Committee members report back from breakout

The Portsmouth transition advisory committee met for the first time tonight to plan for school reconfiguration following the closing of Elmhurst Elementary. The two-hour meeting at the Middle School was largely devoted to surfacing issues, as the 23 participants spent time in two rounds of breakout groups to brainstorm key success factors and transportation and re-districting plans. The session was facilitated by Supt. Susan Lusi, and finance director Mark Dunham was on hand to answer questions. Two members of the school committee, Marge Levesque and Sylvia Wedge, were there to listen.

The evening began with an exercise to set group norms, and one parent put the goal succinctly: "We may be from different places, but we're all on one team right now." (Ed. note: Since this is an ad-hoc committee, while it is open to the public, a lot of the discussions are meant to be exploratory and brainstorm-y, so I will report on these sessions without attribution, under the Chatham House Rule.)

The group split into four tables for the first breakout on key factors, and all the tables came back with many of the same elements: the importance of getting busing right, integrating the parent-teacher organizations, after-school activities for 4th and 5th graders and the late bus implications, a comprehensive communications plan for all stakeholders, ensuring smooth asset relocation (books, IT). A huge issue, most agreed, was "easing anxiety," both for the students, and also for the parents — and staff. And as one parent beautifully phrased it: "Keeping the 4th grade experience as close to the same as possible — keeping it 'elementary.'"

A key recurring question was "who goes where," and Lusi admitted that not all the answers are known either for students or staff. "There are union contracts, and that discussion has started, but it hasn't finished," she said. But, she noted, the administration had met with the Elmhurst staff, and they aimed to develop a teacher preference sheet similar to what was used for the move of the 5th grade two years ago. Teachers would be able to express their preference and, said Lusi, "We were able to meet most of them."

The answer to where students go was the subject of the second breakout where the groups brainstormed the criteria that should be used to develop a busing plan and method for reassigning students. And again, there was a lot of commonality across the tables, with two large buckets of answers: aiming to minimize bus time, regardless of impact, or developing a plan that would be least disruptive. There was a general sense that keeping siblings together, and respecting natural neighborhood boundaries made sense, but there was a strong theme that began to emerge in the discussion following the report back of taking a clean-slate approach to redrawing the 'district' boundaries.

"By mixing everyone up, that will go a long way toward making Elmhurst parents feel that it's not just them, that it's the whole town," said one parent. Added another, "That would help with the culture of the schools — there wouldn't be any of that 'we're Hathaway letting you Elmhurst kids come in.'" One parent with military experience noted that Navy families are familiar with this kind of change. "Put everyone in a pool and redistrict the whole town. We do it all the time — and we change towns, and churches, too, and the kids do fine." "I would rather switch it all up now," said another, "I'd rather see that long-term goal right up front." And, added another, "It could cause excitement in a good way."

The general sense that emerged was to request the administration to get the bus company to generate two or three possible plans and bring them back to a subsequent meeting so the committee could think through their impacts on the town. Dunham agreed to take that on, with the caveat that the RI Dept. of Education had not yet approved the combined East Bay bus contract, so it might take another couple of weeks to get that information.

One key idea that surfaced was the need to get transportation right in order to reduce parent drop-off and pick-up. There were concerns that any increased anxiety around buses could make parents decide to drive their kids, with impacts on the morning and afternoon traffic flow at the schools as well as office staff time.

Before adjourning, the group took a few minutes to reflect on takeaways. They noted the number of common themes that had emerged. They agreed that it was important that all the meetings were open to the public and that information was accessible (the writeups of flipcharts and meeting notes will be posted on the district web site). And, significantly, that the group had rapidly aligned this evening around a shared purpose. "I think there were visions of catfights and screaming," said one parent, "But everyone seems to have common goals."

Next meeting will be Tuesday, May 18, 6:30-8:30 pm. Also, there is a planned meeting of the Portsmouth Middle School PTO for new 4th and 5th grade parents planned (more info to follow.)

Correction: Earlier version of this post had a date for the PTO meeting, which is now being rescheduled.