By Jarret Liotta
Following an emotional debate that swayed some members at the very last minute, the Board of Education voted 5 to 2 Monday night to make Westport’s five elementary schools kindergarten through sixth grade starting next year.
Board of Education members Vik Muktavaram and Karen Kleine (partially hidden) cast the two dissenting votes to move the sixth grade to elementary schools next year. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com
While Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer said her administrators “haven’t closed out” the possibility of finding a facility to house a separate sixth grade “academy” — the favorite option among board members and the community at large — she said they would need to know about it by mid-February “at the absolute latest,” implying it was unlikely.
The vote culminated an intense three-month effort to realign Westport schools following the September closure of Coleytown Middle School (CMS) because of mold and air quality issues. Under the approved plan, all seventh and eighth graders would go to Bedford Middle School (BMS).
“It’s not the ideal scenario … but I do feel strongly that the sixth graders need more instructional time for language and math,” said member Candice Savin of the K-6 plan.
But those curriculum changes that will result from the change — among them increasing core class time for grade six while broadly lessening time in “encore” classes for the elementary students, including music and physical education — raised concerns for some members.
“This is a changed curriculum and this is the thing that gave us pause last week,” said member Vik Muktavaram, who, along with Karen Kleine, voted against it.
“There is no buy-in from the teachers,” he said, arguing the model was put together without community input.
Teachers, including union leaders, line up with other members of the public to express opposition to the K-6 plan. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com
“We’re changing Westport schools (and) there is no community discussion here,” he said, drawing applause from a crowd that waited until close to midnight for the vote.
“We’re shooting from the hip,” Muktavaram said, expressing an apology to the community at large for how the whole matter has been handled, vying for more time to consider the K-6 change.
“We don’t have time … We have to man up and make a decision,” Savin said.
“The K-to-6 plan doesn’t have enough details to me,” said Kleine, noting overall it was still contingent on the availability and quality of portable classrooms.
“The portables at Kings Highway have mold,” she said, “so the portables are a big unknown to me.”
“I don’t want to change a philosophy that’s been in place for 30 years for a facilities issue,” she said, referencing the 6-8 middle school model.
Kleine also said it was likely that much additional time was going to be consumed by the board in “putting Band-Aids” on problems relating to the K-6 model as it went into action.
Several sixth grade teachers, along with Westport Education Association (WEA) leadership, spoke against the K-6 option. Some said it would be better at this point to put all students in grade six, seven and eight at BMS.
Westport Education Association co-president Karen DeFelice tells the Board of Education that teachers had officially pledged during their last contract negotiations to be partners with the board but had been left out of developing a K-6 model, which she said was full of unknowns. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com
“We were willing, available and ready,” Lori Buskey, WEA vice president, said of teacher involvement in the planning process.
She said it was disappointing that so much was discussed at a Board of Ed committee meeting on Friday morning that teachers were unable to attend given the timing.
“We urge the board to recognize that this plan is expedient and ill-conceived,” said Pam Syndercombe, technology teacher at Coleytown Elementary School.
“Suggesting we teach off a cart is not forward-thinking or educationally sound,” she said, outlining a bleak scenario of trying to get kindergartners to log onto laptops in a timely fashion in their classrooms.
“Why take risks on an untested K-6 model?” asked Jeremy Royster, sixth grade social studies teacher at BMS. He said current conditions at his school were not as bad as some people made them out to be.
“I don’t understand how we can vote for either of these (options),” member Neil Phillips said, pointing out that the combined middle school option was basically voted down by the Community Advisory Committee a few weeks earlier.
“I’m conflicted … I want to get behind the K-6 plan,” he said, but could not because it contained a separate issue involving the curriculum change — something that will likely necessitate revised contract negotiations with teachers.
Member Elaine Whitney, likewise, expressed trepidation about it.
“My inclination is that the 6-8 (plan) may be least disruptive,” she said.
Vice Chair Jeannie Smith, meanwhile, who was the most vocal supporter of the 6-8 plan several weeks ago, spoke adamantly in favor of K-6.
“Dr. Palmer comes with vast experience and expertise that I value,” she said, indicating an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to designing the details would iron out the issues, including more teacher involvement.
“I’m very confident that we will make this great,” she said.
While Palmer said 90 percent of the current program could be offered with K-6, she acknowledged cramped facilities — in some elementary schools more than others — would impact a range of things, including teacher planning space, resource space, computer labs, and possibly dedicated science rooms.
Still, she favors this option, she said, over a combined middle school of 1,300 students.
Board members emphasized that this should be a temporary solution, with the vote calling for this as “a short-term plan … subject to the development of an academic schedule with an emphasis on maintaining the current programming to the extent it was practical.”
Right afterward the board voted unanimously to appoint a task force to “explore the options” for bringing CMS “back online,” if possible.
Several members of the public expressed strong sentiment that the board had neglected looking into the school further and that it needed to be examined.
A peer review report of the condition of the school is due out in January, following up on the initial findings of a consultant that recommended shutting its doors indefinitely.
“One of the things I think the town isn’t divided on is that CMS should be back on line,” said Candace Banks, Long Lots School’s PTA co-president.
