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Date: 4/6/2023
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Before school administrators can accomplish their long-standing goal of moving all kindergarten classrooms to elementary schools, they have to make the same move with English language learners, the School Committee learned on March 28.
The necessary renovations would cost millions of dollars, and are likely to result in the closure of Mittineague School, according to a facilities study undertaken by the district.
The majority of kindergarten classrooms in West Springfield are at John Ashley School, which serves that grade only. All of the English language learner students in kindergarten through grade 5 attend Coburn School, even if they live in the neighborhood of a different school. School administrators say they have been ordered by the state to serve English language learners at their “home” schools.
The district began the transition of kindergartens into the neighborhood elementary schools this year when the new Coburn building opened. It had also planned to accommodate both English language learners and kindergartners at Memorial School by building a new classroom wing. That project was placed “on hold” in October 2022 when construction estimates came in at $11.41 million, more than $1 million over the budget.
“The cost went through the roof and the project went by the wayside,” said interim Superintendent Vito Perrone.
With Coburn School already rebuilt and a cost estimate already in hand for Memorial School, interim Assistant Superintendent Neil Gile’s report focused on what to do with Fausey, Mittineague and Tatham schools.
Gile and the district’s architectural consultant, Jim Hanifan of Caolo & Bieniek Architects, shared estimates with the West Springfield School Committee on March 28 for plans that would add classrooms at Fausey and Tatham, and several scenarios for reassigning students to new schools.
Some of those options involve building a new elementary school or adding a wing to West Springfield Middle School. Gile said the “best scenario” involves closing Mittineague, the district’s smallest school by student population and by property area.
“It presents the most challenges” for renovation, Gile said. “This building will require at least one elevator and another lift, if not two elevators. The efficiency of the building is poor. … It’s very seriously overcrowded.”
Mittineague renovations to add two kindergarten classrooms and comply with building codes would cost $15 million, which Gile said works out to $93,000 per student served. The next most expensive project per student is just $49,000 per student, at Fausey.
“What we have heard since 2005 is that Mittineague and John Ashley, and at the time it was also Cowing and [old] Coburn, are not schools that should be kept open because of what condition they’re in,” commented Mayor William Reichelt.
To accommodate four kindergartens at Fausey, Caolo & Bieniek proposes building a new office wing at the current main entrance, and renovating the current office suite as classrooms. The cost for this project, including required code updates in the existing building, is about $22 million.
Additionally, there are 44 English language learners at Coburn who live in the Fausey zone. Moving these students to Fausey could be accomplished by increasing class sizes — in grades 1, 2, 4 and 5, from averages of 17-19 to averages of 22-23 — or by adding class sections, from 20 classrooms to as many as 24, which is not covered in the construction estimate.
At Tatham, kindergartners would require adding two classrooms. That work, plus a new school office and code updates, is estimated to cost $9.74 million. The “impact is minimal” of returning 11 English language learners to Tatham, Gile said, with only a few students per grade, and no additional classrooms required.
Memorial School loses the highest number of students to the Coburn English language learner program, 69, and would likely add classrooms in grades 3 and 4 if those students went to their neighborhood school, in addition to adding two new kindergartens. These classrooms were included in the project that has been paused.
If English language learners are reassigned to their neighborhood schools, there would be plenty of room in the Coburn building to absorb the Mittineague population, said School Committee member Colleen Marcus.
Any plan that moves kindergartners to their neighborhood schools would prompt the closure of John Ashley, unless it were repurposed as a full elementary school to avoid adding classrooms at the other schools. Doing that would require extensive renovations, Gile said.
He also said the architects had looked at building a fifth grade wing at the middle school, freeing up space for kindergartens and English language learners at the existing elementary schools. The middle school wing would cost $30.55 million.
School Committee members agreed that the plan needs additional study. Former School Committee member Linda Parent asked the administration to ensure that parents’ voices, especially from families in the Mittineague zone, are heard in the conversation. She also said closing Mittineague, where all students walk to school, will increase busing costs.
“This is just a first step,” said Reichelt. “I agree with you, we need the community’s input.”
The School Committee voted unanimously to have a community committee look at school population projections and the potential shifting of students and classrooms among the elementary schools.