East Haven Community to Provide Feedback on School Consolidation Plans

East Haven school officials have heard the public’s desire to offer input on a proposed school consolidation plan, and now there will be three parent and community forums held on the topic.

The first forum will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. September 1 at Ferrara Elementary School, the New Haven Register reports.

School officials also say they have updated their plans since May when a $90 million consolidation plan was pitched. At that time Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. asked that more public involvement be included and to revise the plans.

At the time Maturo said, “at this juncture, I feel it would be unwise and unfair to both the parents and residents to move the consolidation plan forward without soliciting additional, substantive input about what the residents feel is the best way to move the school district forward.”

New updated plans include closing Ferrara Elementary School, moving the fourth and fifth grade classrooms to Joseph Melillo Middle School and adding pre-school classes to East Haven High School, the Register’s Juliemar Ortiz reports.

The original plan proposed in April, which drew some concerns from town officials and parents included consolidating the Town’s six elementary schools to three. It called for the re-configuration of the middle school to accommodate grades five through seven and for moving the eighth grade to a separate wing of the Town’s high school.

Read the full New Haven Register story here.