The School Committee struggled Monday night to look into the future and decide how many students to accept through the School Choice program for next year. Currently there are 57 Choice students in grades 3 through 12, of whom three will graduate this June. In one of the committee’s few divided votes in recent months, members voted 3-2 to take eight new Choice students next year, replacing the three who will graduate and adding five more.
The need for a crystal ball was particularly acute with the current second-grade class. That class now has 62 members with three classroom teachers. District policy aims for 17 to 20 students per classroom teacher for grades 1 to 3, so two second-grade sections are already one pupil over that target.
Adding Choice students to that grade would likely mean hiring another teacher for next year, when these students move on to third grade. As member SusanMary Redinger pointed out, the School Committee has always avoided adding Choice students when doing so would necessitate a new hire.
But Superintendent Linda Dwight argued that, based on past experience, several new third-graders are likely to move into town over the summer. Their arrival would require the school to hire another teacher anyway, and to do so in July or August when there are fewer job applicants to choose from. Dwight urged the committee to make the decision now to admit five Choice students for that grade and move ahead with hiring a new teacher. Dwight also noted that the school budget for fiscal 2018 included $310,000 in expected revenue from the Choice program, assuming there would be 62 Choice students in the district next year.
Committee member Nancy Lancellotti argued against admitting the additional students, saying that while the amount of money per student coming in from the Choice program is fixed, the cost of any student might range from “almost nothing” to very high for some special needs services. And member Jon Green acknowledged that there were risks with either course of action.
With the board unlikely to reach consensus, Redinger moved to accept five Choice students for next year’s third grade and three for next year’s 10th grade (also a small class), in accord with the numbers assumed by the budget. The motion passed 3-2, with Green and Lancellotti opposed.
