This is a topic that must be whispered in hush tones in the hallways of Havermeyer and Field Point. It’s been raised several times but only by town officials who have either already announced their retirement or decided not to seek re-election. Is it time to consider closing some elementary schools in Greenwich given that the enrollment forecast for the next 10 years is for a slow decline in student population?
First consider the wide discrepancy in school enrollment in Greenwich. Eastern Middle School is jammed, with almost 800 students projected for next year. But Western only has 481.
Among the elementary schools, Riverside is forecast to have 507, while New Lebanon is coming in at 191. That is a huge range, and it begs the question: If Riverside can hold that many students and still deliver among the best scores in the town, if not the state, why can’t we consolidate some other schools?
The most obvious area for consolidation would be in the western section of town where Glenville (282), Parkway (301) and New Leb have the three lowest enrollments.
Schools are expensive places to run. And there is no correlation between school size and academic achievement, studies have shown.
Greenwich has a long history of neighborhood schools. They provide an important social hub as well as neighborhood centers.
Still, other towns like Wilton have shown that large schools are not only more efficient but they also can provide a higher quality education (although I will get plenty of argument on that point). Wilton has a student population of 4,357 but only five schools – one high school, one middle school, one school for Grades 3-8 and two elementary schools (PK-3). Greenwich, on the other hand, has 15 schools for just under 9,000 students. The largest school in Wilton is not the high school but the 3-8 grade school (1,054).
So, Wilton has proven that large elementary schools can be run efficiently and at a much lower per capita cost and is ultimately more desirable.
Would Greenwich residents be willing to trade their neighborhood schools for a more efficient system where we can apply the savings to hiring more teachers and raising the bar for all? I doubt it. But this is a worthy topic that should be debated openly and not just whispered.
Old Greenwich School has the lowest space utilization in the district. Yes, NL has low enrollment but it is a very small building. I also here constant complaints that Riverside is overcrowded.
The town needs to first re-district the Eastern schools and middle schools and then look to long term plan for moving the IB program at Dundee to a larger building and re-utilizing Dundee for other purposes like prek or the alternative High School program.
Comment by GPS Parent — July 22nd, 2009 @ 8:21 pm
I must say that I applaud this posting for raising very good question that I think should be considered. I attended two neighborhood schools (the old Glenville School and Riverside) and understand and support the neighborhood school idea.
That said, we are in different times and neighborhoods are not what they used to be.
A more detailed study of school concentrations in surrounding districts and possibilities for the same in Greenwich is a very good idea. One other supporting point, not raised in your post, is the possibility that Sheff vs. O’Neil concerns about racial balance could be addressed through school consolidation, rather than our current magnet school proliferation, which has many drawbacks – not the least of which is cost.
I could write several paragraphs about why combining, say, Glenville and New Leb would not serve the minority population that Sheff vs. O’Neil was looking to protect, and that’s a whole other story.
I’ll just close with a bravo for raising an idea that’s worthy of additional study and consideration.
Comment by John Bowman — July 22nd, 2009 @ 11:24 pm
Actually there are studies that show correlation between school size and academic achievement. Please read the book”Savage Inequalities”, by Jon Kozol. Children can be left out if there are too many students in the classroom. Thats just one thing that can happen.
Comment by Pat — July 22nd, 2009 @ 11:49 pm
To be clear, we’re not talking about classroom size here. You’ll get no argument from me that we need an optimal teacher-pupil ratio.
Comment by Lincoln Millstein — July 23rd, 2009 @ 10:25 am
Its a shame that this topic wasn’t given more consideration years ago when the building plans for Ham Ave and Glenville were approved. Now we have a much bigger school, HAS, on a tiny piece of property that cannot accommodate the parking, bus and recess needs of the students, staff and parents without significant negative impact while at Glenville, they reduced the overall number of k-5 classrooms despite having more then ample land for parking, playgrounds and green space.
Both schools are beautiful and the renovations were absolutely necessary but now the town is very limited with what redistricting they can and can’t do in the western area. The first full year Glenville is open, the enrollment will jump back up to the mid-300′s when students who “opted out” of the modulars have to return to their districted school, leaving little space if the district wanted to send NL or Parkway students there. ANd again, the HAS site cannot accommodate more cars or buses, its already treacherous enough at drop off and pick up so sending more children there should not be an option. What to do?
Comment by GPS Parent — July 23rd, 2009 @ 10:48 am