Harrison will Close It's Doors.

Written Tuesday March 15th at 10:05 PM
Updated Wednesday March 16th at 10:00 AM

The Farmington School Board has decided the fate of Farmington Hills Harrison High School in an emotional vote.

The School Board voted 6-1 in favor of closing Harrison in the 2019-2020 school year. There will be no freshman heading to Harrison next year as they will phase out the school based on class which means the current freshman class (Class of 2019) will be the last class to graduate from Harrison.

The school closure will leave the OAA down to 22 schools pending if some schools want to enter the OAA in the near future.

Current Harrison students and International Baccalaureate students will be able to graduate from the school.

This Facebook post from the Farmington Voice told the whole story from tonight's Board Meeting.

"Farmington school board members have voted 6-1, with David Turner opposing, to close Harrison High School effective with the 2019-2020 school year, meaning that currently enrolled students and International Baccalaureate students will graduate from the school. Whether or not you agree with the decision, it's clear that it was a very emotional and difficult one, especially for board members who have students at the school. I've been watching school boards for more than 20 years, and I have never seen officials express as much open emotion as this group did tonight."

Dunckel Middle School will also close as well, the School Board voted 5-2 on that issue Tuesday night along with the creation of a new academy that will house Kindergarden through Eighth Grade.

The reason why Harrison and Dunckel is going to close is because of budget issues that Farmington Public Schools is going through and also decreased student enrollment.

Next year's Middle School options hasn't been decided but students could choose to go to either North Farmington or Farmington High Schools.

At least for three more years the OAA will enjoy Harrison High School and legendary football coach John Herrington has a chance to break the all time State wins record as Hawks coach.

Stay tuned to OAA Now and the Blog for this developing story.