Redistricting, School Closure Discussion Continues

Redistrict some of the kindergarten through fourth grade schools, possibly close one of them, return fifth grade to the elementary level, move eighth grade to the high school and determine whether sixth, seventh and eighth grades can fit into Newtown Middle School.

One or more of those options are on the short list of what members of the Ad-hoc School Facilities Committee are considering recommending to the education board as possibilities for the future in light of decreasing enrollment. The committee met Monday at to discuss the matter but did not render any decisions.

"Somewhere there's got to be something you can do to cut down on costs," said Debbie Leidlein, the chairman of the Board of Education who is a member of the Ad-hoc committee.

The group is comprised of education board and Legislative Council members tasked with looking at school facilities with an eye toward possibly closing or mothballing a building in the future if enrollment ever dips to a point where that scenario would make economic sense.

"We could at the very least identify when we reach a certain point, we would look at options and we could identify which would be the most common sense option," Leidlein said.

The group has been meeting for more than a year as members examine the ever complicated question of whether schools should be redistricted, closed or mothballed should enrollment dip below a certain threshold.

"People are expecting us to come to a planned conclusion," Leidlein said. "It would behoove us to get this done expeditiously."

While the group initially started the process by ruling out closing an elementary school – saying that having schools in different parts of the town would allow the district to scale back quickly should enrollment unexpectedly climb in any one neighborhood – that option, as well as the possibililty of redistricting, crept back into the group's list Monday.

That was because the enrollment at some schools, such as Head O'Meadow, has sunk to such lows that keeping the building open might not make sense if the population continues to decline, officials said. However, the disadvantages were that because that school is the only one located in that sector of town, that would lengthen the bus ride substantially for children living in that area, member Dan Wiedemann said.

From a location standpoint, Hawley School would be the best candidate to close, however, due to building configurations and its age, the building, once closed, could not be reopened as a school due to the Americans With Disabilities Act. Relocating municipal uses there also might be difficult because some parts of it are lacking access to an elevator and could never be retrofitted for one, officials said.

Committee member Robert Merola said if fifth grade were returned to the elemementary level, that would be a more effective use of every school, allowing all of them to remain open. In concert to that, if eighth grade were then moved to Newtown High School, that would only leave sixth and seventh grades, which likely would fit comfortable in Reed Intermediate or Newtown Middle schools, he said.

Moving eighth grade to the high school initially met with resistance by some committee members. Superintendent Janet Robinson said in her experience, parents might be uncomfortable with having eighth graders in the same building as older teenagers.

"If that is to happen, some work needs to be done on how parents are going to react," Robinson said.

Some of the selling points to that configuration would be the ability for eighth graders to take more advanced classes with access to more language and science choices, Leidlein and member Kathy Fetchick said.

"That's the one place we are going to have a lot of space," Fetchick said of the high school.

Another option that needs more examination, according to committee members, such as Fetchick, who said she was looking for more information, was the possibility of having Newtown Middle School serve sixth, seventh and eighth grades – an option that was discussed only in .

Those three grades could not fit easily into Reed without substantial costs, , however, it was unclear how they could fit at the middle school, which is only 10,000 square-feet more than Reed, Fetchick said.

Committee members also struggled with the timing of when the town and school district would decide to implement redistricting or closure plans, with some officials saying making such decisions may require more than a year of planning, and possibly two due to budgeting considerations that may need more advance notice.

However, that timeframe was met with resistance by some members.

"It's going to take us two years to implement that?" Merola asked. "That's too long."

The committee ended the meeting by asking Robinson to touch base with other superintendents in the state who have been faced with similar redistricting or school closure questions as well as contact a group that specializes in enrollment and redistricting initiatives to present options to the committee.

At some point in the future when they decide to choose which option to go with, the district may consider hiring consultants to help in the process, officials said.

In the end, officials need to come with a plan with "the fewest hurdles that gives us the most educational programs and is the most cost-effective in allowing us to deliver the programs for these students," Leidlein said.

Fran Pennarola, the group's moderator, added, "And what is going to last the longest."

"And what is going to last the longest," Leidein repeated.

The committee's next meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Feb. 6 with a location to be announced.