A group of more than 20 members from throughout the community listened to information on the current status of the facilities and student enrollment at Wayne Community Schools and the possible options for updates in the future.
This information was presented by Wayne Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Lenihan during a brown bag lunch at the school on Tuesday (Jan. 28).
Dr. Lenihan shared information on the enrollment numbers at the school and recent trends, and told his audience "as education changes, needs change. We want to stay on top of educational trends."
He presented information on the current facilities, including the elementary school, which was built in 1908, the high school, which was built in 1965 and the early learning center, which is leased by the school district.
Dr. Lenihan discussed current shortcomings with each of these facilities and listed new programs that have been added to the district in recent years.
A portion of his presentation included the findings from a recent facility study, which was completed by Carlson West Povondra Architects in the fall of 2019.
Included as possible options for the district moving forward were a new early learning center, owned by the district, that could also provide space for kindergarten students, additions to the junior-senior high school and a new high school.
Dr. Lenihan emphasized that the district has made no decision on how to proceed or which, if any, of these options will be pursued.
He asked for volunteers from the audience to sign up to be a part of a community group to look at these options closer and determine priorities for the district.
Following Dr. Lenihan's 45 minute presentation a number of questions from the audience were answered.
These included questions on enrollment from when the high school was built to see if any trends could be determined, use of Wayne State College and/or the Wayne City Auditorium and possible mergers with other area schools.
Anyone interested in being part of the community group for future discussion is asked to contact Dr. Lenihan or Deb Daum at the school, (402) 375-3150.
