|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
NEW BEDFORD — Parker Elementary, the neighborhood school that has served the city’s historic Acushnet Heights district since 1966, will close at the end of this school year.
New Bedford’s School Committee voted on Monday to close the school and authorized the district to turn the building into a centralized preschool facility, which will serve about 300 3- and 4-year-olds. The vote comes one month after the district regained control of the building, which had been under state receivership since 2013. Parker was the first ever school to exit the most stringent level of state receivership, but now will close as an elementary school.
Students who attend Parker will be reassigned to nearby schools, primarily Hayden-McFadden Elementary and Carney Academy. The district has started negotiations with the teachers union and said that it hopes there is “no change” from a contract perspective — that every teacher remains employed.
Schools Superintendent Andrew O’Leary said that transitioning the building into a preschool facility is in the best interest of New Bedford. The city has seen a growing population of young students with learning disabilities, but lacks any centralized location to offer or coordinate those services. O’Leary said New Bedford was one of only two cities among Massachusetts’ 26 Gateway Cities that did not have a central preschool facility. (Pittsfield is the other, he said.)
“When effectively operated, preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds can have life changing outcomes,” O’Leary said. The new center, he said, will “bring us on par with our peer districts.”
But parents and community members with connections to Parker have decried what they say has been a lack of transparency. Monday night’s presentation before the School Committee — the same meeting where members voted to close the school — was the first time the district had released its plans for student reassignment next year.
The intention to close Parker was first announced in late July, when O’Leary sent an email to community members. Parker’s closure will be one more among a raft of planned school consolidations across the city; seven other elementary schools could consolidate into four buildings, according to a new district strategy document that is contingent upon approvals from City Council and a state agency.
Though the Parker building will still serve New Bedford students, district officials and School Committee members acknowledged on Monday that Parker’s closure will bring “significant disruption” to nearly 200 families in New Bedford.
Here’s what will happen next.
Where will students go? Teachers?
Of the students now enrolled at Parker Elementary, 116 will move to Hayden-McFadden Elementary (just up the road on County Street, beneath the highway overpass) and 95 will go to Carney Academy (just south and off County Street, closer to downtown). The 28 current fifth-grade students, as planned, will go to Keith Middle School. And a small number of current 3-year-old preschoolers will stay at Parker as they remain in the building’s expanded pre-K offerings.
Fifteen students at Parker had opted into the school using the district’s internal choice program, officially known as Change of School Assignment, or COSA. Those 15 students will be given priority to apply again for the school choice program, district officials said, and could end up at any elementary school in the district. (Other students and families can enter the school choice program too, but only these 15 from Parker will have priority.)
As for the new preschoolers coming into Parker, the district plans to reassign multiple early education classrooms from four different locations. Preschool classrooms from Hathaway, Carney, Hayden-McFadden, and Campbell will all move into the centralized facility in the Parker building.
The district does not typically provide transportation for preschool-aged children (unless required by a special education plan), and School Committee members and district officials said they will be evaluating the traffic patterns around Parker to ensure there is a safe drop-off space for young children next year.
As for Parker’s teachers, many will likely be headed to Hayden-McFadden and Carney, just like their students. At present, Parker has two classroom teachers per grade, and the district plans to add one teacher per grade at Hayden-McFadden and one teacher per grade at Carney. Though subject to union negotiations, district officials said they hope to continue employing all of the Parker teachers.
The result, according to district officials, is that both Hayden-McFadden and Carney will actually have smaller class sizes in nearly every grade, despite the addition of new students from Parker.
The teachers union president, Tom Nickerson, did not respond to a request for comment.
School Committee, mayor justify their decision
Before they unanimously voted to close Parker and transition the school into a preschool facility, several School Committee members decided to speak about their vote. (Melissa Costa was the only committee member absent.)
Some of these comments addressed parents’ concerns, including those of Susanna Araujo, Parker’s PTO president and current crossing guard, who spoke on behalf of a group of Parker parents at Monday’s meeting. “The plan was never really shared with us,” she said, and asked the committee to delay their vote so that “Parker parents [could] be heard.”
Bruce Oliveira spoke first, saying, “I am not disregarding the concerns voiced here ... I just have faith in our administration.” Oliveira said he believes that “three years from now,” the community will look back and “say we did the right thing.”
Jack Livramento and Christopher Cotter both spoke about making difficult decisions. Livramento said, “I think [this plan] is a good direction to head and I think the results will show in time.” Cotter added that “this decision has been carefully thought out … I am confident that this has not been a shoot-from-the-hip type of decision.”
Colleen Dawicki asked a number of questions about how the district will measure the success of the new preschool facility, and other questions about supporting Parker families through their transition.
Lastly, Mayor Jon Mitchell spoke about his reasons for supporting the move. “I’ve heard from a number of parents who had legitimate concerns about disruptions in their lives,” Mitchell said. But he added that “This is a type of program that has worked in other places to address needs that we have in spades.” Mitchell asked community members to respect the decision, even if they disagreed with it, saying that the district had provided more than enough data and information to support its ruling.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
Absolutely a stupid idea. Let’s close down a neighborhood school and ship children out. Brilliant
“Respect our decisions, even if you disagree with them” should be the city’s slogan under Mitchell. The city government is really taking its mask off now.
How soon we forget that for years we had a dedicated preschool at the former Ingraham School which has been converted into housing. That preschool was moved to the Gomes School. Did that create disruption. Yes, it did. There were two schools housed under one roof. Change comes with difficult decisions but for the greater good they must be implemented.
Mayor Mitchell, how about supporting the employees who report bulling, harassment and incompetent administrators in the school department. It’s been voiced to you, emailed to you and you will be responsible for not responding. Just as all the others that were given all the information. It will soon be revealed to the residents of New Bedford.