For some time now, the future of Westford elementary schools has been the subject of intense discussion in coffee shops, on playgrounds and in day care center drop offs around Westford. ‘What if’ scenarios have been the topic of sometimes heated conversation and hand-wringing.
On Wednesday, September 9, the Robinson School Building Committee held its sixth community forum to discuss enrollment and redistricting impacts for the Robinson Elementary School. Specifically, whether or not elementary school grade level configurations should remain the same, and if preschools should also be centralized.
The Robinson School Building Committee was originally created because that school is the oldest, and in need of the most repair.
Overview of Redistricting Options
Currently Westford has six paired elementary schools serving 1,800 K-2 and 3-5 students. The pairs are Nabnassset-Abbot, Miller-Day, and Robinson-Crisafuli.
Of these buildings, Robinson, Abbot, and Day schools are all “aging buildings” that require “major capital repair” and maintenance. Westford Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Christopher Chew, also stated that these three schools have “inequitable learning environments” compared to their counterparts, and that Robinson is in the greatest need of updating.
“To be effective schools for the next 50 years, it would be approximately $64M to $75M each just to meet the needs of those three buildings,” Chew said.
There are two options. Either rebuild Robinson School and remain with a distributed model of K-2 and 3-5 grade configurations, or consolidate all elementary schools to become K-5 programs.
Advantages of K-5 Configuration would include:
- Fewer disruptions, transitions for students and families
- Stronger curriculum continuity
- Keep siblings in same building
- Allows for consolidating buildings
- Could avoid splitting elementary feeder cohorts for middle schools
However, some trade offs would be:
- Requires redistricting and staff reallocation
- Playground/outdoor spaces must serve wider age range
- Potential minor capital costs to accommodate new grade levels at other buildings
If the town votes to consolidate elementary schools, Robinson would close indefinitely, while Miller, Nabnasset and Crisafulli would all become K-5 schools. Depending on enrollment sizes, Abbot would either close or be renovated to include updated designs and new floors, while Day would either close or become K-5 . A new school building may also be built at Farmer Way.
If the town votes to consolidate, the board is also considering building a centralized Pre-K school to create needed space to better balance K-5 sections in other schools.
This choice will impact redistricting, but actual redistricting maps will not be finalized until 18 months before a building project is complete.
For more information on redistricting, read our latest article on the Robinson School Building Committee here, or visit the board’s full slideshow.
Residents’ Opinions
Before the public forum opened, the board allocated time to attendees to rank enrollment criteria for both the Robinson School Building project (accessible here) and future preschool criteria (accessible here). Both surveys are open until Sept. 21.
One Nabnasset resident brought up concerns about opening a K-5 school in his area of town, due to the smaller size of Nab.
“With something like 200 kids, that seems like it would be two to three classrooms per grade,” he said. “That doesn’t seem like a really well-represented school program.”
Lindsay Richard, Vice-Chair of the Robinson School Building Committee responded by emphasizing her recognition of the importance of a ‘small-school’ feel.
“It could be a culture difference, but I think some elements of the design … is making a smaller school feel even with the 700 [incoming students].” Richard said. “There are ways to group classrooms and certain pods … and a lot can be done with creative design choices to have similar school cultures across all buildings.”
To do so, Richard mentioned her advocacy on the board for a consistent size of cafeteria, gymnasiums, and outdoor play spaces across all buildings.
Another resident, a parent named Michelle, brought up concerns about drop off and pickup being affected with more students in schools. She also asked how lunches would be divided between grades, and how children with special needs would be accommodated if they need a quieter space to eat.
“Even though the [lunch] sections are smaller, the student count is still the same,” Richard said. “Ultimately what it would mean is that perhaps Kindergarten and first-grade eating together, two and three, four and five, as opposed to [each grade being seperated].”
All schools would provide a quiet space near cafeterias for students with special needs or who are looking for a quieter place to eat.
“Traffic and the logistics of drop off buses is top of mind,” Richard assured.
Another resident expressed concerns that the new school building locations in the K-5 consolidation map examples would all lean towards the end of town closest to Route 110, which has already been a hot-spot for additional housing.
“If there’s going to be new growth in town, there’s a very good chance that it will be in the part of town for multi-family housing, and these [school building] projects seem to be taking space away from that end of town,” they said.
The board explained that they looked south of Route 110 to avoid this issue, and are taking these concerns into account, which have been voiced at previous forums. However, Robinson School Building Committee Chair and School Committee member, Valery Young, added that the board wants to try and build new schools in centralized locations.
“When we look at the maps, that’s really what highlights, to me, the attraction of Abbot,” Young said. “[It is] one of the most centrally located sites that we have available that we can build a school on. But it’s not on 110, it’s not south of 110, but it is what we’ve got.”
The forum concluded with the board thanking attendees for their time and comments. All final decisions for this transition will all be voted on at the annual at town meeting.
The next community forum will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the Stony Brook middle school auditorium and virtually on Zoom.
