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Date: 4/25/2023
CHICOPEE – Interim Superintendent Alvin Morton shared a presentation on School Choice in the district during the April 19 School Committee meeting.
Morton began by offering some data.
By the end of the 2021-2022 school year, School Choice enrollment was 95 students.
“The new School Choice students accepted for the 2022-2023 [school year] was 21 students when we only offered it in elementary grades last school year.”
As of Oct. 1, 2022, the total number of School Choice students enrolled in Chicopee Public Schools was 109.
Morton shared that 2022 summer withdrawal for School Choice students was seven, and the school year withdrawal so far has been one.
As of March 1, there were 108 School Choice students in the district.
The School Choice recommendations they are looking at for the 2023-2024 school year by school is 12 slots at Barry Elementary School, 15 slots at Belcher Elementary School, eight slots at Bowie Elementary School, seven slots at Fairview Elementary School, 12 slots at Lambert-Lavoie Elementary School, nine slots at Litwin Elementary School, 23 slots at Streiber Elementary School, 10 slots at Bellamy Middle School, 10 slots at Dupont Middle School and 22 slots at Chicopee High School. This brings the total number of recommended slots to 128.
Morton went on to share additional information regarding School Choice and other in-district enrollment over the past four school years. In 2019, there were 176.1 School Choice students in Chicopee Public Schools and total enrollment was 7,392 students, making School Choice 2.4% of the total district enrollment.
In 2022, School Choice students in the Chicopee Public Schools is 123.6 and total enrollment is 6,796. School Choice students make up 1.8% of the total district enrollment.
In terms of School Choice receiving compared to School Choice sending, in December 2022, Chicopee Public Schools enrolled 107 School Choice Students, costing $580,757. At the same time, the district sent 280 School Choice students to other districts for $2,069,233. The received School Choice versus sending School Choice is -$1,488,476.
Adding charter schools to the mix, in December 2022, Chicopee Public Schools sent 364 students to charter schools. Therefore, the received School Choice versus sending School Choice including charter schools is -$7,512,650.
Based on the data shared by Morton, if the School Committee approved School Choice, it would allot 128 slots for the 2023-2024 school year. This would bring the total number of School Choice students in the district to 205 – a total of $970,757 – compared to 583 sending School Choice. He noted that 30 students will be graduating from the district and 31 students will also be graduating from the charter schools, for a total of $7,362,449. That leaves the district in the negative with -$6,391,692.
If the school did not participate it would be -$6,931,692.
Morton said the difference in participating and not participating is it keeps them in the negative, but the difference is $540,000. “No matter what we do we’re not going to have more receiving School Choice kids than we have going out, especially when you include charter schools and virtual schools also too.”
Chicopee Mayor John Vieau said they do vote to participate in School Choice for the 2023-2024 school year.
Barry School Building Commission
As the process to construct a new Barry Elementary School in the city of Chicopee is underway, Vieau said one of the first steps is to establish a Building Commission. The Building Commission is spelled out by the Massachusetts School Building Authority and the local ordinance. To meet both requirements, one of the School Committee members must be appointed to the commission.
Vieau said he thought it would be “in the best interest” of the School Committee to take nominations. The commission will be made up of 13 individuals.
School Committee member Doug Girouard was nominated as the school falls within his district and based on his experience. Girouard was appointed to the Building Commission with 11 in favor, one abstention from member Timothy Wagner to avoid any conflict of interest as the two are related.
Vieau congratulated Girouard for representing the School Committee on the Anna E. Barry Building Commission.