It’s always sad to lose a neighborhood landmark, especially one where so many memories are made by so many people.

That’s the case with the news this week that Sugarcreek Elementary School will be closed permanently at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. The Karns City Area School District school board passed a motion Monday to close the school and move all elementary students and faculty to Chicora Elementary School by the fall of 2023.

A recent editorial on this page noted that we understood the sadness involved in seeing beloved neighborhood sites get demolished. In that previous case, it was in regard to plans announced to tear down the Butler Memorial Park pool and pool house — and the same applies to Sugarcreek being closed.

Sugarcreek was built in the 1950s and had an addition in the 1970s, but has seen no significant updates since then. Eric Ritzert, the district’s superintendent, said an addition is being planned for Chicora Elementary School, so that it can hold all of the students who will soon be there.

So, we know the move has to be made for the benefit of the students.

One area of concern is the transition for students from one school to another. We believe the school district has done its research to ensure that this is the right move and that the transition goes smoothly.

In fact, Ritzert said the district has prior experience in trying to balance class sizes when Bruin Elementary School closed in 2013.

The largest concern is in regard to what will happen to the staff.

Ritzert noted he is working with district administrators to find ways the district could avoid reducing staff, such as giving teachers who are close to retirement incentives to retire early.

In April, Ritzert said that when Bruin Elementary was closed, nobody was furloughed and the district was able to reassign staff to other buildings.

We hope the district is able to do something similar this time around. It’s likely that some employees of Sugarcreek Elementary School have concerns on the matter.

So, overall we expect the move will be good for Sugarcreek’s students. The district should ensure that it’s good for that school’s faculty and staff as well.

— NCD