Parents, community members, and residents of Pleasant Hill voiced strong objections to the possible closure of L.H. Williams during a community meeting held in late February. With Williams Elementary facing potential consolidation, many in the community fear that shutting down this school could lead to the loss of a significant part of Pleasant Hill’s history.
Williams, Hartley Elementary, and Porter Elementary are facing possible consolidation with other elementary schools for the next school year as part of the Bibb County School District’s larger effort to address low student enrollment and maintain state funding.
The Board of Education is scheduled to review a presentation of the consolidation options during its 4 p.m. committee meetings on Thursday and could make a decision on those options when the regular meeting convenes at 6:30 p.m. Anyone wishing to address the Board must arrive by 6 p.m.
For the last few weeks, the Bibb County Schools have held school-based community meetings across the district to gather feedback from parents and other community members around the three schools facing consolidation. The first hearing was held at Williams and prior to these meetings, the district also sent out surveys and held broader focus groups about possible scenarios.
Dr. Thomas Duvall, a former L.H. Williams Student, attended the Williams hearing and said he can’t believe district officials are considering closing the only elementary school in this historic Black neighborhood.
“But the idea of even considering closing this historic school is simply wrong,” Duvall said. “The history and culture of Macon, Ga, for the most part, comes right out of this community.”
The larger consolidation process started last year, and in September the School Consolidation Steering Committee assessed schools based on enrollment trends, student data, facility age, capacity, budget implications, and community impact to decide if schools should be consolidation candidates. According to the district’s scoring matrix, L.H. Williams scored a zero.
Williams also has the lowest enrollment in the district, with 294 students, according to the latest figures from the Georgia Department of Education enrollment data. This number is below the state-recommended enrollment of 450 students, which is critical for maintaining state funding. Hartley had 385 students at the same state enrollment check, and Porter was at 400 students.
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Katika Lovett, who is overseeing the Consolidation Steering Committee, reiterated that the district has not yet decided whether to close any schools and that the committee is exploring alternatives to consolidating or merging a school. Other non-consolidation scenarios the board is considering include rezoning and restructuring.
“Right now, we’ve just been charged with exploring the possibility of consolidation and non-consolidation and looking at efficiencies, but we are coming back with a set of findings to share with the board,” Lovett said.
Any decisions resulting in school consolidation would not affect schools until the 2026-27 school year.
“The board meeting will be kind of the culmination of the full exploration of consolidation, so we will be presenting everything and all of our findings to the board for them to take the next step,” she explained.
