Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon has considered redistricting to solve the space problems at Bedford Middle School, but he said he believes there would be problems with doing so.
This week a Westport Board of Education discussion on class size led to a discussion on how there are more students at Bedford Middle School than the school—which opened in 2001—was constructed to hold. The school was built for 800 students, and enrollment projections predict more than 800 students to attend Bedford.
Landon said he has considered redistricting, but it would be a problem because of Westport’s tradition of having feeder schools.
Right now, students who attend Greens Farms, Long Lots and Saugatuck elementaries attend Bedford. Those who attend Coleytown and King’s Highway elementaries attend Coleytown Middle School.
“It would change the culture of this town,” Landon said of potentially redistricting for the middle school. “It would also change our bus routes. It would take extensive study.”
He also sees the potential for children who live south of I-95 and attend Green’s Farms would pass Bedford while riding the bus on their way to Coleytown, he said.
Bedford and Coleytown middle schools are approximately two miles apart on North Avenue.
The plans for Bedford included another wing that was never constructed in order to save construction costs. The school’s core facilities—which includes the cafeteria and gymnasium—was built for a larger school population, however.
Landon said he is not ready to recommend another building project to add space onto Bedford.
“We have to look at our numbers and they’re always subject to change,” he said of the enrollment projections.
If more space is needed, he said, he would prefer to purchase temporary, modular classrooms that have modern amenities.
“It’s not something I’m putting in the budget, though,” he said.
Are we beginning to see the results of unplanned development in Westport?
When we keep building more and more houses the results stess our infrastructure and first in line is our schools.
So now Bedford is not big enough. Will Staples be next after we just spent 90 million on it?
We have to take a real hard look at development practices in this town. Subdivisions, tear downs, zone changes etc all bring more people and that brings more students, traffic and a change in character.
And I’m sure those residents in RTM D1, below I95, are not going to like sending their kids clear across town to Coley Middle.
Matthew Mandell
RTM D1
Mr Mandell;
The kids who live between the train station and Saugatuck Shores all go to CMS, so anyone else will be going a shorter distance. I don’t recall any outrage from the RTM back around 2000.
The balance between Coleytown and Bedford has been off since the day the new Bedford opened. The Schools have been hoping that it would even out after a few years, but this has not happened. Redistricting is annoying, but doesn’t cost any money. The kids adapt quickly, the parents take a little longer.
The easiest areas to shift are Bayberry and/or Roseville south of Cross Highway, but I don’t know whether the actual number of students living there is sufficient. The Evergreen area is off-limits, having been shifted several times in the 1990s.
I don’t know which is worse, the fact that I didn’t know that I lived in RTM D1, or that you didn’t know that many of the kids in your own district already go to CMS.
Please pay attention!
Mr. Lasley:
I am well aware of the school zoning boundaries. But thank you for taking the time to inform the rest of the readers. Most of those in RTM D1 who are East of the River which includes Compo South and inclusive of the beach areas would be affected as they go to GFS. Ms. Connic pointed out the issue with south of I-95 in the article.
Why there are kids traveling from one end of the town to the other for middle school makes no sense to me. If some kids don’t have to, then that would be helpful would it not? And since I was not on the RTM in 2000 I can’t speak to their reasoning.
But the critical issue here is the stress on our schools and other town infrastructure that is becoming apparent.
Does anyone remember when a number of us practically begged the Board of Education to keep Bedford where it was and leave it as a feeder school to Kings Highway?
Too late, of course, but to live with what we have now. Yes, the kids from the west end of town have a longer ride to middle (and high school) than most other kids in town. From KHS and SES to CMS (and Staples).
One thing we should try to avoid is creating overcapacity. The Superintendent seems to realize that this is a risk we face. In the past we have either banked our overcapacity—and faced problems in regaining use and rehabilitating to meet standards—or lost it permanently.
Perhaps we will need a combination of modulars and redistricting as we seek a resolution.
I do agree with Mr. Mandell that we need to plan and that includes at a minimum thinking about the impact that population growth will have on all our infrastructure, including schools.
Judy Starr
RTM District 1