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Balancing enrollment at elementary schools will be examined
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 By
Kendra Kelley/ amesbury@cnc.com
Friday, March 24, 2006
School Committee
Representatives from the Facilities and Enrollment Committee told
the School Committee Tuesday they did not recommend redrawing district
lines as a means of balancing enrollment at the town's two elementary
schools.
"Moving the district lines is upsetting the apple cart. It
establishes a precedent," the committee's Cashman Elementary
School PTA representative Tara Nelson said.
Instead, the committee of parents, teachers and administrators suggested
a shuttle bus service and renovations at Amesbury Elementary School
as possible short-term solutions to class size disparity. The committee,
which was charged with reviewing the present and future enrollment
and facility needs of the town's elementary students, has been researching
options since January.
"To provide equal education in Amesbury this needs to be addressed,"
Cashman School Council Representative and Enrollment Committee member
Patty Lowell said. She reported that Cashman is currently operating
at 90-95 percent capacity and that Amesbury Elementary is at 80
percent. On average, she said, there are "five or six"
more students per Cashman classroom.
The committee conducted its own enrollment research after it found
that projections from a long term study by Merrimack Education Center
(MEC) were too high. In its report, the committee sites examples
which compare MEC's 2006-2007 enrollment figure of 2,571 with the
actual enrollment number of 2,505.
Instead of using the MEC formulas, Nelson and Lowell said their
committee counted the number of classrooms, teachers and desks and
compared those numbers to the number of students.
"We found that we have some room," Lowell reported. The
committee determined that Cashman can accommodate 35 additional
students and that Amesbury Elementary has space for 100 students
if it converts two available rooms into classrooms.
The committee anticipated future enrollment numbers using figures
from six housing developments now under construction. Several School
Committee members expressed concern about additional development
in town, but Lowell said her committee could not conclude that enrollment
would necessarily increase.
"Our enrollment is actually declining. The idea that we're
growing is not really justified at this point," Lowell said.
Of the developments in construction, however, several are located
in the Cashman district.
"We know that Cashman school has received significant increases
in enrollment," Lowell reported.
To correct the imbalance in class size, the committee recommended
selective pick up along bus routes that overlap for the two schools.
It also advocated a low-cost shuttle bus service to transport students
between the schools, allowing out of district students to ride to
and from school on their own district's bus. These students could
opt to attend out of district, or placement could be a provision
for families moving into town, Assistant Superintendent David Jack
explained.
The committee made a long-term recommendation in favor of forming
an Amesbury Elementary School task force to investigate renovation
options for the building. In the short term, Lowell, said, the school
could double its modular classroom space by installing two story
units where the six one-story modular units currently stand.
Nolan and Lowell emphasized that any solution should recognize the
importance of maintaining school communities and of grandfathering
siblings into the same school. They added that the families affected
by these changes should be involved in the decision making process.
To this end, School Committee Vice Chairman Debra Bibeau invited
residents to view the Facilities and Enrollment Report posted on
the town Web site and to send in their comments.
http://www2.townonline.com/amesbury/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=456991
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