Once again the School District’s inadequate space is causing redistricting headaches for the Board of Education and stress among parents.
Last night’s Board of Education Standing Committee Meeting for Facilities, Technology, Long-Term Planning at Roger Ludlowe Middle School was well-attended with over 100 concerned Fairfield parents. Various options for redistricting have been developed by the Committee during the past few weeks in anticipation of the June 16th Board of Education meeting.
Up until the meeting, seven formal ideas have been created, while an eighth was proposed during the meeting by Board of Education Vice Chairman John Mitola. The objective of the proposals is to reduce crowded schools in the southern part of town, while better utilizing available space in Burr and Dwight Elementary Schools, and to address an overcrowding situation at Tomlinson Middle School and Roger Ludlowe Middle School.
Over 20 parents spoke out about the challenges they see with the various redistricting plans, from the potential loss of Title 1 funding at Holland Hill to children’s social needs.
It was decided during the meeting to move forward with presenting to the Board, only Options 6, 7 and Mitola’s (8). Options 6 would be most disruptive to the Town’s families, as it proposes moving children in 7 of the Town’s 11 elementary schools. Option 7 is somewhat less disruptive, as only 3 of the elementary schools would be moving children to new schools. The eighth option, had more geographic alignment and certainly had more support among the parents in attendance, although time to implement was debated. The Board agreed to make available a written version of Option 8 within several days.
Additionally, a suggestion was made by Board Member Brenda Kupchick to accelerate the schedule of planned facility expansion at Holland Hill School. The central location of Holland Hill would allow some migration of Osborn Hill families to Holland Hill without disrupting the rest of the districts. It was noted, that in the current economic environment, it may be difficult to push through a school building project.
Who thought 25 years ago, when we closed Oldfield and Grasmere Schools (amongst others), that those properties would be sitting in central locations to alleviating an overcrowding issue? Those buildings are long since repurposed, so it’s a moot point. But, it does show careful long-range planning needs to be implemented. Not just on the Board of Education, but each of the Town boards. Certainly the Town Planning and Zoning Commission needs to do a better job communicating to the Board of Education. For instance, it was brought up at last night’s meeting that the TPZ recently approved 42 condos in the McKinley district. Judging by the reaction of the committee, this was news to most.
When the school system is at 93% capacity, approving these condos is not a McKinley issue. More specifically, it is a Town issue, as it reduces the flexibility of the school system.
When the Town already faces a school space issue, TPZ needs to take into consideration new housing starts. More careful analysis needs to be done. And if the TPZ is only acting within the law, then legal changes need to be made to zoning regulations that give higher priority to the needs of our education system and the infrastructure of the town. It makes no sense for new housing to be built in a community that is already stretched to accommodate the needs of the current populace.
I believe the Board of Education is listening to the parents, and addressing these issues to the best of their ability. But is the rest of the Town?
Ed—you hit the nail on the head with your comments on the lack of long range planning throughout town departments. Long range planning has NEVER been a strong suit of the Board of Ed goin g back 30+ years to when they closed Mill Hill School within just a couple years of adding on to it! Let’s hope they do a very careful and thoughtful analysis of all the data surrounding the options that are still on the table and make a wise decision…..not just for the families impacted today but the ones that will be impacted 10 years from now.
Hi Ed. Thanks so much for the information and your take. I think the biggest hurdle will be to get the selectmen to admit that there’s a space issue in the first place! I can’t see how we can move forward in any direction until that is overcome. I would also hate to see our beloved Holland Hill get very much bigger, but I would welcome some new blood from Osborn Hill, especially when some of those kids are our nearest neighbors and we don’t even know them. Thanks again, Ed.
Suzanne, making HH a larger school would let the “secret” out, but with new parents and children it would be an even better school. In reality, most of the schools in town are too small. To give school officials flexibility they should operate about 80-85% capacity. Most of the schools are well over 90%.
The town needs to find a way to limit the number of new dwellings until we can increase our bricks and mortar capacity (no portables). And like you say, getting the selectmen to realize there is a space problem is a hurdle, but a first step in the process.