New Haven Mayor Seeks Greater Influence In East Allen Schools Long-Range Plans

FORT WAYNE, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) --- New Haven's mayor is paying close attention as the East Allen County School system maps out a long-range future plan, and he has put together a task force to be the voice of city hall in that process.

New Haven Mayor Terry McDonald would tell you he's not trying to micromanage East Allen Schools, but he is a big believer in the theory that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

New East Allen County School Superintendent Karyle Green is trying to address a ten-million dollar budget shortfall in a school corporation that's also dealing with shrinking enrollments and suspect ISTEP "Plus" scores.

Closing schools is one idea for cutting costs.

Mayor McDonald is nervous that Paul Harding High School and New Haven Middle School have been mentioned in those discussions, schools he wants to protect.

The task force would lobby school administrators on behalf of the mayor.

Mayor Terry McDonald/(R) New Haven: " I'm not the mayor of Leo-Cedarville, or Woodburn, or Hoagland or Monroeville, but I'm Mayor of New Haven and I have to make sure these schools are getting what they need."

If Superintendent Karyle Green feels any undue pressure from the mayor's school task force, she isn’t showing it.

She says the school corporation will draw from a wide variety of educational expertise in fashioning a long-range plan, and she says the district welcomes input from all the various communities with kids educated in the East Allen system.

But Green is fairly new to the job, facing some major challenges, and the task force probably won’t make her comfort level a major priority.

Mayor McDonald says he also wants to make sure students in the New Haven and Harding branches of East Allen Schools have access to college preparatory courses and other classes featured in the curricula of other schools in the district, such as Leo High School.

Superintendent Green hopes to have plans in place to fix the budget shortfall by next August. Stay up to date, subscribe to the Local & Regional RSS Feed. What are your thoughts on this story? CLICK HERE to leave us "Your 2 Cents."

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