Enfield Considering Closing Another Elementary School

ENFIELD, CT — Just five years after a major reorganization of Enfield's elementary schools, another may be closed at the end of the current school year under a proposal made by the superintendent to the Board of Education Tuesday night.

In a 12-minute presentation to the board, Superintendent Jeff Schumann suggested the closure of Nathan Hale School in June 2017.

Closing Hale, which houses grades K-2, would leave the town with three K-2 and three 3-5 schools. That would create a "sister school" organization: Enfield Street School with Edgar H. Parkman, Hazardville Memorial with Eli Whitney and Henry Barnard with Prudence Crandall.

Under the proposal, the central office would be relocated to the former Thomas Alcorn building on Enfield Street, creating additional classroom space at Henry Barnard.

Class sizes would be minimally affected:

• Henry Barnard, 21.17 to 19.77
• Enfield Street School, 20.57 to 19.82
• Hazardville Memorial, 18.53 to 19.80

Board members asked questions for about 25 minutes following the presentation, with Vinny Grady asking the superintendent what the cost savings would be under the plan. Schumann replied about $250,000 would be saved on fixed costs due to non-renewal of contracts for some secretaries, clerical staff, nurse, library aide and lunchroom aides.

Schumann asked the board to consider voting on the proposal at its next scheduled meeting Nov. 22. A special meeting on the plan was tentatively scheduled for Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.

During public communication at the close of the meeting, Town Council member Liz Davis asked the board not to rush into a decision.

"In less than 30 days, you are going to vote to close a school down?" she said. "As a parent and taxpayer, I really can't get my head around this. I'm having a major issue with that. I don't see how every question can be answered. I know you all care; I'm just asking you to take a step back and let's really look this over."

A PDF of the entire presentation may be viewed here.

Photo credit: Tim Jensen

Video credit: E-TV via YouTube