Classroom size still a growing concern for Dracut

By Dennis Shaughnessey, Lowell Sun

DRACUT — Parents were nervous.

They heard stories. Their children, who live five minutes away from the Brookside Elementary School in Dracut, would have to be bussed to the Parker Avenue School two miles down the road.

It would mean disruption.

“Look at it through a child’s eyes,” said Wyman Road resident Cathy Supernor. “We would be moving them from a school they know to the Parker, only to move them again (to the Englesby Intermediate School) after the fourth grade.”

In September, officials began thinking about a plan that would allow the Parker Avenue School to stay open while decreasing class size at the Brookside. Last week, the School Committee voted 4-0 to put off any talk of redistricting until the end of the school year. In the meantime, they hope to hear back from the state School Building Assistance Bureau, which is weighing a plan to construct a new high school. If approved, it would free up much needed classroom space at the four elementary schools in town, as well as the Englesby, which houses fifth- and sixth-graders.

“I’m concerned about the changing dynamics at the various schools,” said committee member Mike Miles. “I would need to look at the history of enrollments at these schools if I was going to support any kind of move at this point.”

Numbers at the Brookside hover around the 600 mark, while there are only slightly more than 100 students at the Parker. The entire fourth grade at Parker was moved into the Englesby Intermediate School last year after two mold-infested modular units were demolished. Following the move, the average class size at the Parker was 16 students. Class sizes at the Brookside average 25 students.

“There were three proposals we were looking at,” said Committee member Dennis “D.J.” Deeb, adding that he would prefer to wait on a decision by the SBAB. “A lot of time and energy went into figuring this out. The intention all along was to alleviate overcrowding.”

Deeb said the study group took into account children from the same neighborhoods and the effect it would have if they were to be separated.

Superintendent Elaine Espindle said the proposals were simply a way to let the School Committee know that overcrowding in the schools was a real issue and needed to be addressed.

“There are more and more houses being built all the time and there is no space availability,” she said. “I wanted it to be a matter of record that the administration proposed something to address future overcrowding in the district.”