HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The Huntsville City Schools Capital Plan is officially in motion, but a question is still being asked by many in Northwest Huntsville. "My question to Dr. Sutton and his team was what was going to happen to Lakewood," said Pat King, HCS District 1 Board of Education candidate.
Lakewood Elementary is slated to have a brand new campus, on property known today as the Academy for Science and Foreign Language. It's part of the plan to have ASFL Elementary move to Montview Elementary and ASFL Middle to move to Chapman Middle.
"ASFL is a magnet school that's a feeder for New Century magnet school, which is in the Lee High School feeder pattern. So, it made perfect sense to put it over into the Lee High School district," said Michelle Watkins, Huntsville District 1 City Council candidate.
The future of Lakewood is uncertain. Many nearby are concerned the building will become the new home of an alternative school for students with disciplinary and behavioral issues. "You can't leave a vacated building that was not good enough for the current students and then say that the alternative students that are being moved there, it's good enough for them," said Devyn Keith, Huntsville District 1 City Council Incumbent.
Watkins isn't happy with the public's negative response. She said, "Are we going to throw our students away because they make a mistake? That's concerning to me. When society says we don't want them in our backyard."
While there's going to be a lot of change coming up for Huntsville city schools in the next decade, a big importance is being placed on communication with the community. "I think transparency is a big part and will play a big part in this plan as it moves forward," said Chaundra Jones, HCS District 1 Board of Education candidate.
Officials held community meetings to make sure they were covering all their bases. King said, "Everyone had an opportunity to talk about the strengths, the weaknesses, what did they want to see in their schools."
With the Capital Plan set to impact 24,000 students, involving the community in conversations is key. "You want to have buy in from the entire community in order to move plans forward and when people have felt like they are left out of the process, then that really makes a big difference," said Jones.
There are currently no set plans for what is to happen with the soon to be former Lakewood Elementary. The Huntsville City Schools Capital Plan involved $600 million in investments.