Local Elementary School Closes its Doors

Slaughter Elementary School closes its doors for the last time today. The Webster County School District decided to close the school as a result of dwindling enrollment and district wide fiscal concerns.

Closing the school will save the district more than $600,000 annually. Webster County School District Superintendent James Kemp says the movement of families from rural areas like Slaughter to more urban locales has contributed to the loss of students.

"Even as recently as ten years ago the enrollment was down but not nearly what it is today. In those days we were looking at 220-230 students. And so it’s just been a very, very slow decline. So slow that it’s been difficult even to see the changes from one year to the next."

Kemp says this year's enrollment at the school was 165 students. Children who attend Slaughter Elementary will be assigned to one of the five other elementary schools in the district.