GREENFIELD — The ad hoc committee tasked with reenvisioning how the district uses its buildings has asked the superintendent to continue exploring two options, one of which would move the fifth grade to the elementary school level while also redrawing the district map to make each school “a better representation of the community.”
Superintendent Christine DeBarge shared this option with the Reenvisioning Our School Facilities Subcommittee at Tuesday evening’s meeting, during which Transportation Coordinator Jake Waldsmith outlined some of the transportation challenges inherent in the option previously presented to the district in a study by the New England School Development Council (NESDEC). That option, dubbed “Option 1,” entails moving the fifth grade from the middle school to the elementary level, reconfiguring elementary schools to specific grade-span schools, and moving eighth grade from the high school to the middle school.
“You’re not going to be able to … pick up kids without either adding a lot more busses or having pick-up and drop-off windows at all of the elementary schools start at different times,” Waldsmith said of the first NESDEC option.
If siblings in different grades were picked up each morning at the same time, for example, they’d arrive at their respective school buildings at different times. The same would happen in the afternoon, raising concerns for after-school child care of the younger students.
“Staggered pick-up and drop-off times … could accommodate that, but it would potentially require some staff having to work different schedules, or … to work 15 to 30 minutes extra to supervise the students at the end of the day,” DeBarge explained. “If we’re changing pick-up and drop-off times, we’d have to look at our contracts to make sure there are no contractual issues that could come up changing any of the times.”
An additional bus — if one were available — would be expensive, Waldsmith noted.
“I do think it’s possible to do [specific grade-span schools] with the current number of busses if we do these staggered starts [or] if we really think about the walker-rider policy,” he said.
In light of some commentary from parents and teachers at a recent Greenfield School Committee meeting, DeBarge presented a modified version of the second option identified by the NESDEC study. In addition to redrawing the district map, this option, dubbed “Option 2B” due to some revisions to NESDEC’s proposed Option 2, also moves fifth grade to the elementary school level — a high priority identified by many who spoke to School Committee members last month.
Committee members considered the different challenges associated with each option, from transportation to how inter-district School Choice would be impacted.
The final two options outlined in the Best Educational Use of School Facilities Study by NESDEC, which was completed last spring, included:
■Option 3: Reopening Green River School on Meridian Street as a kindergarten through fifth grade school, moving fifth grade to the elementary level and moving eighth grade to the middle school.
■Option 4: Expanding one or more elementary schools to ease crowding, moving fifth grade to the elementary level and moving eighth grade to the middle school.
According to DeBarge, a feasibility study of the conditions of existing school buildings through the Massachusetts School Building Authority could cost up to $2 million, with a chance for partial reimbursement.
Between now and the School Committee meeting in May, DeBarge told the ad hoc committee that administrators will continue to look into the feasibility of Option 1 and Option 2B. In the meantime, options will be presented to teachers for feedback.
“I think we need to show the community that we will try both ways of handling the situation, and what are the pluses and minus of it,” said ad hoc committee Chair Jean Wall.
Committee members seemed in agreement they could eliminate Options 3 and 4 while research continued on the other two.
“I see the value of being decisive but I see how momentous the choice that we’ll be making is,” commented member Glenn Johnson-Mussad. “I do think it’s smart to be leaning toward … a decision.”
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.