Schools eye banning outside students from programs

Gloucester's School Department may formally close all after-school activities to "out-of-district" students — including those attending the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School — pending a Wednesday night School Committee's vote.

The committee will vote on a change in the district's participation policy that, if approved, will block students who choose to leave Gloucester's city public schools from participating in any district extra curricular activities. In addition to the charter school, the policy would also bar participation in city school-run after-school programs to any students who attend St. Ann School, Eastern Point Day School or any other facilities.

The change in policy, according to department officials, aims to make Gloucester's schools more competitive with other districts and the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School.

"If parents enjoy programming that's offered by the public schools," said Roger Garberg, the School Committee's programs committee chairman, "they need to enroll students in the public schools.

This past school year, the district saw 237 students opt out to other schools through school choice, plus the 60-plus city school students who opted for the city's new charter school. The charter school, while adding a third and eighth grade to its first-year Grade 4-7 configuration, is poised to expand to nearly 200 students for its second year of operation this September, with the vast majority of those students coming from the Gloucester Public Schools.

The city schools' new policy would not apply to home-schooled students within the district. Federal law forbids school districts from excluding home-schooled students from after-school programs.

Last year, the school's programs committee recommended barring out of district students, including those from the charter school, from taking part in district activities — including four students who looked to continue in the school's All City Band. But the issue was never firmed up in policy.

Garberg said the new policy falls in line with Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association guidelines already imposed at the High School.

The association's requirements don't cover the O'Maley Middle School, or any of the district's elementary schools. The school department's policy would extend, said Garberg, the associations requirements to lower grades.

The committee is also expected to vote on a policy that would remove an exception clause for students attending out of district.

Melissa Teixeira, School Committee vice chairwoman, said the original policies were conflicting, and clouded by small exceptions in the case of certain activities and sports.

The upcoming policy will, if voted in, grandfather in students from out of district who currently participate in Gloucester's extra curricular activities, but close the door on any new participants who do not attend city schools.

The school district spends $5,000 for each school choice student who opts for another school district, and loses $11,000 per student in state Chapter 70 aid for those who enroll in the charter school.

When the participation issue arose during the opening of Gloucester's charter school, then-acting Superintendent Joseph Connelly sent out a survey, at the request of the committee, to superintendents in Foxborough, Framingham, Chelsea, Lawrence and Fitchburg.

The survey asked about charter school impact. The results, according to an e-mail from Superintendent Richard Safier, found that none of the other districts had students enrolled in a charter school participating in their district-sponsored extracurricular programs. Two districts had policies that specifically barred charter students from participating.

Safier said that state law is largely silent on after-school policies for districts with commonwealth charter schools like Gloucester's.

School Committee Chairwoman Val Gilman said in an email that the district needs every edge to provide students with innovative programs.

She said that programs funded in part by grants from the Gloucester Education Foundation are the type of programs that keep the district competitive.

Maggie Rosa, volunteer executive director at the Gloucester Education Foundation, said the group's aim is to make the Gloucester Public School district a top district in the state, even in the face of ongoing budget cuts. But, she said, the GEF didn't intend to support other public schools within the city.

Until the advent of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School, she added, it wasn't necessary for the foundation to specify that it supported only the public school district.

The charter school, which opened last fall in a remodeled and now expanded former Cape Ann Medical Center building, is a public school open to all students, though it is run by an independent board of trustees and not governed by the School Committee. Neither GCAS Executive Director Tony Blackman nor Board of Trustees chairman Joe Knowles returned calls seeking comment for this story.

Teixeira said the committee wants children to have opportunities, but also wants to preserve the Gloucester Public Schools.

"Children don't decide what school they go to," said Teixeria, "parents do. It's unfortunate when you have to say no to a child."

Safier said the new policy would affirm the advantages of staying in the city's public school system in an increasingly competitive educational environment.

"There are activities and things for children to participate in that come with being a member of the Gloucester Public Schools community," said Safier.

Steven Fletcher can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or at sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com.

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