Last week’s newsletter featured a list of key priorities from the Education Plan for the new elementary school building project. This includes properly-sized classrooms, appropriate spaces for differentiated learning and student support, a learning commons, collaboration spaces, STEAM lab, outdoor learning spaces, and a gymnasium and cafeteria that can be closed off from the rest of the building for community use. There are also updated safety elements throughout the building to surround students and staff with 21st century support and protection.
While the purpose of the Education Plan is to shape the design of the new building, if the vote to fund this project on April 8 is successful, it will also shape education going forward at all of our elementary schools. Currently our elementary schools are overcrowded and short on space. The need for additional classrooms has resulted in some of our schools losing their dedicated library space, subdividing classrooms for specialized instruction, or having counselors in spaces that are actually supposed to be closets, just to name a few. As we have documented, the South School is in the worst physical shape of our elementary schools by far. But simply replacing this building with a new one doesn’t address the space issues at our other schools. So, this building project addresses both the need for a better building and relieving space issues at our other schools.
The plan is to build a new elementary school, close both the South School building and the Jones School building (also in poor physical condition) and turn these properties back over to the town, while repurposing the Wilkins School as a preschool and district office. This would result in us having less buildings overall to maintain (from the current number of eight to seven) and we would go from five elementary schools to four - a new building with a larger design enrollment, along with the Dawe, Gibbons, and Hansen. We would redistrict and redraw the boundary lines for each elementary school. This, along with moving some specialized programs to the new elementary school building would open up more space at the Dawe, Gibbons, and Hansen. The Dawe, Gibbons, and Hansen are in good physical shape and have (or would have once overcrowding is alleviated) similar educational spaces to the ones that will be in the new building like properly-sized classrooms/cafeterias/gymnasiums, learning commons/STEAM area, etc.
This project is so much more than just addressing the needs of the South School. This project will allow for every elementary student in Stoughton to receive a high-quality education in a building that supports 21st century learning, regardless of what school they end up going to after the redistricting process.
I believe in the old saying, “it takes a village to raise our children.” It also takes a community willing to do what is right. It is now your call!
Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
Joseph F. Baeta, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Stoughton Public Schools
