Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/11/2021
AGAWAM – The Agawam School Committee hosted a virtual town hall conference call on redistricting on May 4 for all parents with questions about the changes being made.
The last redistricting that took place in Agawam was nearly 20 years ago. The purpose is to balance enrollment numbers and provide equitable services across the schools.
The School Committee voted for redistricting to be in place for the September 2021 start of school, before the pandemic hit.
The benefits of redistricting that were presented were equal enrollment numbers which will allow for smaller class sizes, equitable services for students, available rooms and spaces and shorter car lines.
There is a 125-student difference between the smallest and largest schools in Agawam. The goal is to have 20 to 21 students in each classroom.
The current enrollment of each school is 260 at Clark, 248 at Granger, 358 at Phelps and 373 at Robinson.
The estimated projected enrollment numbers for September 2021 after redistricting is 309 for Clark, 320 for Granger, 307 for Phelps and 308 for Robinson.
Any Agawam resident who requested special permission to go to a different school outside of their boundary has been notified to go back to their boundary school so they can accommodate numbers in the different grade levels with the redistricting.
The reason why whole neighborhoods were moving together is so there would be a definite bus route. More information on bus schedules will be coming by August and during the open house.
There will be announcements for orientations and open houses for the new schools coming soon for students in grades 1-4.
The district is allowing fourth graders to stay at their current school if parents can provide their own transportation. There are no other exceptions for other grade levels that want to stay at their current school at the moment.
Fourth graders are the only exception because they only have another year. District administration also felt that was the only grade level they can accommodate when looking at the current numbers for third graders and estimating what fourth grade classrooms would look like at each building next year, they felt they could accommodate that request.
“We are trying to do this for the betterment of the district. We have a team of administrators and have had a redistricting committee set up with different stakeholders who have really thought out some of these things,” Superintendent Sheila Hoffman said.
Parents with students that have services such as speech, physical, or occupational therapy are encouraged to call the schools with any concerns or questions. Hoffman stated that some service providers work at more than one school, so some team members won’t be changing.
As more questions come up, parents are encouraged to call their new schools or Superintendent Sheila Hoffman. As more information becomes available there will be more updates sent out.
For more information, visit www.agawamed.org.