He praised a plan to close four or five elementary schools in the DuPont area and open a new elementary center with 700 students. Kanawha County school leaders tell parents and teachers that bigger is better when it comes to school size. But the overwhelming majority of research on school size tells a different story. Parents become more involved in small schools than they do in large ones. Dropout rates are lower.
Kids participate in more extracurricular activities.
We need to make children our priority. Support for small schools seems to be growing in West Virginia. Parents are starting to question whether larger schools save money. Maintenance costs decline, but transportation costs increase. The number of principals drops, but the number of assistant principals increases.