South Hadley awaits word from state on new school

South Hadley 04-12-2023
Published: 10-08-2024 12:45 PM |
SOUTH HADLEY — As the town awaits an invitation from the Massachusetts School Building Authority into the next phase of its school construction grant program, the state agency is estimating that future enrollment at a potential new Mosier Elementary School will hold steady at 590 students in first through fifth grades.
The enrollment calculation is the final step of the eligibility period, after which MSBA will decide if the town will continue onto the feasibility stage. The enrollment numbers are used to decipher the maximum square feet of the potential building going into the new phase of the MSBA program, Interim Superintendent Mark McLaughlin told the School Committee last month.
“All of the work that was done was to assess what would the future populations of the proposed building be such that when, I say cautiously, we’re invited into the feasibility part of the program, they (MSBA) would know what it is they’re allocating potential resources for,” McLaughlin said.
South Hadley Public School District was previously accepted to begin the process of MSBA’s grant program in December 2023, where officials floated two proposals for a new school. The minimum project calls for a new building for first through fifth grades, while the larger proposal would create one school for all first through eighth grade students. Under both plans, Plains Elementary would become an Early Childhood Learning Center for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business Operations Jennifer Voyik said the MSBA calculated future enrollment using demographic data from the district and town, including projected birthrates, information on new residential developments and past enrollment numbers.
The document explaining the methodology behind the 590 student calculation noted that K-5 enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is nearly 11% below the average enrollment from the last decade. While Voyik said she would have liked to see the enrollment number at an even 600, she notes that the MSBA “estimate matches trends and projections.”
While MSBA has the data required to calculate districtwide enrollment projections, the organization did not release an enrollment number for the bigger project in the district’s proposal. Voyik, however, said that both proposal are still being considered by the state agency.
The Select Board certified the MSBA numbers during its meeting on Sept 24. Board member Carol Constant inquired about declining enrollment, especially since the number of students were on the rise until the 2018-2019 school year. Select Board Chair Andrea Miles responded that during the pandemic, families began transitioning to home schools, charter schools and private schools, but the board does not know the reason why.
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“We don’t know yet. It’s been four years, but it’s not quite a trend yet,” she said.
While MSBA uses the enrollment number to calculate the square space per student and maximum size of the potential building, the School Committee and district staff said that the design of the school will cater to the educational and social needs of students, which the current building fails to accomplish.
“If you’ve been to Mosier, you know that they’re taking classrooms and splitting them in half for some of those specialty spaces,” Voyik said. “So (we’re) really making sure for those friendship groups or for special education services that there really is separate spaces for staff to be able to work with students.”
Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.