Board discusses merger as final vote looms

By COURTNEY LAMDIN | Staff Writer
courtney@miltonindependent.com

The Milton School Board will vote to move grades seven and eight from the high school to elementary school next week and held a special meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 30 to discuss some impending issues before deciding on the merger.

The ad hoc Reconfiguration Committee, consisting of 19 parents, faculty and board members, identified four larger concerns to discuss: the availability of space, unified arts and cafeteria capacity at the Herrick Avenue school and the cost of the move.

The board voted 4-1 in April to defer the merger to fall 2012, barring any major inhibitors. Since then, the Reconfiguration Committee has met with every grade level and unified arts teachers and commissioned a demographic study to determine the impact of moving 250-plus students to create a “true” middle school.

The School Board’s meeting last Wednesday mostly focused on space and the unified arts, which include music, family and consumer science and design technology.

Board chairman Doug Stout, also on the Reconfiguration Committee, said the committee discussed that although the middle school would fit, it might not be comfortable.

Cheryl King, an elementary school teacher on the committee, said the merger would eliminate needed “breakout” spaces for students who need one-on-one instruction.

Board member Jim Lyons, later in the meeting, recognized that teachers need room to do their work.

Second-grade teacher Melanie Savio said the concern is about students’, not teachers’, needs.

“We can work in small spaces – adults can do that,” Savio said. “When you have a child who has significant delays, significant health needs, significant motor needs, it is wrong to look the other way and say, ‘Well, we have enough space here. These walls can fit 1,200 students.”

But middle and high school teachers have argued that the cramped classrooms at their school make for a less enriching education. Middle school consulting teacher Joe Smith said the merger would provide an opportunity to recruit students from out-of-district, raising extra tuition money.

According to district enrollment data, the number of students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade has declined since fiscal year 2007 to present by 140 students.

Board member Mary Knight recognized this trend but said it could easily buck the other direction; if the elementary and middle school are full, where would the new students go, she wondered.

Unified arts affected

Meeting attendees also discussed the impact on the unified arts curriculum.

The elementary school does not have a woodshop or kitchen like students enjoy at the middle-high school building, Stout said.

High school teacher Maryann Carlson pointed out that the family and consumer science curriculum only calls for use of a kitchen in the nutrition unit – one of seven areas covered in the course, which also touches on interior and fashion design, interpersonal relations, career exploration and more.

The committee discussed using a small fridge, microwave, hot plate and other items to recreate the kitchen-based unit.

“The discussion was really that it would not look like the program does now but that a viable and meaningful program could still be run,” Stout said.

Board member Reg Godin said this was a “Band-Aid” approach.

“Those space issues can probably be made to work; however, I don’t think they’re anywhere near ideal,” he said.

Smith, the middle school teacher and a proponent of the move, said the tone of the discussion is too negative, focusing on what the district will lose. He said there’s “tremendous opportunity” with the merge.

“You have a chance to get a fresh look at your logistics,” he said. “You have a chance to say, ‘What’s working? How do we make it better?’”

Godin said he’s learned from studying the logistics that there is no perfect fit, that neither building can comfortably house grades 7 through 12 or K through 8.

Stout agreed the district has a finite amount of space, and the merge will negatively affect some groups.

“You start with a limited sized pie, and you divide it up differently, some people get more, some people get less,” he said. “The question becomes are we better off with the current division of the pie, or are we better off with a different division of the pie? I think as a board, that’s what we’ve been charged to figure out.”

The School Board will vote on the merger at its December 12 meeting. The full board has not yet discussed the cost of the merge and how it would affect other cuts.

If the board keeps the status quo in this year’s operating budget, taxpayers face a 6.11 percent increase.

At a previous meeting, the board directed Superintendent John Barone and business manager Don Johnson to craft a budget showing a 3 percent increase, which represents a nearly $704,000 cut.

The merger is estimated to cost about $89,000, Johnson said.