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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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