Melissa Bailey Photo
Lincoln-Bassett Principal Jones-Generette & MicroSociety’s Bannon.
Just two weeks before school starts, the school district combined a budget-cutting quest with an academic quest as it eliminated middle-school grades at two of the city’s lowest-performing K‑8 schools.
The school district has eliminated grades 6, 7 and 8 from MicroSociety Magnet School and grades 7 and 8 from Lincoln-Bassett School. Both schools suffer from low enrollment in those grades — and both schools have been struggling so much that the district had put them on a short-list of failing schools that may be in line for “turnaround” overhauls in 2014.
The decision aims to fill a surprise $3.5 million budget gap that Superintendent Garth Harries inherited when he took over the school system three weeks ago. It will save $600,000 in teacher salaries, because the district can now transfer teachers from those schools instead of making new hires.
The decision affects 51 kids at MicroSociety. The school was so under-enrolled that there were only 12 kids in the 8th grade. Lincoln-Bassett had 26 kids in the 7th grade and 14 in the 8th.
Now parents are scrambling to find new schools for their kids before school starts on Aug. 28.
“We absolutely regret the timing of this decision,” said Harries (pictured) in a press briefing Thursday at the school board headquarters on Meadow Street. He said he was not aware of the structural deficit until he was presented with an audit that showed a $3.5 million budget hole for a second year in a row, meaning the pattern will likely repeat this school year unless the district makes cuts.
Harries said the decision will not just bail out the schools budget, but improve kids’ education as well. “A very small 8th grade doesn’t offer students the kind of preparation” they need for high school.
Newhallville Alderwoman Delphine Clyburn was at Lincoln-Bassett Thursday morning with a handful of parents as they were learning the news.
“They have mixed feelings,” she said. “Some people feel like 12 kids in the 8th grade is good because they get more attention.”
Others worried that there aren’t enough spots at other schools for all the kids. Overall, Clyburn said, “It’s just not fair that they didn’t get a chance to really organize themselves around it.”
MicroSociety Principal Rosalyn Bannon said parents are “disappointed” in the last-minute decision, but some are happy to be presented with high-quality options for their kids.
School staff called parents at both schools and met with them Wednesday and Thursday. Each parent got a list of about a dozen schools to choose from to send their kids. The list includes top-performing schools like Worthington Hooker and Edgewood, as well as magnet schools like Barnard and Ross/Woodward, as well as some neighborhood schools, said Bannon, who took over the school last year.
MicroSociety is a magnet school serving New Haven and suburban kids at a Hamden swing space. Lincoln-Bassett is a neighborhood school in Newhallville. Lincoln-Bassett kids won’t have to leave the neighborhood if they don’t want to, Harries noted: They’re being offered spots at nearby Wexler/Grant and King/Robinson.
Ten teaching positions are affected by the cuts, each holding an average of $60,000 salary with benefits, Harries calculated.
Darryl Brackeen, who taught 7th- and 8th-grade social studies at Lincoln-Bassett last year, said his class sizes ranged from eight to 15 kids — far below the district average of 20, and the contractual maximum of 27. Brackeen said he decided to leave the school and move on to another job opportunity before he learned of the grade elimination.
The downsizing at Lincoln-Bassett comes as a new principal, Yolanda Jones-Generette, takes over the school. Jones-Generette replaces Ramona Gatison. She has been tasked with undergoing a year of planning, then launching a possible “turnaround” effort in the fall of 2014, which would entail replacing staff and potentially changing work rules. The school was one of only a handful that saw drops in overall satisfaction on school surveys last year.
Harries said eliminating grades 7 and 8 “allows the school to really focus on the K to 6” grades.
Harries said he does not expect to eliminate any more classrooms or grades to close the remaining $1.9 million budget gap. He and his staff are looking at whether any part-time positions can be eliminated, among other potential cuts, he said.
“No one is happy about having to make these decisions,” said Harries, “least of all, me.”