Parents Bring Questions to MSA

The "new" Middletown Schools Association had its first real meeting last night in the auditorium at Snow School. There were more than 50 parents in attendance, with a scattering of teachers and other school district staff, drawn by the opportunity to talk about the proposed redistricting of the elementary schools.

The first order of business was to elect officers for the recently revived organization. The MSA is a council of all the PTO/PTA's in the city, and the monthly meetings are a place to share programing and fundraising ideas, and to discuss any larger issues that affect all of the schools. After a two year hiatus, the MSA now has a full slate of officers: Stephanie Alderman, president, Melinda Brainerd, vice president, Kevin Wiliarty, secretary, Deb Stanley, treasurer.

After the election, the new MSA president turned the floor over to the redistricting issue, beginning with remarks by Superintendent Michael Frechette and Board of Education member Sally Boske.

Dr. Frechette outlined the two reasons for the redistricting plan: because of the overcrowding at Moody (contrasted with empty classrooms at Farm Hill and Bielefield) and because of the racial balance laws that require all of our schools to be within 25% of the average number of minority children in the system. Macdonough has exceeded that percentage. The Superintendent stated that he had been able to persuade the State to delay penalties for violating the racial balance laws (which were supposed to be resolved by this school year) because the Board had commissioned a study of all the school buildings and the population patterns by JCJ Architects. That study was completed in November 2009, with the primary option being the redistricting of all the schools, including the move of 19 clusters of streets to a different school. The Board of Ed formed the ad hoc committee to review those recommendations and recommend new attendance boundaries for each school, which were released on March 9th. The school board will be considering the plan at its April 6th meeting, and is likely to take a vote that night so that adequate time is left for planning for next year.

Sally Boske discussed the process that the ad hoc committee used in forming the plan, working to find a balance between the requirements to have better demographic equity and the capacity of each building, while trying to keep neighborhoods together. One of the problems, she noted, was that everyone has a different definition of "neighborhood", and because many of the schools are close together, it might not always mean going to the closest school, but should mean that all the families on your street would go to the same school. She said "we're only human" and that the plan is not perfect for everyone, but she also pointed to the "domino" effect that limits changes that could be made. According to Boske, if you move a street from one school to another, that changes the demographics and capacity at both schools, which will then likely need to displace more children in a ripple effect across all the schools. She also pointed out that they are still in the process of editing the street lists for the new boundaries, and that house numbers should soon be available on those lists (schools website).

Many parents in the room were unconvinced by the presentation. Snow School parent Adam Katz questioned why the proposal did not include the option for all children to stay at their current school, as long as their parents would be willing to provide transportation. He argued that a "grandfather clause" would ease the dissatisfaction of those who don't want to change schools, while allowing the new attendance boundaries to come into effect over the next five years. Both Frechette and Boske rejected that concept on the grounds that the State Board of Ed will not allow us to continue to have a school that is out of racial balance, and that Middletown is required to change that sooner rather than later. They also pointed out that the overcrowding and undercrowding of the schools would likely be exacerbated under such a system, depending on which families exercised an option to not change schools.

Frechette was pressed on the point of what exactly it would mean to face sanctions from the State if we don't comply with the racial balance laws. The answer - which was clearly unsatisfactory to some - was that the State would "take over" the school if we fail to comply, and potentially withhold its funding from the city's school district.

Another Snow parent, Jim Brainerd, attempted to bring the discussion back to the issue of education and asked what the effect would be on learning. The Superintendent pointed out that simply by saving long bus rides for many children in town, there would be an immediate improvement, and that family involvement would be increased.

Other ideas were floated, such as creating a classical music magnet school, and turning Keigwin into another elementary school. Interestingly, both of these ideas were considered during the past year or two of planning discussions on these issues, but were not pursued for various reasons including the lack of funding. One parent suggested simply closing Macdonough and busing those children around town -- but it was noted that there is not enough room for all those students at the other schools, aside from the issue of justice.

Others in the room spoke to reassure parents who primarily are concerned that their children are being moved from Snow to Macdonough. A Macdonough teacher spoke about the similarity of her experiences working in both Moody and Macdonough, which follow the same curriculum, on the same schedule. Macdonough's PTA Vice President Marilyn Dunkley encouraged parents to remember that they have power to get involved in their kids education, and their kids will always benefit from that involvement. Izzi Greenberg, who was on the ad hoc committee and is the Executive Director of the North End Action Team, spoke about the hope that this plan represents for the hundreds of families who have been bused across town for many years, and who will now go to schools that are much closer to their homes.

Clearly, this first MSA meeting served an important purpose in providing a forum for public dialogue about an important educational issue in town -- if you've ever attended a Board of Ed meeting, then you know there isn't an opportunity for question and answer with the public. Hopefully, the new MSA officers will continue to find ways to improve the communication between the school district and its constituents.

The Board of Ed will meet on April 6th on the topic of the redistricting plan, at a location to be determined. In addition to the plan itself, the Board will consider options such as the opportunity for current fourth-graders to finish at their current school. Apparently, this presents some logistical problems for the school district in planning teachers and class sizes for next year, so the deadline of "June 30th" which was proposed by the ad hoc committee will likely be moved up, if in fact the option is endorsed by the Board.

Full Disclosure: I'm the Macdonough PTA president and was a member of the ad hoc committee. If you are interested in my personal opinion about the redistricting, you can read it here.