Parents poured into the Worthington Education Center this week to let school board members know they aren't happy about the district's plans for a middle school restructuring.

"We're concerned about this mysterious plan," parent Lori Dorn-Cook told board members during the meeting Monday, March 22.

"We're not hearing about the details of the restructure," she said. "This administration has the idea parents prefer to hear about these changes from building principals. We want to know why the Wellness for Life and health curriculum are being changed. Health teachers have already been told whose jobs are being eliminated because of the restructuring."

Superintendent Melissa Conrath said the district must restructure the middle schools because the cost per pupil at the middle school level is more expensive than at the elementary school and high school levels.

Consolidation could save the district up to $750,000 per year, Conrath said.

The plan calls for moving students who currently attend Perry Middle School into McCord Middle School and redistricting students into three middle schools -- McCord, Worthingway and Kilbourne -- while keeping and expanding the alternative Phoenix Middle School as the lone resident of the Perry building.

Team teaching will be lost in the restructuring as students go to an eight-period day in which each teacher leads five classes of core content, with structured time built in for connections between teachers and students.

Enrollment will not be balanced, as the number of McCord students will increase from 347 students to about 500 students.

McCord's feeder schools will be expanded to include Bluffsview and Brookside elementary schools.

In five years, the district estimates McCord's enrollment will be about 591 students, which is still below the building's capacity of 680 students.

Administrators told parents that students will have more choice and a more-flexible schedule after the restructuring, but parents and family members said they're concerned that some programs, such as health courses, are being reduced.

Joshua Cook, a sophomore at Worthington Kilbourne High School, said his brother is a sixth-grader at Brookside.

"I was concerned when I heard the health program would be reduced," he said. "The health options should be increased, not reduced. "

Cook said young children should be educated thoroughly about the consequences of drinking and taking drugs.

Dorn-Cook told board members, "You have created an unstable environment by not letting us and the teachers know all the details about this middle school restructure."

"Keeping Phoenix in Perry without telling us how it will expand is like keeping a pet project," she said. "Holding one program above another is wrong."

Phoenix will take up just 10 classrooms in the Perry building after the restructuring, which is slated to begin this fall.

Valerie Winston-Stoner said she is concerned about the growing population at McCord.

"You'll have so many kids at McCord, would you be able to exit all those kids quickly in case of a fire?" she asked. "We are on the verge of 'separate but not equal' in this district, and that is a dangerous place to be."

Kate Whitesell said that "so much public unrest would have been avoided if the district had engaged the parents in the planning and produced a well thought-out plan.

"We were told all the questions asked at parent meetings would be answered on the Web site, and when they were not, we believed administrators were avoiding those questions," she said.

"Using creative crafted names for committees does nothing, frankly, and I don't know any of us who want to hear the phrase '21st-century learning' again."

Other parents complained about the "lack of communication" surrounding the middle school restructure and that the presentation to parents announcing the middle school merger "was a done deal," decided without enough parent input.

Conrath said district administrators and staff will make sure "as we work through this process that we will create a nurturing and productive environment for students in the new middle school restructure."

She said a committee is being formed that will include parents to help work out the details of the restructuring.

"We heard you tonight, and we will certainly be working with you as we move forward," she said.

Board President Julie Keegan told parents she's sad that the conversation had taken a tone of mistrust.

"I had the honor of sitting in a meeting with the parents, and I thought it was an excellent exchange of information," she said. "Was it enough? Certainly not.

"I know we will all work together to help make this transition as smooth as possible for the students."