BOE to Discuss Edison Population Growth Tuesday Night

The acting state education commissioner's decision last week to order the Board of Education to conduct a new vote on the Washington School redistricting is putting a new political layer on on-going board discussions about potential overcrowding at Edison Intermediate School.

During Tuesday night's BOE meeting, assistant schools superintendent Anita O'Neal is scheduled to give a presentation to board members on the intermediate school plan going forward. It is currently unknown if O'Neal's presentation will include any discussion of moving the Washington population back to Roosevelt or if the discussion on Washington will be deferred. The meeting will start at 8 p.m. at Westfield High School.

In an effort to help readers understand the current discussion with relation to the intermediate schools, here is a brief primer.

In May, Edison officials briefed BOE members that the projected 798 student population for the 2011-2012 school would be too much for the school to handle. This includes a projected sixth grade enrollment of 306 at Edison for the 2011-2012 school year, compared at Roosevelt. The Roosevelt population is estimated at 747 for next year.

The Edison numbers include the Washington students who are being required to attend Edison as a part of the now voided 2009-redistricting vote.

The Edison officials said the estimated numbers for Edison sixth graders dropped to 255 for 2012-2013 and then rising to 301 in 2013-2014. The population estimate shows Edison running 80 students more than Roosevelt for the same years.

As a part of the projections for the coming year, then Edison assistant principal Doug Layman briefed BOE members of the likely need to change the number of academic sections in the two grade teams for the new sixth grade class from 10 to 12, a situation likely to be repeated in 2013. He said this process has been used in the past at Roosevelt when higher population numbers have dictated the practice.

The team approach allows a group of core academic teachers to focus on half of a grade level at the intermediate schools. Students take core academic subjects with other members of their team with teachers assigned to that team. The team teachers meet on a regular basis to discuss cross-disciplinary learning, coordinate assignments and lesson plans and discuss individual students. The core academic subjects include math, science, language arts and social studies.

Teams also include physical education, health, art, music, drama and foreign language teachers. These subjects do not have the students matching up with only other students from their teams in the classroom.

Layman told BOE members in May that the team approach allows for better coordination between teachers and address the unique emotional and academic needs of middle school students.

Layman left the Westfield school district in September to take a principal's job in another school district. He will not be a part of Tuesday's population but played a role in advising O'Neal in the development of the plan before he left Westfield.

During the May meeting, O'Neal said the proposed approach for Edison would allow for lower class sizes and increased teacher communication, which she said has been the case at Roosevelt.

The plan discussed in May was greeted with opposition from the Washington parents, who said it would be cheaper for the BOE to move the students back to Roosevelt and not hire additional staff for expanded teams. They also objected saying the Edison and Roosevelt populations would be roughly equal if the redistricting plan was canceled.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan and BOE officials remained quiet on the Washington aspect of the plan, saying they were waiting for the final recommendations to be developed.

Washington parents expressed continued anger to the board on the issue.

"I want to express my frustration with this plan," one parent said to applause during the May meeting. "It is vague and we can't pin you down to cost. You are in this situation because you decided to redistrict Washington kids to Edison. I am asking you to take another look at everything. You have not been open to public comment. It is time as elected officials that you take our voices into consideration."

During the May meeting, BOE members said they were reviewing information and waiting for O'Neal's plan to develop a final position on the intermediate school plan. While the final Washington ruling has been likely since an administrative law judge ruled on the case in September – a ruling upheld by the acting commissioner – it is not known if that decision factored into O'Neal's report.