AGAWAM – Big changes are coming to the Agawam School District in the coming years.

Agawam Superintendent Steve Lemanski told Reminder Publishing that the school district is considering two different options for redistricting in the upcoming years.

He said redistricting has been a topic of discussion within the district for “the last couple of years” and the district has been discussing a new early childhood center (ECC) since 2008.

“Our monthly reports on the numbers of students in each grade level has shown the need,” he said. The estimated cost of a new ECC, Lemanski said, is $17 million, which is “a lot more than it was a few years ago.”

He said administrators met in May to “discuss the dilemma of the ECC cost and what might be the next steps.” During the meeting, administrators looked at grade structures in surrounding communities to see what was most common and developed and discussed options for grade configuration.

Lemanski said these options were then taken to a summer retreat that was attended by administrators and teacher leaders. There, he said pros and cons were discussed and two final options where chosen.

On Sept. 6 Lemanski sent a letter home to parents which discussed the two different options being considered by the district. The letter expanded on why the changes are needed and said it was due to “an imbalance of students across the district and the need to find a solution to provide improved education space for Early Childhood.”

One of the options being considered is to close the Robinson Park School to all grades except pre-k and kindergarten. If this option were chosen, all students in the town at that grade level would attend the Robinson Park School for their pre-k and kindergarten education. The three remaining elementary schools in the district would then house all students from grades one to four.

The other option the district is considering, which is also outlined in the letter sent home to families, is to add pre-k classrooms to each of the four elementary schools in the district.

The letter also addressed the “uneasiness and anxiety that comes with changes such as these.”

The final decision, Lemanski told Reminder Publishing, will be made at the School Committee Meeting in December. The letter said, “The ultimate decision of which option will be chosen is certainly not one that will come easily, and it will be based on many factors.”

One of the factors that the district will consider when making the final decision, according to the letter, will be input from community members, “which the district will be asking for.”

Parents, educators, and community members had already begun voicing their opinions and which option they’d prefer the district take shortly after the letter was sent home to families. Andrea Polly, who currently teaches fourth grade at the Robinson Park School, voiced her concern about closing the school to grades one through four at the Agawam School Committee Meeting on Sept. 10.

Polly said she believes redistricting needs to happen, but does not believe closing the Robinson Park School would be the best option for the district. “Please think of the least destructive option for the most amount of students. Redistricting does need to happen,” she told the school committee. “But out of the given options putting pre-k in all of the buildings would keep most students in their schools, thus causing less transition and less stress.

Ways community members can voice their opinion about what option the district should pursue are through individual school PTO meetings, which will be scheduled before a community forum in October, and teacher/staff meetings, which will also be scheduled before the forum.

The community forum will take place on Oct. 3 in the Junior High School auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Following the forum, there will be a survey that will be made public on Oct. 4 to allow for the district to hear input from the community.

If the district moves forward with a plan, it would be implemented at the earliest in September of 2021. Lemanski said there are no plans to add or lay off any employees when, or if, the district moves forward.

He said, “There has been no projection for loss/gain of employment. We will still have the same number of students. We will need the same number of staff.”