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Date: 3/18/2022
EAST LONGMEADOW – With declining enrollment numbers in mind, the East Longmeadow school district is deciding to continue school choice for the 2022-2023 school year. The School Committee debated how school choice will be implemented during their March 14 meeting.
Superintendent Gordon Smith detailed the district’s experiences with school choice, sharing that the program operated successfully over the last two years. Based on leadership recommendations, he said the School Committee could tentatively include up to 10 students for grade three, 10 students for grade six and five students for grade nine.
“I think that it’s been successful over those two years. The way that the School Committee and the leadership team have structured our approach to providing opportunity for students outside our community to possibly come into our schools seems to be going well,” said Smith.
The superintendent stressed utilizing school choice with proper consideration, stating that the program will only operate in grade levels with average enrollment numbers. He also discussed the importance of timing school choice with grade levels that make sense from an academic perspective, such as incorporating students in grade nine to prepare them for the grade 10 MCAS.
School Committee member Elizabeth Marsian-Boucher expressed her concerns with continuing school choice. Marsian-Boucher cited the school district’s already overutilized resources as a core reason to prevent adding more students.
“I feel it’s not fair to the people who are paying taxes in town,” said Marsian-Boucher, who stressed that the district should focus more on retaining students leaving for private schools or other districts.
School Committee member Gregory Thompson shared his support for school choice, stating that the district should continue to proactively even out the decline in students.
East Longmeadow High School Principal Frank Paige shared his experiences with school choice, stating that a recent school choice student expressed their difficulties with transitioning to the new district.
“One of our students made a profound statement…she talked about multiple years of struggle, she talked about stress and anxiety that came along with learning a whole new way of learning things,” said Paige. The principal advocated for less school choice students to be considered for higher grade levels due to the difficult learning curve.
For the younger educational levels, Birchland Park Middle School Principal Timothy Allen said school choice students continue to make a smooth transition. “At Birchland Park, we’ve had a good experience with school choice so far. The students just immediately become part of the Birchland fabric,” said Allen.
The principal also shared that with only 182 students entering the middle school next year, Birchland makes a fitting option for school choice. “We can certainly take on more students in that cohort and be fine,” said Allen.
Mountain View Elementary School Principal Elaine Santaniello also expressed her support for school choice, stating that the program works at its best when implemented in younger grade levels.
After extensive conversation, the School Committee voted 4-1 for school choice to incorporate eight out of district students for grade four and seven for grade six.