Choice for a few is not enough....

I found this Monday's meeting very interesting. And while I am still not sold on the idea of moving 5th grade to middle school, I think it will be "ok". I understand that a choice will be granted to Hollis/South families with siblings already in middle school, but I don't think that is enough. Shifting the current Hollis/South families to East will make East considerably larger than South. And I fear the redistricting will not stop there. Moving 5th grade to middle school will open up 4-5 classrooms at Hollis... space we do not need! There is NO way those rooms will lay empty when Highlands and Liberty are still so overcrowded. I think there will be another round of redistricting, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but my concern is that those kids will be sent to East also and East will become massive! Having one middle school so much larger than the other will definitely affect those children. They will not have the same opportunities the kids at South will. There will be less opportunity and more competition for things like the school play, soccer team, etc. And it will affect the kids academically speaking as well. What if you have a child that is borderline in terms of a proficient class level vs. an advanced level. The concessions that could be made for a student like that in a smaller school will surely diminish with a larger population. I fear this inequality in size between South and East will widen the gap between those students in more ways than just population, and the small learning environments we enjoy now will be gone forever. Mr. Hackett, I know I am not the only parent that feels this way so please consider this in your plans to expand both schools and make the numbers more equal. Best, Libby Costello