School Committee to Hear Report on Hillside/Mitchell Study
Parents of students currently or soon-to-be in the Hillside or Mitchell (above) elementary schools are encouraged to attend an informational meeting about an ongoing school building study tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Eliot School.
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The Needham School Committee and Permanent Public Building Committee have engaged an architect to study options for the renovation and/or replacement of the Hillside and Mitchell elementary schools.
The architect will present a final draft report to the School Committee on June 5 at 7 p.m. at Broadmeadow, and parents and members of the community are encouraged to attend or tune in and listen to the presentation.
Check out Needham Public Schools Superintendent Dan Gutekanst's recent blog post to see some of the ideas and thinking around options for both schools.
Catherine Kurkjian
1:21 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
It is unclear to me why the overcrowded high school is not being considered in these feasibility studies. FY16 projected enrollment numbers indicate that 1800 students will be in a school designed for only 1400. Considering four hundred students is the approximate population of a 9th grade class, it might be advantageous to consider establishing two middle schools; one for 6th and 7th grades and the other for 8th and 9th. Two middle schools could provide an opportunity to create an environment that promotes higher-level thinking skills and fosters life-long learning more targeted to the different developmental stages of the students. The preparedness of students to transition to the high school as active, engaged learners with a vision to the future could be more effectively monitored. Newman was successfully used as a middle school in the past with High Rock as the elementary school. The over flow of Newman students that could not be accommodated at the High Rock could continue to use the modulars at Newman until the Mitchell school is expanded. The FY16/17 school population would be as follows. (Numbers taken from the FUTURE SCHOOL NEEDS COMMITTEE ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS- High End Estimates)
K-5: 2,465 students at 5 elementary schools (Hillside, Elliot, Broadmeadow, High Rock, and Mitchell)
6-7: 850 students at Newman (Newman has held up to 1013 students in the past)
8-9: 852 students at Pollard
10-12:1,327 students at HS