K-8 plans controversial among candidates

Though candidates for the Board of Education have largely remained mum on the controversy swirling about its plans to switch to a kindergarten to eighth grade system that would require two new 900-student schools, contenders vying for municipal office are filling in for their missing-in-action counterparts.
“I’m still not convinced that the K-8 structure and the 900-person school makes sense,” said Bob Merrick, a middle school teacher who is running for a 3rd District City Council seat on the GOP ticket.
“I have yet to come across a single parent who says they support it,” said Ken Johnson, the Republican’s mayoral choice.
Though the verdict among city candidates isn’t clear, there’s no doubt that among those seeking municipal office, the school plan is in grave trouble. Most have serious doubts about it and some are simply against it.
Nearly all of the contenders for mayor and City Council have said in recent weeks that the school board has failed to sell its plan to the public. They said that if the scheme is going to move forward, educators are going to need to convince the community that the change will benefit students without clobbering taxpayers.
“The Board of Education has done an incredibly poor job of what this K-8 thing is and what the benefits would be to the children of Bristol,” Johnson said. “It just seems to me the communications aspect of this exercise has really fallen down.”
Democratic mayoral hopeful Art Ward said that school leaders should have invited more public input from the beginning – and still need to reach out to hear what residents have to say about the plan.
Ward said, though, that the school administration is going to pick up its efforts to reach out the public by providing quarterly reports to joint sessions of the City Council and Board of Finance, newsletters and perhaps a regular newspaper column. He said the school website should also offer more information.
Still, candidates generally agree that at this point residents aren’t convinced that changing to a K-8 system is warranted, particularly if it means building two big new schools.
“The large size of the two 900-student K-8 schools proposed by the BOE appears to minimize the most critical attribute of a successful K-8 school, that is, a smaller school community,” said Merrick.
“While there appears to be a need for new schools in Bristol, and a K-8 system seems to have benefits, I have concerns over the idea of mega-schools with 900 students,” said Ken Cockayne, a GOP council hopeful in the 2nd District.
“I support what the taxpayers want, not what a few BOE members want,” said Joe Geladino, another Republican council contender in the 2nd District.
“Education systems support smaller class sizes for more personal attention, so it follows that children get a better education at smaller schools,” Geladino said.
Bruce Lydem, a Democrat running for council in the 2nd District, said school board members are “best equipped to make an informed decision in regards to the question of conversion” to a K-8 system.
City Councilor Craig Minor, who is seeking reelection as a Democrat in the 3rd District, said that “Bristol is changing” and so must its schools.
“The number of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, a measure of poverty, has increased from 20 percent to over 27 percent in the past decade, and I'm told that it's 33 percent in the elementary schools,” Minor said, adding that the number of kids who don't speak English at home has grown to almost 8 percent.
“The research data that the Board of Education has shared with us indicates that K-8 is the way to go to deal with these trends, while the opponents claim that their data is outdated, wrong, or taken out of context,” said Minor, who serves as the council’s liaison to the school board.
“I don't know if these changing demographics call for converting to a K-8 system, but clearly we need to take action to address these trends,” he said.
But, Minor said, “On a separate but related issue, I am not a supporter of large schools.”
“I support holding a town-wide referendum on the construction of any school that would contain 900 students,” Minor said.
“The K-8 system very well may be the appropriate path for Bristol,” Cockayne said, “but unless the voters concerns about this are addressed, I am hesitant to support it.”
It isn’t clear what city leaders would be willing to do to kill or modify the plant that’s on the table, which also includes closing three older elementary schools – Bingham, O’Connell and Greene-Hills – as well as Memorial Boulevard Middle School.
Every mayoral and council candidate was given the chance to respond to questions about the K-8 plan. Some did not answer. Others said they preferred not to comment.


Timeline
June 2006 – City hires consultant to study potential renovation of older schools and perhaps recommend new ones.
March 2007 – Board of Education backs plan for two 900-pupil student schools for kindergarten to eighth grade.
April 2007 – City Council backs new school in Forestville.
June 2007 – City Council backs new school in western part of Bristol.
June 2007 – Board of Finance approves concept of bonding for two new schools.
Sept. 2007 – School site committees recommend putting the schools at former Crowley dealership on Pine Street and at a Scalia sand pit off Barlow Street.


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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com