November 21, 2010

Dear neighbors,

South End parents have been buzzing since last year about enrollment problems at Champlain Elementary School.  Although technically no house or apartment comes with a deeded right to a particular school, parents have legitimate expectations about student assignment depending on where they live.  Last year, a few parents who thought their children were headed for Champlain instead were asked to choose Edmunds or one of the other elementary schools.  This particularly effected families who moved into the District after our initial round of placements was made. 

Those of you who were involved in conversations about enrollment last Spring remember the frustration and anxiety all this caused.  There is strong support in Burlington for the community school model, the ability to walk to school, and the idea that neighbors send their kids to schools together.  Some of us also value the choice of special thematic programs, such as our magnet academies.  For the record, no child has ever been assigned to a magnet academy, families must actively apply.  Also, everyone on the waitlist at Champlain eventually was offered a spot this Fall after our numbers sugared-off. 

Next year should be much easier, because we will have three kindergarten classrooms at Champlain again, but the issue probably won't go away for long.  I am writing now to update you on what we have been doing to plan for potential over-enrollment problems in the coming years. 

First, a bit of background information: when I first came on the Board 6 years ago, we were debating closing a school due to declining numbers of students, especially in our Old North End schools, as well as bleak projections from the State’s demographics analyst.  Instead of closing a school, we optimistically created magnet academies, and they have been remarkable successful.  The percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch in those schools has gone down from roughly 95% to 72% in the first two years, and enrollment at Sustainability Academy has risen from 140 to 180, and at Integrated Arts from 180 to 240. These schools are on track for full enrollment and fully balanced demographics within the next three years.

Thank goodness we didn’t close a school, because across the District we are nearly at capacity, especially in our elementary schools.  Despite adding two kindergarten classrooms at Integrated Arts and Smith over the summer, we do not have a single open kindergarten seat in any school at present, and most elementary schools do not have more than a few seats in the entire building. So, now we need to figure out what to do. 

In September, the Board directed the administration to conduct a “carrying capacity” study across the District, to see where we may potentially add more classrooms, for example by combining separate art and music rooms, etc.  We also asked the administration to research the cost, permitting, and timeline for adding temporary classroom “trailers” if needed in the short term, which would also give us information about permitting potential additions to existing structures.  Finally, we are taking another look at the Taft building, a former elementary school which we had been hoping to lease to an educational institution in order to save on maintenance costs.  It is thoroughly conceivable that if our numbers continue to rise as they have (right now, we are up approximately 100 students since 2008), we could be talking about opening another magnet school.  A current idea is a Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) magnet school for grades 4-8. 

Getting back to our neck of the woods . . . in the short term, you may ask, why not simply add more classrooms at Champlain?  The answer is pretty simple – the building currently does not have enough rooms for three classes in each grade, because it was designed before the era of full-day kindergarten, so we cycle back and forth between two and three incoming kindergarten classrooms (generally reverse years from Edmunds, which has similar issues).  Next year, we will have three kindergartens at Champlain again, so that should hopefully accommodate everyone who wants to go there.

This discussion is especially complicated not only because the 2012 budget gets made now, before enrollment for next year (and we are supposed to be cutting the budget), but also because planning involves some crystal-ball guesswork about enrollment trends in the years to come.  It would be a bad use of taxpayer funds to build more capacity and then find that our numbers dipped again.  On the other hand, Burlington families all deserve options for public education that meet their needs and expectations.

Once again, we need to estimate more accurately than we have about which way our numbers will go.  To plan ahead for incoming classes in the past, administrators gathered birth information from the hospital, and reports from preschools and daycare providers in the area.  Now, we are seeing more transplants from other areas of the country, and home-schooled preschoolers who were not born in Burlington.  We are hopeful that we can develop some new procedures to find out about preschoolers earlier than we have.

Soon, the administration will circulate information about a new survey that will collect the names and ages of children who plan to enroll in Burlington schools within the next five years.  We also will begin kindergarten enrollment for next year earlier than we have in the past.  Information about registration will be available on the front porch forum, at preschools, other venues, and on the District website at www.bsdvt.org . 

Personally, I think our growing enrollment trend will continue.  Burlington’s prominence on “Best of” lists, our relatively low unemployment rate, and our general fabulousness all bode well for attracting more families.  Although so much news is bad these days, I find it really promising that we are growing and thriving as a District.  With the continued support of the community, public education in Burlington can be a positive and visionary model for Vermont, and the nation.  Please get in touch with any questions or concerns you may have about these issues.

Wishing you a turkey or tofurkey in every pot this Thanksgiving,

Amy Werbel
Ward 5 School Commissioner
12 Catherine Street
awerbel@bsdvt.org
www.amywerbel.info