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Wexler-Grant in Dixwell, to merge with ...
... Lincoln-Bassett in Newhallville.
Grappling with low enrollment and decaying buildings, the city’s public school district plans to merge Wexler-Grant and Lincoln-Bassett into a single PreK-8th grade school next academic year.
That doesn’t mean the total number of schools in New Haven will drop, however, as the district then plans to convert the current Wexler-Grant site into a new alternative middle school focused on “project-based learning.”
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon confirmed those coming changes on Friday. He noted that details of the plan are still being worked out for the 2025 – 26 school year.
Harmon explained that the merger will bring Wexler-Grant’s school community from their current Dixwell campus at 55 Foote St. to the Lincoln-Bassett building at 130 Bassett St. in Newhallville.
This “will enable us to provide a more robust educational environment for students and teachers from both schools. It will make better use of the available facilities and resources and sustain the merged facility as a neighborhood school.”
He added that the district plans to engage with community stakeholders to kickstart a process to define the identity and program of the merged school.
As of August 2024, Wexler-Grant had 217 students ranging in grade levels from kindergarten to 8th grade, and Lincoln-Bassett had 256 students ranging in grade levels from pre-kindergarten to 6th grade. Harmon confirmed that the merged PreK‑8 school will have around 470 students.
He also confirmed that the current Wexler-Grant building will not close its doors as part of this process. The district plans to continue to use that building as an alternative middle school, also set to start next school year. “We are piloting a middle school that uses project-based learning. It will begin on a small scale with students who currently attend out of district.”
This school will allow a small number of New Haven students who currently attend out-of-district/out-placement programming to instead get the support services they need at a city school.
When asked if the merger is a cost-cutting measure to help save the district money as it confronts another expected deficit, Harmon said, “We do anticipate saving, but we do not have a number that is firm enough to release yet. We are trying to make changes that are both cost-effective and serve the programmatic needs of the district.”
Click here and here to read previous articles related to NHPS’ conversations about expected school closures as a result of decaying buildings and under-enrollment.
“Hearing plans for school mergers and significant changes to our community schools is hard,” New Haven Federation of Teacher President Leslie Blatteau said in an email comment on Friday.
Teachers union members are dedicated to their students and families, she said, and are still waiting for further specifics related to staffing needs. “We know that students and educators benefit from lower class sizes and well-maintained buildings. NHFT is committed to working with NHPS to prioritize both.”
She continued: “It is reassuring to see that the new merged school will serve grades PreK‑8; undoing a 2013 closure of two grades at Lincoln-Bassett that limited public school access for families in Newhallville.
“Ultimately though this is about the ongoing fight for resources for our students. New Haven continues to have to do more with less while students, families, and educators have to adjust and merge. Given Connecticut’s billions of dollars in surplus, all of New Haven’s students should be able to access stable, fully staffed, and fully funded schools.”