By Jarret Liotta
See Turner memo HERE (pdf)
Westport Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer today presented a range of options to deal with the future of displaced Coleytown Middle School (CMS) students after this school year.
Members of the new Community Advisory Group (CAG) listen to presentations. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com
They included designating one of the five current elementary schools a middle school, or finding a separate townwide preschool and kindergarten facility.
Palmer shared more than a dozen options and variations with the newly appointed Board of Education (BOE) Community Advisory Group (CAG), which met for the first time late today at Town Hall.
Its mission is to advise the BOE and elected officials on long- and short-term use of facilities as they pertain to educational goals and strategies, and to assess current school facilities in the wake of the closing of CMS.
Palmer introduced what she said were all the options the administration could think of at this point, with variations.
“All options are still on the table,” BOE member Neil Phillips told the group, including any that the public wanted to share which might not be under consideration.
“I was concerned about the level of disruption for families,” Palmer said with regard to the various options.
She she spoke in disfavor of some options but said it was her job to share, including leaving CMS sixth and seventh grade students at Bedford Middle School (BMS) as they currently are, and eighth grade students at Staples High School (SHS).
The first three options involve leaving sixth grade students at elementary schools and making BMS a townwide school for seventh and eighth grades. Variations include putting some elementary sixth graders going to BMS, and one having Long Lots School (LLS) students going to Coleytown Elementary School (CES).
All three scenarios include moving the Stepping Stones Preschool out of CES.
Option No, 4 would implement a staggered schedule at BMS, Option No. 5 calls for keeping the current configuration, and Option No.6 would also move the CMS eighth grade students to BMS.
Option No. 7 would bring two separately schedule abbreviated school days to BMS, with one running from 7 a.m. to noon, and the second from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., with details to be decided.
Palmer stressed that this was a “living document,” and that as more details emerged she would continue to update it.
Option No. 8, which has four sub options, involves finding a new site to house either all of CMS, townwide eighth grade, townwide sixth grade, of Stepping Stones and all kindergarten students in the district.
Palmer said a realtor has been engaged to look into options, though it could include a facility outside of the Westport border.
“There are options of rentals just over the line in neighboring communities … but that would be a community decision,” she said.
“I think that option is very, very attractive (and) all of our young students are together,” said CAG member Don O’Day, a former BOE chairman, regarding a single preschool and kindergarten facility.
“You have parity,” he said.
Palmer noted that it was generally easier to find facilities for younger grade students, as educational demands required simpler facilities. She also said the social and emotional disruption was relatively less for younger children.
Option No. 9 involves using a current elementary building to house CMS. While Palmer said some would be more suitable given their facilities, they would examine the option of each in detail before deciding.
“I’m still concerned about the quality of education this year,” said CAG member Joe Strickland, who raised the question of whether CMS was positively not even partially usable this year.
“I’m very curious to know how they can make such a bold statement,” he said, referencing the architectural consultant’s statement that it was unusable and wondering why no health reports were included with their work.
“I’m not ready to declare Coleytown Middle dead,” he said, speculating on whether at least a portion of the building could still be used this year to alleviate overcrowding at BMS.
Palmer said the town was working on a peer review of the finding of Mount Vernon, New York-based consultant KG&D, which said it would cost $25- to $35 million to remediate CMS, or $60- to $70 million to construct a new building.
BOE Chairman Mark Mathias said the water damage was throughout, but he and Palmer said there was still more information that could be garnered from a peer review.
Meanwhile, options differed on how well things were working at BMS, with administrators striving to paint a more positive picture, while some parents and teachers affirmed it was a very challenging situation.
“I feel like some of the situations we’ve come up with still aren’t enough,” said Amy Kaplan, a Representative Town Meeting member from District 3, who said she continues to receives messages of concern from her CMS constituents.
The group has scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at BMS.
