Both the Gloucester School Committee and Mayor Carolyn Kirk's office are right to survey residents regarding the future shape of the school district and, in the case of the mayor's survey, the future of Fuller School.
The School Committee's survey — to be sent only to members of the so-called "school community" — will likely include a question on whether parents, teachers and others still support the so-called "neighborhood school" format, or would be willing to look at some type of elementary consolidation.
That, indeed, is a fair question. But it's one that also may be a part of the mayor's survey, since it is an issue at the core of the decision on what to do with Fuller and a very preliminary proposal to explore building a new West Parish School. That means it's a question that needs to have input far beyond the "school community" to have any sense of credibility for moving forward.
By virtually all counts, there is no way to consolidate all of Gloucester's elementary schools into the Fuller building. For one thing, it would not have close to the needed capacity, even if expanded. For another, there is nothing educationally sound about educating well over 1,000 elementary pupils in a single, giant school building.
At the same time, given the growth of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School, the state's ongoing school choice program and the presence of other parental options such as St. Ann's School and others, it's impossible to ignore that Gloucester's schools have seen an enrollment drop of more than 1,000 students — or 25 percent — in the last 11 years. And there seems no reason taxpayers should have to fully staff and maintain five elementary buildings.
One answer that should be on the drawing board — and that might draw support for a new West Parish structure — could be a plan to build a new West Gloucester school that could accommodate the current West Parish and one other current school.
And while that would go against the supposed "neighborhood school model," there are two things to consider:
One, outlined very well in resident Damon Cummings' letter, also on this page, notes that the district's structure is far from a "neighborhood school" as it is. The other is that school officials must start looking at breaking up any "neighborhood" model anyway, given the growing numbers of pupils from low-income families — defined through free lunch eligibility — concentrated in the Veterans and Beeman school communities.
A redistricted system, with more diverse enrollment at all of the schools, would likely deliver a better and more rounded educational and social experience for all of Gloucester's elementary schoolchiuldren — just as it does at O'Maley Middle School, Gloucester High School and, yes, the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School, which serves second- through eighth-graders from throughout the city.
Yes, surveying residents within the "school community" and beyond can be a good step toward determining the school district's and the old Fuller School building's future.
But if school officials and the mayor's office want the surveys to be taken seriously, they must all try to reach out to as many Gloucester residents and taxpayers as possible. And they have to seriously represent the school district's present lineup — as well as viable options for the future, including choices the School Committee itself may not want to pursue.
Stay tuned.
