The Board of Education met on January 9th to review and discuss the remaining viable options specific to the building capacity study compiled by Milone & MacBroom. Three primary options were discussed at length. At this time the Board of Education has not yet made a recommendation on which of the remaining three options, if any, will be approved for formal public presentation and comment. Factors that will impact that decision involve educational impact on students, class size guidelines, capacity and availability of classrooms, capital improvement needs, impact on families, and financial savings.
The overarching challenge for the district is the declining enrollment at the middle school grades over the next ten years resulting in an under utilization of the middle school buildings. At the same time the elementary schools have an uneven distribution, with some at or near capacity now or in the near future. The Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools have very clear decision-making guidelines. Dr. Baldwin stated “relative to reconfiguration the plan options still needs be examined for educational impact.”
The first of the three viable options is referred to as Align Feeder Pattern. This option would keep the current school boundaries for the three elementary schools and create a 50/50 split for the elementary schools feeding into the two middle schools. This option evens up the distribution of the two schools and at the same time opens up increased underutilization of East Ridge Middle School. At the Board of Education meeting on January 9, a point was made that the Central Office staff may be able to take advantage of the additional space and relocate their offices to that school.
Under option one Scotland Elementary School, Barlow Mountain Elementary School, and Ridgebury Elementary School would feed into Scotts Ridge Middle School. Branchville Elementary School, Farmingville Elementary School, and Veteran’s Park Elementary School would feed into East Ridge Middle School. This option would preserve the existing six elementary schools as they currently are and maintain the existing PK-5 and 6-8 grade configuration. Up to 10% of middle school students would be moved and this option could be implemented as early as 2017-2018.
The challenge associated with this first option is the complex nature of grandfathering or redistricting middle school students, which includes issues like the feasibility of being able to support students as they complete their time at their current school or immediately redistricting. Will we need to move current students to their newly districted schools upon implementation or would we be able to support them in completing their middle school experience at their current school?
The second option is Balance Elementary Enrollments with Pocket Redistricting. This would see the adjustment of current elementary school boundaries in an effort to balance elementary enrollments in all six schools. The advantage here is the preservation of the six elementary schools and middle schools under the existing PK-5 and 6-8 grade configurations. The challenge associated with this option is the difficult nature of balancing the enrollment at Branchville Elementary School as the neighboring schools would lack the capacity for more students. It is possible that this option could be done at the same time as option one.
The third of the viable options, PK-4 and 5-8 Reconfiguration plus Closure of Scotland Elementary School, is the most challenging of the three scenarios that remain on the table. Under this scenario Scotland Elementary School would close, the remaining five elementary schools would become PK-4 schools, and the two middle schools would become 5-8 schools. The advantages include savings in closure of a school building, consolidation of staff, transportation efficiencies, new opportunities for 5th grade students related to curriculum and programing, and balancing space utilization at the elementary schools and middle schools.
Under this third option the existing feeder patterns to the elementary schools would be fully adjusted to the remaining five schools, the Pre-K programs would remain at Barlow Mountain Elementary School and Ridgebury Elementary School, and Children's Corner would also remain at Barlow Mountain Elementary School. Under this scenario Barlow Mountain Elementary School and Ridgebury Elementary School would feed into Scotts Ridge Middle School. Branchville Elementary School, Farmingville Elementary School, and Veteran’s Park Elementary School would feed into East Ridge Middle School.
The third option does present the greatest challenges to the district. First and foremost is the reconfiguration to the middle schools, which will require rescheduling and reprogramming the educational experiences for the students in grades 5-8. While it opens up opportunities for students in grades 5 to have access to world language and science, the full scope of academic and behavioral needs of the students needs to be further explored and analyzed. This option has the most significant impact on needing to redistrict the elementary schools and thus requires the most complex modeling for grandfathering or redistricting middle school students. The complexity is increased when factoring in needed transportation options. This option also cannot be implemented until at least 2018-2019 or later, thus posing no immediate financial savings to the community.
Under option three the school selected for closure was Scotland Elementary School for specific reasons. First, Scotland Elementary School is one of the smaller elementary schools and its proximity to Barlow Mountain Elementary School and Ridgebury Elementary School, both school possess available space. The students at Scotland Elementary School can easily be redistricted to Barlow Mountain Elementary School with minimal increase to transportation costs and travel time for children. Scotland Elementary School also has the greatest capital
improvement needs and this would allow the town to defer the high cost of completing those repairs.
As the Board of Education and Administration continue to explore the options some key questions and factors will be explored:
● Is a 5-8 Middle School experience better for students?
● What is the impact on curriculum, programs, staffing, etc for 5th grade attending a Middle School?
● Would 5th grade students get new benefits and programs if attending a Middle School?
● What is the impact on transportation?
● What is the financial impact on reconfiguration or redistricting?
● What are the capital improvement plans needed at Scotland Elementary School that could be deferred if the school were to close?
● If a school were to close in the next few years what will the impact of enrollment numbers be in 10 years?
In summary, the Board of Education will continue to analyze and discuss the three viable options to determine if they will serve to better utilize and maximize existing buildings and provide financials savings to the community. The options would also potentially provide new curriculum and program opportunities to 5th grade students, avoid significant capital repairs, provide a new location for the Board of Education Administrative Offices to reside for Central Office, evenly distribute student enrollment at the schools, provide more efficient transportation, and create other organizational efficiencies.
Three Remaining Viable Options for Consideration 1. Align Feeder Pattern 2. Balance Elementary Enrollments with Pocket Redistricting 3. PK-4 and 5-8 Reconfiguration Plus Close Scotland Elementary School
View the Option Summary Sheet