Editorial

A positive start, and a long road ahead

Posted 10/21/15

School officials this week unveiled the contours of an ambitious plan to return sixth grade to the middle school level.

With the impending arrival of district-wide all-day kindergarten, officials …

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Editorial

A positive start, and a long road ahead

Posted

School officials this week unveiled the contours of an ambitious plan to return sixth grade to the middle school level.

With the impending arrival of district-wide all-day kindergarten, officials foresee an even greater space crunch at the elementary level than currently exists. Moving the sixth grade back up, where it had been for more than a decade before a switch several years ago, would address that issue.

Yet the high student population at Western Hills Middle School makes that facility unable to take on the influx of additional youngsters the sixth grade would bring. For that reason, officials are proposing that Hope Highlands Elementary School be converted into a fourth middle school, joining Western Hills, Park View and Bain.

While other options were considered, including making Hope Highlands a so-called “sixth-grade center” for the western side of the city, the proposal presented to parents and community members on Monday clearly makes the most sense. It solves the immediate space concerns, and provides a means for all students to reap the academic and social benefits the sixth-grade transition promises. It would also help address other concerns, such as “clustering” and the splitting of some elementary students between different middle schools.

As School Committee Chair Janice Ruggieri rightly noted, the addition of another middle school would also provide the district with flexibility going forward. It’s no secret Cranston, and its schools, are changing. Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse has spoken of this frequently, and her appointment to the district’s top job was based in part on her qualifications to meet the related opportunities and challenges.

Based on the information detailed thus far, it seems those tasked with formulating a sixth-grade transition plan have done a thorough job, and arrived at the right conclusion. The interrelated pieces of the overall picture – and there are many – seem to fit. There are more questions to answer, of course, and school officials say forums will be held and information shared through social media and other avenues in the months ahead.

Looming over all the plans and discussions, though, is the issue of cost. Nota-Masse acknowledged this on Monday, telling those present, “The budgetary impact, that keeps me up at night, I’m not going to lie, because I keep thinking of all the things that will affect us.”

More specifics are promised when the district unveils its budget plan for the coming fiscal year in January, and we look forward with great interest to that presentation. It is important to note that no action has been formally taken on the sixth-grade transition or Hope Highlands conversation, and the School Committee as a whole will make the final decision on a course of action.

School funding has been a sore subject for several years, with city and district officials frequently at odds. Of late, there has been a more conciliatory tone, although trust still needs to be fully rebuilt.

As many present for Monday’s meeting noted, various developments make it necessary for something to be done in terms of the configuration of the city’s schools. We applaud the Sixth Grade Transition Committee for creating what appears to be a thorough, workable, and positive plan. There’s a long way to go, but the early returns are encouraging.

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