Several Factors Prompted Plan To Close Salem School

SALEM, MA -- City officials reacted on Thursday to an announcement by Schools Superintendent Margarita Ruiz to close the Nathaniel Bowditch School and reassign students to other schools in the district. The school committee will consider the proposal, which Ruiz said is aimed at ending segregation at the school, at its next meeting. The announcement at a meeting with parents Wednesday prompted lengthy posts on Facebook from Mayor Kim Driscoll and city council members.

"The School Committee firmly believes that every student in Salem deserve an equal chance at success. At present, despite best efforts, we are not serving the kids at NBS as well as we are those in other schools in the district," Driscoll said in a statement. The mayor also sits on the school committee.

Under the plan, Bowditch's sixth, seventh and eight graders would move to the Collins Middle School next year. School district staff would work with families to place Bowditch elementary students in new schools. The school building would become the new home of the Horace Mann Labortory School, which is currently located in what Driscoll described as a "substandard" facility on the campus of Salem State University.

On Wednesday, Ruiz said the decision is part of an effort to "end segregation" at the school, which has a large percentage of Hispanic students and low-income families. The school has consistently failed to meet state performance goals. In a press release Thursday, the school district elaborated on those comments, noting the city had fallen short in its efforts to implement a 2013 plan to improve performance at the school. Under that plan, students in the Sheltered Immersion program were transferred to Bowditch, where they were to have received additional support for students who were learning English.

"Unfortunately," the statement said, "due to leadership turnover, changes in the school model, and the district’s implementation of student assignments, the district’s execution of this plan fell short of the original vision."

In a post on his Facebook page, Ward 5 Councilor Josh Turiel said a recent denial by the Massachusetts School Building Authority for Salem's application for funding to convert the Harrington Building on Salem State's South Campus to a elementary school also factored into the decision.

"I am not going to engage in finger-pointing or jump to any conclusions here. The more I've looked at this today the more it seems to make sense in a number of ways, but the bottom line to me is this: Does this move make it more likely that Salem students will have good outcomes that will benefit them in the future?" Turiel wrote on Facebook. "I believe it will. Agree or disagree with this plan, it is still a very difficult decision for the superintendent and school administration to make."

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).