JACKSON – Members of the public had another opportunity to share their concerns, ask questions and learn more information related to the school district’s restructuring/ redistricting plan during the latest Board of Education meeting.
Superintendent Nicole Pormilli stated the Board wouldn’t be voting on the matter during this meeting but would during its February 19 session. “The Board will consider public input and any existing data they request. The reason why we are doing this is to continue to have our strong academic programs, that we have an updated curriculum, a wide variety of electives for our students and a plethora of extracurricular programs.”
She noted that some questions might not be able to be answered until “we start the process of bringing people together and uniting our staff and our students in committee work such as what will the middle school details be or the 5-6 grade schedule be.”
Last month the district announced that Goetz Middle School will close. The grade levels at the two high schools will be realigned, leaving only one as a four year high school.
Pormilli reminded residents, “these are big changes that are being recommended and there is a lot of empathy for that, we understand it,” the superintendent said. “We are one community and we are trying to chart a path forward for everybody and create wonderful opportunities for our students.”
“If we don’t do this now those opportunities will be gone. We have reached that point where we can not affect our students with this budget. Doing this will allow us to be more fiscally sustainable and allow us to have opportunities for our students,” she noted.
The PowerPoint Presentation showed a slide that noted showing Jackson Memorial as the district’s one middle school serving 7th and 8th graders. The McAuliffe Middle School would serve as the only upper elementary school and Jackson Liberty High School would serve as the district’s only 9-12 high school. Goetz Middle School will be closed and sold as was the case last year with the Rosenbauer Elementary School.
Transportation tiers were also created to accommodate for the changing of busing required with these changes. It was noted that without these changes, there would be more bus runs on a particular tier than the school district’s transportation department could accommodate.
Pormilli responded to questions the district received about that stating, “with transportation there are a lot of factors as well. The committee spent a lot of time discussing those factors with our director of transportation. This is a large operation that Transportation operates in Jackson. Not only is it 100 square miles but it is a lot of transportation.”
She added, “it is very important that we don’t overburden one tier because it backs up into other tiers.” She noted recent examples where parents observed their students arrive home later or being picked up later than usual “because we have a significant amount of drivers out. We have a lot of illness going around right now in the schools. if we don’t have enough drivers, it causes backups.”
She noted the schedule was designed to allow for enough buses. The tiers being recommended will allow for “after school sports busing which we have struggled with for many years.”
She commented that the school district had received several suggestions to look at a 7-12th grade model that both existing high schools would have. “Our committee did review those recommendations and it was eliminated for several reasons.”
Those reasons included that the district could not afford to run two of everything and that neither model includes lowering operating costs. “Overall, we are trying to lower our operating costs on a permanent basis. When you are operating two of everything you have a greater expense. Now those resources are in one building rather than being split,” the superintendent added.
There were also concerns noted about the developmental differences of having 7th and 8th grade students with high school students particularly traveling on the bus together. Neither 7-12 model allowed for equity among programs unless the lines were redrawn.
“We have a very unique situation,” Board President Tina Kas said, noting the large non-public school population that the district is required to pay the transportation costs for. “Transportation costs are just going to keep increasing. We are not trying to take away anyone’s legacy. Everyone is valued. At the end of the day, we have to come about as one community.”
Board Vice President Megan Gardella shared concerns about one-time actions that will cover budget deficit holes for one year but something else will be needed to be found for the next year. “We got here because we have cuts in state aid and we have enrollment drops. We have really good property value and we are looked upon as being able to afford more.”
Board member Michael Walsh expressed his view that students and staff “will work it out.”
“I agree with you Mr. Walsh things I think in time things will work. I’m concerned about the short term,” Board member Erica Osmond said. “How are we going to sustain? The state makes it really, really hard to sustain. We have a state monitor who can tell us we have to sell or lease buildings because we have to balance the budget. One thing we have been seeing in these presentations is that enrollment has dropped and it will continue to drop.”
“Is this recommendation the best choice? In the next five to six years will we be right back to where we are and will we have to redistrict again?” she asked. She noted that Jackson Liberty HS and McAuliffe MS were the two best assets in regards to properties that could be sold.
While the audience applauded the notion of selling these properties Osmond noted no one knows what the future could bring or what should be done as this was an unusual process that the administration and Board was experiencing. “There are a lot of nuances to it so it isn’t an easy question but it is a question we have to think about.”
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