CLAREMONT — A few dozen people, including teachers and parents, spoke strongly against the realignment of the district’s schools as officials proposed in two budget plans the School Board discussed Wednesday. Instead, speakers urged the board to wait at least a year before implementing any changes.
Interim Superintendent Kerry Kennedy and Business Administrator Matthew Angell presented the budgets, termed a “4-school model and 3-school model,” at Wednesday’s meeting.
The four-school alignment would place grades preK-2 at one elementary school, either Maple Avenue or Disnard, and grades 3-5 in the other elementary school. The middle school would remain 6-8 and the high school, grades 9-12.
With three schools, grades preK-2 would attend one of the two elementary schools, grades 3-6 would move to the middle school and 7-12 would be at the high school.
This year, following the closure of Bluff Elementary School in September, Disnard and Maple Avenue absorbed the students with each school serving grades K-5. Several speakers asked for that structure to remain for next year.
“I urge the board to slow down and keep the four-school model (K-5),” said parent Molly DeLuca, who also said mixing a 12-year-old seventh grader with 18-year-old students at Stevens was a bad idea.
The board, which received the budgets shortly before the meeting began, took no action and said it would continue the discussion on Jan. 7.
Angell and Kennedy said the driving force behind their proposed budgets was projected decline in enrollment. The proposals seek to “balance classroom numbers,” allow for more intervention in the early grades and maximize district resources, Kennedy said in a PowerPoint presentation.
Claremont’s total school population has dropped from almost 1,800 in 2010 to 1,400 this year, according to a report from the New England School Development Council presented at the meeting. By 2035-36, the projected enrollment will fall to less than 1,100. The lower enrollment also reduces the district per pupil state aid amount.
The budgets include no cuts to teaching staff, though some teachers will be reassigned to work as interventionists, said School Board member Candy Crawford, who serves on the board Finance Subcommittee that worked with Angell to develop the budgets. Those positions are to help students who are struggling academically so they do not fall further behind.
The budgets have a nearly 12%, or $600,000, increase in health insurance, restore full funding for sports and other extracurricular activities that were cut when the school year began, and move the alternative program for the middle school and high school out of the tech center to the former Bluff School, which was closed in September. The tech center is not affected by either version of the budget, Crawford said.
The proposed four-school budget is $44.8 million, or 3.9% above the current year’s $43.18 million budget, with an estimated combined school tax rate increase of $1.37 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The three-school model is $43.9 million, or a 1.83% increase, with a projected 64 cent school tax increase.
A default budget, which would be implemented if voters reject the board’s budget in March, has not been finalized.
Neither restructuring proposal found favor among the members of the public at Wednesday’s meeting, with every speaker opposed to the proposals.
Several said the disruption for elementary students of moving to a new school, perhaps up to three times in three years, would adversely affect their learning and socialization.
Tammy Yates, a second-grade teacher and president of the district’s teachers union, said research demonstrates frequent moves to different schools result in lower test scores and a decrease in levels of proficiency, in addition to affecting attendance and the well-being of students.
“I respectfully ask the board to maintain the status quo for the coming school year and allow students to have an uninterrupted school year, while giving the board, administration and community time to come up with a well-thought out plan,” Yates said.
Stevens High School teacher Leslie Peabody said decisions by the board and administration this current school year, made in reaction to a $5 million deficit discovered in August, have damaged the learning environment.
“Whether you like it or not, there is a significant issue with employment uncertainty, mistrust and cynicism,” Peabody said. “The board needs a clear, multi-year plan to prevent further resignations and special education uncertainties.
“Before more permanent changes are made, we require a plan and budget numbers to ensure the mismanagement does not reoccur. We deserve a restructuring process with factual data and a long-term stability plan, not a reaction to a temporary financial crisis.”
Board members seemed to be listening to the community.
One, Loren Howard spoke against proceeding with either proposed budget based on what he heard.
“With my finger on the pulse of the community, it seems they want the two (elementary) schools to stay K-5,” Howard said. “It gives a brief moment of stability for these kids, a chance to settle in and we can get more feedback.”
Board member Arlene Hawkins asked Angell for a third budget model that would keep the K-5 structure at Disnard and Maple for at least one more year to perhaps lessen the disruption of transitioning to different schools.
Some students “would be moving two years in a row, some maybe three years,” Hawkins said. “That will be very hard.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.