Stephen Kalies told school board members Tuesday they should support the creation of new classrooms at overcrowded Bradley Elementary School or the shifting of students to Myles Elementary School to even out enrollment.
“Redistricting may someday be in the future for this school district, but right now I will not be recommending it,” said Kalies, who was hired by the school board in October for $5,500 to study enrollment at New Hartford elementary schools.
Kalies, an associate professor at Utica College, was presenting the recommendations as a conclusion to the study. The school board voted unanimously to accept the recommendations.
“I think the recommendation was very positive, and we can be very confident in the future,” school board President James Davis said.
Though the study stopped short of recommending redistricting – a possibility rumored for years among Bradley parents – it did say it was a viable option if enrollment continues to increase at Bradley. One possibility if the district decides to redistrict students is to move them 25 students at a time.
That concerned Fieldwood Road resident Michael Lynch, who moved to the town in August with his three young children. Lynch said moving such small numbers of children could be an issue for those children.
Overall, Lynch said he was happy with the recommendation.
“The recommendation they made was right,” he said.
Bradley’s enrollment has increased by 53 students since 2002-03, to 504 in the 2008-09 school year. Meanwhile, enrollment slightly has declined at Hughes Elementary School and Myles in that time.
The solution will be to create four new classrooms over the next few years in what either are currently or were planned to be administrative offices at Bradley.
On a longer-term scale, the district should take a look at restructuring, which means putting all students of the same age in the same buildings, Kalies said. However, that could be an especially divisive issue in the community and could be expensive to study.
