Rob McEwan: "It's Elementary, Dr. Morse"

Community member Rob McEwan asked that we post the following letter, which is also on our Facebook page and which he has sent to Foster's:

Oyster River School District again finds itself on the brink of a divisive decision: What to do about the imbalance in its elementary schools? Moharimet School in Madbury is squeezing 407 students into a building designed for 349, whereas Mast Way School in Lee has just 292 students out of a maximum of 369. There is one very simple reason for this imbalance: the school boundaries and bus routes have not been adjusted in years. Inaction by the school board in the face of mounting evidence has led us to a near critical situation this year due to a larger than expected influx at Moharimet.

This spring, the administration presented equity options that adjusted bus routes, or centralized placement rules, or offered full-day Kindergarten at Mast Way at a well-attended community forum and heard a great deal of feedback. It seemed several neighborhoods would be switching schools and families were naturally very concerned. No action was taken following this forum, but toward summer, a second set of forums occurred at which for-profit, all-day Kindergarten was presented as the solution to balancing student numbers. Unfortunately, the district would not be able to provide all-day K to everyone for several years (even if they could afford it) and no balancing would occur in grades 1 to 4. Fast forward a summer with no word on the subject to a week before school starts, and the board has to deal with a sudden increase in first and second graders at Moharimet that requires an additional class and teacher. But the board are also asked to consider bussing all Kindergartners to Mast Way to free up classroom space at Moharimet – this with just one week to go before school. The years of inaction have caught up with us.

Now to the present where a new option will be presented by Superintendent Morse at Wednesday's school board meeting; the creation of a two-tier Elementary system at Oyster River. Mast Way would be a grade K to 2 school, and Moharimet would be grades 3 to 4 or 5.

Obviously, this would be a dramatic change affecting every elementary student, teacher, family, and community as early as the 2014-15 school year. But why? Why do we have two strategic solutions that implement dramatic change but arguably do not address the core issue: there are too many students at Moharimet. There are many good and great reasons to provide all-day Kindergarten. Perhaps there are also great reasons to switch to a two-tier elementary system despite the extra transition for these young children and the disruption to both school's staff and community. Why are these solutions being proposed to resolve the simple imbalance in the size of the populations within the current school boundaries? Can it really be a reluctance to disrupt a couple of neighborhoods that would be switched to Mast Way? Certainly those families have serious concerns, to which there are almost certainly amicable solutions not quite as dramatic as the redesign of the entire system.

The administration and school board can surely find ways to grandfather existing students and families at the cost of equity improving gradually over two to four years instead of immediately. They can resolve the equity problem simply and directly by redrawing the boundaries now, and then present their strategic designs for the long term with full community involvement. This is plainly the right thing to do. It is even... elementary.

Sincerely,
Robert R. McEwan, Madbury