MARTINSVILLE — After more than a year of speculation, the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville (MSD) announced this week it’s closing four current elementary schools to make way for a brand new elementary school coming to the district.
MSD Superintendent Eric Bowlen previously told The Correspondent that Centerton Elementary and Green Township Elementary would be the most logical choices for closure.
On Tuesday, the district confirmed that two more schools would close as well: Poston Road Elementary and Smith Fine Arts Academy.
Each school will close following the end of the 2026-2027 school year.
The four schools are closing in anticipation of the new elementary school currently under construction on Centennial Road, just south of the Henderson Ford exit of I-69 near River Valley Christian Church.
The construction and the closures are part of a consolidation effort for the district, which officials have said is needed due to the cost of maintaining old buildings — all of which were built before the 1960s — as well as declining enrollment in the district. The district has lost more than a thousand students over the last decade.
The new elementary school is part of a $150 million bond project — $95 million in bonds plus interest — that will also see the construction of a new natatorium for the high school along with smaller, miscellaneous projects.
The district has stressed repeatedly that the construction is a “tax-neutral” project, meaning Martinsville residents will not be impacted by a tax increase to fund the project.
The new school — the name of which will be announced later this school year — will be open in time for the 2027-2028 school year and be led by principal Jill Vlcan, who currently leads Poston Road, along with assistant principal Stephanie Manley, currently the principal at Centerton.
“As a board, it is our responsibility to plan not just for today’s students, but for generations to come,” said MSD board president Heather Staggs in the press release. “This project reflects that long-term initiative and commitment to ensure the District remains a place where education thrives.”
It is not yet clear what will become of the four elementary schools once they close. Bowlen has previously stated the district intends to keep “at least some” of the current elementary properties, though the buildings will be repurposed to both cost less and provide some service to the community.
