By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — The superintendent is recommending a redistricting plan that would move about 51 Long Lots students to Saugatuck next September and another 36 Kings Highway students to Coleytown Elementary two years later when a new Long Lots is likely to open.

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice’s proposal was presented to the Board of Education meeting Thursday at Staples High School.

(The full redistricting report is attached at the end of this article.)

Scarice told the board the scenario would maintain existing Greens Farms Elementary School boundaries for now, with the potential for some 33 students from that school eventually shifting to Saugatuck, depending on enrollment trends.

Under the plan, the district’s Intensive Resource classes for special-needs students would stay where they are: Greens Farms and Long Lots.

That made at least one parent in the audience express gratitude.

“It’s a breath of fresh air to hear you are not moving those classrooms,” said Christine Hecker, who said she has a son diagnosed with autism. At Long Lots, she said, he feels safe and comfortable.

Another parent, whose family would be affected by the changes, called the potential plans frustrating.

By keeping to a minimum the number of Long Lots students who would be relocated, Eric Garfunkel, the parent of a second grader at Long Lots and a preschooler, said it will maximize the impact on the few children who do have to leave classmates and friends to go to a new school.

“It is going to amplify the impact by moving so few,” Garfunkel said. He asked the board to reconsider.

Redistricting has been deemed necessary to balance building utilization across the district’s five elementary schools and prepare for an enrollment increase Scarice has told the board to count on once a new Long Lots is built.

Officials: Long Lots delays won’t affect redistricting

Construction of the $100 million elementary initially was supposed to start before the end of this year with a targeted completion date by fall 2026.

But those plans have been delayed and it is now anticipated the new school will likely open in September 2027.

That, however, has not changed school officials’ planned timeline for redistricting.

“We are not in a crisis state. We are experiencing bubbles that need to be addressed,” said Scarice.

The Long Lots enrollment is said to be at capacity. Two schools have portable classrooms. Another, Saugatuck, is below capacity.

Scarice said he is sorry that some families will be affected by the shift in school boundaries, but called it the prudent thing to do for the long-term stability of the district.

“I do understand,” he said. “I do think it’s time.”

On Thursday, the board was outlined several possible redistricting scenarios by Mike Zuba and Pat Gallagher from MP Planning Group, the school district’s demographers.

The scenarios were developed using current enrollment numbers, which were 78 students lower than figures the demographers told the district to expect, as well as a district capacity study and board criteria.

Gallagher said there was no major difference in the number of families affected by the three scenarios presented.

Scenario favored by Sacrice

The plan favored by Scarice, as clarified Friday, is the “A1” scenario map slicing a narrow path along the edge of the Long Lots district and west side of Roseville Road, between Cross Highway and the Post Road. The east side of Roseville would remain at Long Lots.

Also affected would be families who live on Janson Drive, Oxbow Road, Reichert Circle, Hitchcock Road, Dover Road, Country Road, Fieldcrest Road, Northgate and Deerwood Lane.

When the new Long Lots opens, presumably in September 2027, phase 2 of the favored plan would shift 36 Kings Highway students to Coleytown Elementary. That school will have the space then because the district’s Stepping Stones preschool program would shift from Coleytown to the new Long Lots.

Streets in the Kings Highway area affected include: Newtown Turnpike, Barry Lane, Merritt Lane, Cross Brook Lane, Bumpy Lane, McMahon Lane, Pond Road, Bobwhite Drive, Grouse Path, Fermily Lane and Pin Oak Court.

Scarice indicated he also favors the “A3” scenario as it pertains to Greens Farms students, if needed.

Another scenario, not recommended by the superintendent, would affect an entirely different corner of the Long Lots community along Country Road and Cross Highway, with a secondary move of two pockets of students from Greens Farms to Saugatuck to balance enrollment.

Gallagher told the board that transportation issues were considered in selecting the neighborhoods selected for redistricting. So too did shifting enrollment patterns.

Projected enrollment less than expected

Last year, the board was told to expect 5,283 students districtwide for the 2024-25 academic year. Instead it has 5,205. Zuba blamed the current housing market, with fewer home sales, and the state’s  change in the kindergarten eligibility age.

Even so, projections call for Westport’s student population at the elementary level to eventually grow. As of this year, there is 93 percent utilization in district elementary schools systemwide. It varies by school, with some at 83 percent capacity and others full.

The redistricting effort presumably would bring enrollment numbers closer to parity.

Board member Robert Harrington said even with the changing enrollment numbers redistricting is warranted.

“I would have liked us to have gone quicker,” he said. “I stick by what I said two years ago … It seems the potential problem is growing if we don’t take action.”

Several other board members agreed.

“What is compelling for me is what is happening at Long Lots right now,” said board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon. “It feels cramped already. I don’t know how to reconcile that.”

Long Lots at capacity as portable classrooms’ lease runs out

Chair Lee Goldstein pointed out that the two portable classrooms leased for Long Lots won’t be there next year unless town funding bodies change a decision made last year.

Without the portables, Long Lots Principal Kim Ambrosio said music classes would likely return to the hallways and art classes would be delivered via a cart. As it is, special education teachers currently share rooms.

“We are using every space in the building,” Ambrosio said. “We are making it work.”

“I feel a lot of pressure to alleviate that,” Goldstein said.

“It feels an awful lot like a crisis to me,” added board member Abby Tolan.

Board member Jill Dillon, however, questioned the projections and the potential for an enrollment bump for the new school.

With only a certain number of houses in the district, she challenged the demographers to figure out how many students could actually end up in the redrawn Long Lots district.

And board member Kevin Christie said conclusions about the redistricting scenarios don’t necessarily jump off the page.

“It feels like a bunch of numbers on a page,” Christie said of the analysis. “I wonder if there are other ways to think about the different scenarios … as it relates to sections and classrooms?”

For homework, the school board asked the demographers to give them more data about transportation issues’ impact on redistricting and the impact of allowing fifth graders to stay where they are in the first year of the process.

Board members also want more details about class sizes at each school and the number of open seats per grade, as well as how children sent to new schools would affect class sizes at the receiving school.

The board is expected to review the redistricting scenarios throughout October and hold a special meeting devoted solely to the issue. The date for that meeting has not been set.

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. 

Following is the full report on elementary school redistricting: