Wexler Parents Worry About Surprise Merger

Keyana Calhoun fought back tears at the thought of her five elementary school-aged children being transferred from Wexler-Grant School in Dixwell to Lincoln-Bassett School in Newhallville.

She felt blindsided by the public school district’s decision to merge the two community schools. And as a Newhallville resident herself, she’s been working hard to keep her kids far away from what she considers to be her home neighborhood’s negative influences.

Calhoun communicated that complicated and emotional response to New Haven Public Schools’ (NHPS) planned merger of Wexler-Grant and Lincoln-Bassett during a public meeting hosted by the district last Thursday night.

Calhoun was one of more than 50 parents and grandparents of Wexler-Grant students who attended the meeting, where district leaders informed members of the Wexler-Grant community of NHPS’ 10-year plan to address districtwide enrollment decline and building disrepair.

The first step in that plan, as the Independent reported earlier this month, is to merge Lincoln-Bassett and Wexler-Grant next school year. NHPS then plans to repurpose the current Wexler-Grant building as a new middle school focused on project-based learning for New Haven students who are currently educated outside of the city to get the support services they need.

NHPS Student Services Executive Director Typhanie Jackson and Supervisor of Magnet Grant Programs Michele Bonanno provided the Wexler group on Thursday with a brief presentation about how the merger decision came to be, and then answered several parents’ questions. 

Parents relayed three main concerns during the meeting to district staff:

First, they described feeling blindsided by the district’s merger decision and the lack of communication during the decision-making process.

Second, they described feeling fearful that their kids will struggle to acclimate to Lincoln-Bassett’s neighborhood of Newhallville, and that they might not be safe at school.

Third, they worried over the lack of a guarantee that all current Wexler staff will also transfer to Bassett to continue to support the students they’ve built years-long relationships with. 

NHPS Explanation: Declining Enrollment

At Thursday’s meeting, Bonanno explained that the merger decision came as a result of NHPS’ investment in a 10-year facilities inspection plan targeting enrollment, programming, age of systems, and structures at all of the district’s school buildings. The goal of this plan, she said, is to reduce the overall footprint of the buildings NHPS currently operates. 

The district’s declining enrollment sparked the idea that schools with declining enrollment may be able to be consolidated, with ​“minimal challenges” for the respective school communities. 

Bonanno said Bassett and Wexler are not the only schools being looked at for this type of merger. Rather, they were the two schools in closest proximity where the enrollment declines have been most dramatic. 

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. Bonanno showed parents enrollment trends for the two schools. She noted that in the past, each of the schools enrolled around 400 students each. Now, the two enrollments combined make 460 students.

In response to questions from parents about why the merged school couldn’t be brought to the Wexler campus at 55 Foote St. instead of Bassett’s campus at 130 Bassett St., Jackson explained that the Bassett building was identified as the school with enough space to continue all programming from both school communities. That includes Pre‑K programs, self-contained special education classrooms, and maker spaces. Bassett’s building is currently built for a capacity of 500 students.

The two schools are also in the same attendance zone, she noted. The goal is to not send families too far across town as a result of the consolidation process.

Each grade level at Wexler currently has only one class, making it so that teachers do not have grade-level partners. That also means there are no alternative classroom options for students who may want to transfer from their current homeroom. 

One father asked whether the merger would lead to class sizes increasing. He said he doesn’t think the kids would do well if classrooms have 30 to 40 students. 

“Yes, I’m worried about that too. My son wouldn’t focus with that many kids,” another parent said. 

Jackson clarified that the average class size at the merged school will be about 23 students, if all current Wexler and Bassett students moved to the Bassett building next year. She explained that that is smaller than the average class size across the district. Bonanno added that the merger would make it so the combined school has two classes for each grade, and three fifth-grade classes. 

If Wexler was closed completely, there would be no guaranteed alternative that the district would be able to offer families to try to keep the student body together, Bonanno told Thursday’s group. 

Many parents said that it is important to them that the Wexler students be able to stay together during the merger, as they have attended school together since kindergarten. 

Throughout the spring and summer, NHPS plans to collect feedback and design ideas to shape the future of the new school. Jackson said there will be equal representation from both Wexler and Bassett on the planning committees. 

