By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Julie Gartin told the Board of Education on Thursday she had asked that her children be allowed to attend Saugatuck Elementary School last year before they even began going to Long Lots Elementary School this fall.

She knew school officials’ plans for redistricting would likely affect her neighborhood. But officials, Gartin said, denied the request.

Now, Gartin is part of cohort of parents asking that her children, now happily part of the Long Lots community, be allowed to stay at the school through fifth grade even though the neighborhood would become part of the Saugatuck district under a redistricting plan endorsed by Supt. of Thomas Scarice.

“It hardly seems fair to turn around and force them to move … don’t make them pay for the lack of consideration given to them last year,” Gartin told the board.

Scarice and several board members seem determined to stick to the plan, however, even though several members have asked for an analysis of the impact of allowing all 51 students to stay at Long Lots.

“My recommendation stands,” Scarice said. “It is not a crisis, but [the space crunch at Long Lots] definitely not optimal.”

Scarice acknowledges that he would expect parents to advocate for the children affected by the proposal. “I totally understand where they are coming from,” he said, adding that a decision on redistricting is made with the entire school district in mind.

“It’s our job to think about 5,400 students,” said board Chair Lee Goldstein in her introduction to Thursday’s discussion that lasted nearly two hours with public comment.

A special meeting on the plan is expected to be scheduled within the next several weeks. A board decision on redistricting is set for some time in November.

Redistricting is being recommended to help the district balance enrollment and resources across all five elementary schools as a new Long Lots is built.

A second phase would move about 36 Kings Highway students to Coleytown Elementary when the new Long Lots opens, likely in 2027.

For now, the Greens Farms Elementary School boundaries would remain untouched, but future enrollment shifts could send 33 Greens Farms students to Saugatuck.

On Thursday, the board looked at new 10-year enrollment projections that include what school building use would be with and without redistricting, as well as a scenario where seven rising fifth graders at Long Lots would be allowed to stay at their school next year.

Demographer Mike Zuba of M&P Planning told the board that enrollment is expected to increase even under the most modest projections between now and 2034. 

There now are 5,187 students districtwide. Depending on the projection model, growth could send enrollment to 5,280 to 5,693.

Long Lots has 584 students this year. It could go up to 637 students by 2030-31. It is projected to have the greatest growth over the next five years. It has two modular classrooms slated to be removed after two years.

Saugatuck, now at 396 students, could decrease to an enrollment of 380 in four years without redistricting.

With redistricting, Saugatuck could grow to an estimated 455 students next fall while Long Lots would go from 29 class sections to 27 classes.

Zuba told the board that grandfathering only the seven current Long Lots fifth graders slated to be moved would not necessitate the school to add an additional fifth grade.

“What are the chances of keeping the portable classrooms at Long Lots?” asked board member Abby Tolan.

Scarice said the district promised town funding bodies they would be kept for only two years.

Board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon said even if the town approved an extension of the modulars’ lease, she could think of better district uses for the $200,000 rental cost.

With or without the modulars, Goldstein said Long Lots remains crowded without redistricting while another school remains under-utilized.

Better to move the students before construction of the new school begins, Goldstein said.

“I don’t see how it would work at all,” board member Robert Harrington said of allowing all 51 students to stay. “This school is going to be overcrowded … and a construction site.”

“I agree with Robert. The numbers jump off the page,” Goldstein said. Students now have to wait in long lunch lines, she said, and have little time to eat.

Board member Jill Dillon said she favors the grandfathering request.

George Saunders, father of a second grader at Long Lots, said he agrees with Dillon. “It is not a decision to be taken lightly,” he said.

Michelle Friedman, another parent whose child would be affected by the plan, told the board she is in favor of redistricting if it puts her current third grader in a school with more space and potentially smaller classes.

“I urge the board to move forward with redistricting in an expeditious manner in order to properly meet the social and emotional needs of the students,” Friedman said.

Seth Bardelas said while the board talks about keeping neighborhoods together, the current redistricting plan literally splits his street — Roseville Road — down the middle, sending children on one side to Saugatuck while those on the other side stays at Long Lots..

“Some people are happily ready to move,” Bardelas acknowledged. For others, he said, it is not OK.

Sarah Webb, parent of a Long Lots second grader and a future kindergartner, mentioned the online change.org petition she started — which has collected 304 signatures — asking that students be grandfathered at the schools they now attend.

Webb questioned if the social and emotional impact of moving students has been considered.

“Changing schools can have lasting consequences,” she said. “It often disrupts academic stability.”

Jordan Kronick, who has a son in second grade, said he fears the child will regress if forced to move. “It seems a massive harm for a small benefit,” he said.

Carly Maher, parent of a third grader and kindergartner, said like Gartin she wanted her children to be moved this year. “It was dismissed without discussion,” she said.

Keri Stedman said moving a handful of children from each elementary grade seems to yield no immediate benefit.

“I would like to be reassured that this proposal is best,” Stedman, asking to see the impact of grandfathering students and moving the district lines starting with next year’s kindergarten class.

So too would David Rosenwaks, a Long Lots parent and District 6 Representative Town Meeting member.

Board Secretary Neil Phillips said seeing the data for grandfathering current students is useful to see if it’s something the school could possibly “ride out.” He said he doesn’t want to pit Long Lots families against one another.

Goldstein said the grandfathering data has essentially been presented. “It looks like it does now and the next three years,” she said.

The number of classrooms needed creeps up.

It would also mean pushing special classes like art, rolled into classrooms on carts, and music into Long Lots’ hallways.

“I wouldn’t want that for my kid,” Hordon said.

Board member Kevin Christie said the impact on affected families is not lost on him. But he said he also understands what current conditions are at Long Lots.

“Our duty as a board by statute is to be able to provide an appropriate learning environment for all students,” Christie said. “I look forward to hearing from the public and continuing the conversation.”

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.