By Jarret Liotta
After months of meandering around possible redistricting and rebalancing scenarios, the Board of Education (BOE) Wednesday night indicated it would make no changes for at least two years.
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Newest BOE members Youn Su Chao (l) and Lee Goldstein, suggested postponing any redistricting votes for two years. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow. com
Prodded by what one member said were 200 public emails written to the BOE arguing against a split-feeder scenario that would have separated students graduating from Saugatuck Elementary School into the two middle schools, some members were ready to vote Wednesday night against making any changes.
But because it had posted an agenda inviting public comment next Monday — and scheduled its vote for Dec. 16 — members decided to go forward with the schedule, though instead it plans to send out an email solely to parents aimed at quelling emotion and dissuading unnecessary arguments against redistricting.
A new motion, which Chairman Candice Savin said she would be editing before sending it out in an email, will state that “upon the anticipated reopening of Coleytown Middle School (CMS) for the 2020-2021 school year,” the BOE will “revert to traditional attendance zones (and) will utilize an educational model that will include two four-teacher teams at CMS and three four-teacher teams at Bedford Middle School (BMS).
“That may help to take the temperature down,” said Saving, acknowledging the “concern in the community,” which had prompted scheduling a dedicated BOE special meeting next Monday at the Town Hall auditorium solely for public comment on redistricting.
“There’s something of a consensus around a holding pattern for two years,” Savin said — a suggestion put forward by the two newest BOE members Youn Su Chao and Lee Goldstein.
“Is now the time to make this sort of monumental change?” Goldstein said. “Period. And I’m landing on ‘no.’”
“We’re not operating on a really solid foundation,” she said, noting the upcoming transition with CMS and the search for a permanent superintendent of schools, as well as budget ramifications.
“I don’t think it’s a good time to make decisions of this magnitude,” she said.
“I think for me the concern is the process has been somewhat linear,” said Chao, who like others was further confused by yet another presentation on enrollment numbers preceding the discussion.
“If we don’t have confidence in the enrollment numbers, it does undermine the credibility,” she said.
“I personally could not commit to making a decision with so little data to make me feel good about making a decision,” she said.
In the absence of a representative from the New England School Development Council (NESDEC), Anthony Buono, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, presented their latest enrollment projections, which only added to the confusion of BOE members.
Buono said the numbers showed a greater decline in enrollment, but unlike the other vendor Milone & MacBroom (M&M), they had incorporated this year’s dramatic drop in enrollment and build projections around it.
NESDEC indicated Westport enrollment would decline by approximately 600 students over the next five years.
Milone & MacBroom representatives, meanwhile, identified this year’s large drop as an anomaly and had not worked it actively into its projections, putting the decline in the neighborhood of 260 students over the next five years.
Several members of the public spoke criticizing both groups of numbers, suggesting there were variables not being considered.
“I don’t think that they’re reliable … certainly not to make any formal policy,” said parent Jen Greely.
“The numbers of the projections are never 100 percent correct,” Buono said, but historically they have been close, with the BOE traditionally using NESDEC, which has shown an accuracy of one-half to one percent each year.
Three years ago the BOE also added the services of M&M to supplement its data.
BOE member Elaine Whitney said she continued to have concerns about parity between the two middle schools, as well as cost concerns about five four-teacher teams.
“I don’t think it’s realistic that we can just add that amount to our budget without other trade-offs,” she said, favoring Monday’s public input, as it might also be a chance for the public to share budget concerns as they might relate to redistricting.
“We’re leaning in a direction that’s going to have a higher cost,” she said.
“Make no mistake,” Superintendent of School David Abbey said. “However we proceed, this is going to be a very tough budget year.”