Since Bassett currently serves students only through sixth grade, the merged school will serve as a full middle school — with seventh and eighth grade classes. Current Bassett sixth-grade students will therefore be able to stay in place next year.

However, due to the magnet choice lottery process already being closed, with results set to be released on Monday, several Wexler parents raised concerns about not wanting to send their middle schoolers to Bassett and also not getting a chance to enter the lottery. 

When asked about how families can opt into the district’s school transfer process, Bonanno said transfers have been paused through the end of the school year and will reopen July 1 as a result of the recent lottery process. 

Wexler in-school suspension coordinator Doug Bethea told district staff Thursday that many parents’ concerns about neighborhood violence have to do with historic neighborhood rivalries. ​“A lot of people from this area can’t go to Newhallville,” he said. 

Several parents agreed. They said they are worried about reckless driving and shootings that have happened near Bassett. 

“The Kia boys don’t care, and bullets don’t have names,” Keyana Calhoun said. 

Bonanno responded that the district already keeps the 200-plus students at Bassett safe every day. With the combined resources of Wexler and Bassett at the new merged school, the priority of safety will remain. 

In response to another parent who asked when the district made the decision and why NHPS waited until Thursday to meet with parents, Bonanno said the decision was made around the first week of March. 

Parents said, had they been notified that the merger was even under consideration, they would have considered entering the district’s magnet school lottery. 

“I had no opportunity to decide where I want my child to go. I’m scared shitless,” said another parent. 

In a final question from Calhoun towards the end of the hour-long meeting, she asked whether Wexler staff would be going to Bassett with the students. 

“My son is epileptic and the staff here know him and his needs very very well. I don’t want this new situation to bring back his seizures. I need to know if someone he trusts will be there to help him,” Calhoun said while wiping away tears. 

Jackson responded that while a lot of Wexler staff will likely transfer to Bassett, she cannot promise which ones will or won’t.

Bonanno concluded that the merger will not cause staff to lose jobs, but cuts will be made based on declining enrollment trends, which the district already does annually as a cost-saving strategy. Each year, she said, the district has reduced Wexler staffing due to low enrollment.

“Most of the staff at Wexler will be invited and most positions will transfer over besides a few classroom-level reductions, which would have happened anyway because we have been annually right-sizing schools,” she said. 

"They Gave Us No Choices"

Calhoun’s five children span the grade levels at Wexler. One is in preschool, one in kindergarten, one in second grade, one in third grade, and one in eighth grade. After Thursday’s meeting, she expressed her frustration when she learned about the merger through the Independent’s article instead of from the district directly. 

She would’ve preferred to have been told about the merger idea when the decision was still being considered. ​“They knew and was talking about it before now. Why weren’t us parents included?” she asked. 

“Parents should have say so. They’re our children. But they gave us no choices,” she said. 

While Calhoun lives just around the corner from Bassett, she said she intentionally put her kids at Wexler because the Dixwell area is quieter.

She said adding more kids to Bassett will make it harder for staff to keep them all safe. From gun violence to stolen cars, Calhoun said, she is terrified of her kids attending Bassett next year. 

She concluded that she hopes the district will provide information frequently and put strategies in place to increase safety for students.

Bethea, a former outreach worker who has worked at Wexler for the past three years, said while he understands the decision based on declining enrollment, he wishes the merger process was done with more communication to staff and families. 

He is optimistic, however, that ​“if done the right way, it could work,” but the right way would include better communication from the district. 

Bethea added that he hopes the district will work with the community to offer extra support at the merged school. He hopes he will be offered a position to move to the merged school because of his decades of outreach work and youth programming, but said he still is sad about having to leave behind his former middle school that his mother also attended. 

“This was unfair and harsh, but all change ain’t bad. Putting our programs and resources together could be great because it’s more for the kids. Put Wexler’s small band with Bassett’s and we have a big one,” he said. ​“It’s not the purge, it’s the merge.” 

He concluded with two suggestions for the district:

First, host a Wexler-Bassett family night to help students and their families get to know each other.

Second, engage parents and staff closely during the remainder of the merger planning process.