School District Proposal: In the Fall of 2016, Berg Elementary will be closed and converted to a city-wide 5th through 8th grade building.  Aurora Heights, Emerson Hough, Woodrow Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson would be reconfigured into Kindergarten through 4th grade buildings (or K-2 and 3-4 buildings).

-Reconfiguration is opposed by 69% of teachers in the affected schools (Fall 2014 School Administration survey).  The teachers are not just resisting change; they say education would be less effective after a reconfiguration due to smaller collaboration teams, among other factors.

-The closing of Berg Elementary changes the character of the Berg neighborhood and hurts the growth potential of the surrounding area.  Neighborhood Layout Plan north of Berg.

-During the transition, 512 students would experience the situation of  attending a school for just one year before going to a different school the very next year.  This one-and-done scenario seems to potentially be damaging to students.

-The reconfiguration from 5 years ago has gotten established and is now starting to get rolling.  It has won over skeptics and critics among many parents and teachers.  Yet most still see ways that education can be improved within the current system.  Dramatic reconfiguration takes time, focus, and energy away from these improvement steps.

-The School District does not make the claim that reconfiguration will improve test scores or other measures of success. 

-Despite months of questions, no specific plan for how the reconfiguration would impact special education has been released.  Parents and teachers have been asked to trust that it will be different but not worse.

-Cost estimates of the reconfiguration have not been fully developed.  This creates doubt as to what will be able to be accomplished in light of decreased state funding and leads to worries about what other things will have to be cut. It is very possible that the SAM support positions implemented this year to allow principals to focus more on being instructional leaders would be casualties of the reconfiguration.

-There are other ways to achieve the Superintendent's stated goals of smaller class sizes and smaller school sizes without involuntarily transferring the whole town.  Here is one such idea.  Establishing Emerson Hough as a year-round Kindergarten through 6th grade magnet school would allow the other schools to free up classroom space without reconfiguring.  It would also create an innovative learning environment that would hopefully help retain students in Newton and attract families from other places.

Please join us in signing this petition and voicing your concerns.

Thank you!