KPS initially limited Vine Neighborhood enrollment at El Sol, which he suggested may have depressed later enrollment from the Vine. WMUK has asked KPS to confirm that neighborhood enrollment was originally capped.

Walsh added that he hopes Vine residents will turn out for the meetings Monday.

“I need advocates. I need champions. I need people in that room to say, ‘Boy, this will really be a huge step back for the Vine neighborhood if we take out their only elementary school and replace it with a surface parking lot,'" Walsh said.

El Sol is the only KPS elementary school in the Vine Neighborhood.

There has been a public school at the corner of Oak and Vine Streets since 1882. The current school was built 100 years ago and expanded in the 1960s.

Leona has worked as a journalist for most of her life - in radio, print, television and as journalism instructor. She has a background in consumer news, special projects and investigative reporting.