By Jarret Liotta
The Board of Education Monday night reviewed issues relating to the proposed restructuring of kindergarten through sixth grades caused by the closure of Coleytown Middle School (CMS)—the K-6 plan for short.
Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer shares an update on logistics of the K-6 plan. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com
They included budgetary impacts, program plans, and classroom space.
Numbers presented by Elio Longo, chief financial officer, show that — separate of portable classroom costs, which are yet to be determined — moving to the K-6 model would result in an overall savings of $623,000, including an estimated reduction of 14.2 full-time employees.
This is part of a tentative $119 million budget for 2019-20, representing a 2.57 percent increase over the current year of $116.2 million.
Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer indicated that more staff savings could potentially appear by the summer if enrollment decreases.
She has already reduced the tentative proposal by around $300,000 following last week’s meeting with the Board of Finance.
“Staffing is the most dynamic aspect of what we do,” she said, adding that discussions are scheduled with union representatives to talk more details about potential staff reductions.
Palmer said four new buses are required for the K-6 plan and will add $377,000 to the proposed budget. The bus schedules, however, will also probably necessitate having two of the elementary schools change their start time next year.
She said the decision would be made as to which two by Feb. 1.
Natalie Carrignan, director of technology, gave the BOE details about a 7.6-percent increase in technology costs for next year —$2.14 million in total — some of which relate to the K-6 change.
“Twenty percent of our equipment comes due to replacement every year,” she said, but this year at the elementary schools some of the desktop computers in use will be replaced with laptops for mobility’s sake.
The district will also install docking stations to augment further mobility — something deemed more necessary given space constraints and the possibility of shared workspaces.
“This allows our teachers flexibility to move,” she said.
Touch screen Chromebooks would also be purchased to augment kindergarten and first grade computer classes, which will potentially be made mobile.
“If we ever received word that we were going to reopen Coleytown Middle, we would have to redo the budget,” Palmer said.
“Our staffing would be different. Technology would be different,” she said.
“We’ll begin pushing more updates to our parents as we get more information,” Palmer said of the transition planning.
She said that per the BOE’s request she was working under the assumption of keeping the current elementary and grade six education models as intact as possible.
She said, however, she is still interested in talking about potential changes to the elementary schedule when the time comes.
“Our educators would like you to hear some other perspective on scheduling,” she said.
“In terms of the portables, we are on track,” Palmer said.
She and Longo are scheduled to travel to Hartford on Tuesday, where she said they would make a pitch for emergency reimbursement for the 12-14 portable classrooms the district hopes to secure for next year.
A consultant said last week reimbursement was a viable possibility for units that could cost around $70,000 each, plus peripherals, based on the costs discussed in the fall for Bedford Middle School.
Palmer said they were going to explore the possibility of getting a fourth portable added at Long Lots School, which is now one of the more crowded elementary schools.
“We will push the envelope and if we can get another portable, we will do that,” she said.
Christine Meiers Schatz, a District 2 member of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) , addressed the board on behalf of her constituents regarding existing overcrowding at Kings Highway School (KHS), which she said the K-6 change would push beyond limits.
“I hope you will start a redistricting analysis soon as part of your planning,” she said.
While she said she was not directly advocating redistricting at this time, a recent BOE study cited KHS as being at 97.4-percent capacity, with more students likely to enroll given changing demographics in the neighborhood.
“We should look into it for a contingency plan,” she said.
