Flat Rock-Hawcreek among school corporations agreeing to shut down Earlywood

Earlywood Educational Services in Franklin will permanently close in 2024 because of maintenance issues.

HOPE An educational organization that has helped special education students in the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. for the past 13 years will shut down permanently at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.

Flat Rock-Hawcreek superintendent Shawn Price says the pending closing of Earlywood Educational Services of Franklin, which helps increase the achievement of students with disabilities in six school districts, will not disrupt services for these children in the Hope-area schools.

“The bottom line is while Earlywood has worked with us for so long, we don’t expect student services to be really modified in any major way,” Price said. “We’ll still be able to care for our kids. We’re working hard to make sure everything transitions as seamlessly as possible.”

Price was one of six superintendents from Johnson, Bartholomew and Shelby counties who voted unanimously to close Earlywood’s service center, citing concerns about maintenance issues that stem from the building’s architecture.

While the FRHC school superintendent says most people familiar with Earlywood think only of its campus on Franklin’s north side, no more than 25 students are physically taken to that facility this school year. They are mostly enrolled in a program called New Connections, which provides children with emotional, behavioral and academic help, Earlywood Executive Director Angela Balsley said.

Over the last 10 years, Flat Rock-Hawcreek has only sent a small number of students to Franklin every year, Price said. In fact, the superintendent says none of the 193 special education students in the Flat Rock-Hawcreek district are going there this school year.

For the complete story, see Thursday’s Republic.