The proposed combined elementary school, to be voted at town meeting on May 8, is too big.
The overwhelming majority of scholarly research clearly shows that students, especially of elementary age, do best in small schools and that having smaller community schools is the best determinant of successful educational experience and outcomes.
I don’t believe this school is the right choice for our students, and I will be voting no at town meeting.
A US Department of Education study concluded that a higher percentage of students are successful when they are part of smaller, more intimate learning communities.
Other studies found that smaller schools result in higher rates of parental participation, lower rates of absenteeism and problem incidents, and better capacity for staff to quickly identify and solve problems.
Teachers in small schools have a stronger sense of connection to all students in the school (not just the students in their own class), than teachers in large schools.
Children in small schools have a greater sense of security, belonging and continuity.
I’ve not found a single study that finds that larger elementary schools are superior to, or even on par with, small schools.
The children that should matter to all of us are those that are hurt the most by large schools: students from low-income households and students with learning differences or disabilities.
For students with learning disabilities, just a 10-student increase in grade size (not class size!) is found to decrease their math and reading achievement.
Each grade would be increasing by far more than 10 students, putting academic achievement at risk. I am just not okay with this.
In the many board meetings I’ve attended over the past year, there is a pervasive attitude that this is no big deal and the kids will be okay.
But it’s not okay. Look the data yourself.
A child does not need to be an “orchid” to be bothered by an enormous, overwhelming environment.
Nearly every young child functions much better in small settings, but those with anxiety, sensory processing disorders or any learning differences can be particularly and severely impacted by large, overstimulating environments.
More than 800 people in the school. Lunch periods feeding more than 250 children at a time.
Recess periods with double the current number of students. Extended day and enrichment programs with twice as many kids.
These things will make the school day needlessly chaotic and difficult.
People compare this to the combined middle and high school, saying that those students are just fine.
However, that school, while combined, is administered by two principals and two assistants.
There are separate entrances and the building essentially functions as two separate schools.
This elementary school would have the same number of grades and the same number of children with just one principal and possibly one vice principal (we’ve not been told otherwise despite my many inquiries).
One large entrance for all. No “schools within the school” that were promised to us to make the school “feel small.”
These are not middle and high schoolers, they are little kids.
This school would be built for 775 students (the largest in Essex county) and the School Building Committee routinely points out the space we’ll have for another wing to be built on in the future.
Just how many students do we feel comfortable educating in this space?
To be clear, I do not and never have supported this megaschool at any location.
Not at Winthrop, not at Bialek Park and not now at Doyon.
To have 775 children in a school, when virtually all academic research shows this to be detrimental to learning, teacher morale and student achievement, is short sighted and does not put the well being of our students and educators first.
As a huge supporter of education, and as a mother who will have an elementary school-aged child for at least the next eight years, I will be voting “no” on this project.
We can and should do better for our smallest and most vulnerable students.
