Facilities Panel Learns­—

Closing Middle School Could Negatively Impact Students, Taxpayers

By John Voket

As the meeting of Newtown’s School Facilities Study Ad Hoc Committee hit its midpoint October 12, it was becoming evident that converting the local intermediate school into a middle school and reconfiguring the grade makeup to fit sixth, seventh and eighth graders into the Reed facility would be both an expensive proposition for taxpayers, and a possible detriment for students.

While it was unclear what the cost would be if the town decided to close Newtown Middle School and merge its students into the Reed facility, scrapping the intermediate model, Board of Education Chairman William Hart ventured that it could run into the millions, possibly exceeding $10 million. But perhaps the most compelling argument against the idea came from middle school Principal Diane Sherlock, and was backed by Reed Principal Sharon Epple.

Having already worked in several states by the time she arrived in Michigan more than a decade ago, Ms Sherlock said she was thrilled to hear Newtown officials were in her district studying whether to establish an intermediate model in Connecticut.

“I’ve worked in a lot of systems, and Newtown should be so proud to create a system that fits with students developmentally,” Ms Sherlock said. “In Michigan, I couldn’t imagine there was such a visionary place as Newtown, sending people to learn how the [intermediate] system worked.”

According to both principals, breaking the district into a middle school/intermediate school model created age-appropriate environments where students could best thrive socially and academically.

“If it’s working, why do you want to change it?” Ms Sherlock asked the committee.

When the group convened at the Reed library, Mr Hart suggested it might be the panel’s final meeting, but after much discussion that also briefly touched upon moving eighth graders into their own wing at the high school the committee tasked administrators with developing data to examine one final scenario: creating a K through sixth elementary system.

The Ultimate Charge

Mr Hart reminded committee members that their ultimate charge was to try to find ways to reduce space to save money. And Wednesday’s meeting was called to hear a final presentation about whether closing the middle school and possibly repurposing that building for other school or municipal uses was the most practical way to achieve that goal.

In order to understand the logistics of such a move, School Facilities Director Gino Faiella created a schematic of what classroom configurations might look like. He also roughed out a list of improvements and additions he believes would be required to accommodate all the programming that would be required for the expanded age range of students.

Working with Superintendent Janet Robinson, Dr Epple and Ms Sherlock, Mr Faiella estimated the reconfiguration of Reed would require converting five classrooms to science labs, another classroom into a family computer science lab, creating a Project Adventure venue on the campus along with one health classroom.

And to accommodate the influx of additional students, the facilities chief said new space would have to be acquired, whether built or with modular facilities, which would consume a huge tract of a sports field on the west side of the building. That space inventory would include 14 new classrooms, two special ed rooms, two science labs, a band room, an orchestra room, two guidance offices, administrative space for one conference room and three offices, and one regulation-sized gymnasium.

Part of the discussion turned to class sizes and future student population projections, but ultimately the school district staff on hand, including Assistant Superintendent Linda Gajda, all posed opposition to the idea because of the expected detriment to students.

Reduced Disciplinary Cases

Early on in the meeting, Ms Sherlock illustrated the difference between a Newtown District with just a middle school, and a district with a middle and intermediate school by measuring the disciplinary issues the latter had mitigated. She held up a huge, empty eight-inch binder explaining that when she came to the district, the middle school maintained a similar stuffed file full of disciplinary reports for each middle school grade level.

Then she held up this year’s raft of middle school disciplinary files, which fit neatly into a single, two-inch binder.

“I’ve worked in nine states, and it’s rare to have a middle school without a detention facility,” she stated. Ms Sherlock also supported her case about maintaining separate, age-appropriate school environments reading from a book by Chip Woods, which described the “developmental chaos” that 12- through 14-year-olds typically experience.

“Because of their developmental differences, 12- to 14-year-olds require a different kind of school,” she said. Mr Hart later concluded that it appeared such a proposition would pit age-appropriateness against the ease of transition for students between a fifth grade elementary environment and a six through eighth middle school situation.

Dr Epple said that she favored a district configuration that “keeps them younger, longer,” by maintaining an intermediate facility for fifth and sixth graders. And Ms Sherlock commented on the idea of moving eighth graders to an exclusive wing at the newly expanded high school, reminding the committee that there was somewhat of an uproar when eighth graders were being bused with high school students.

“A lot of parents were concerned about putting eighth graders with high school kids,” she said.

Dr Robinson said depending on the outcome of the committee’s work, she was confident “district teachers could handle any configuration.”

Loathe to delay the committee’s wrapping up their work, Mr Hart nonetheless requested one more meeting on November 2 to hear data on a possible K–6 configuration at the elementary level factoring both a full-day and half-day kindergarten, and whether the district could accomplish a shift of grades seven and eight to the Reed facility without having to build a new gym.

Attempting to lighten the mood, committee member Francis Pennarola then commented, “Our report was supposed to be done in the spring, right?”

To which Mr Hart replied, “But we didn’t say what year.”