Early childhood plan chosen by school committee in unanimous vote

Oct. 1, 2019 | Danielle Eaton
DanielleE@thereminder.com

AGAWAM – The Agawam School Committee has made an official decision regarding which path they’re going to take for the district’s Early Childhood Center (ECC) during their Sept. 24 meeting.

Before the regularly scheduled meeting, a workshop meeting was held by the school committee where Agawam School Superintendent Steven Lemanski and Assistant Superintendent Sheila Hoffman presented the two final options to the school committee.

The first option presented was to close the Robinson Park Elementary School and make it a school for grades pre-k through kindergarten. The second option that was presented was to incorporate pre-k classrooms into the four existing elementary schools within the district.

During the regularly scheduled School Committee meeting, Lemanski gave an update on the district’s process and discussion regarding the ECC options. He discussed the steps that had been taken by the district at the time to explore both options and find out which was right for both students and the district as a whole. Some of those steps, he told the committee, included hanging posters in the elementary schools, attending Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meetings, and meeting with the bus company.

However, School Committee member Anthony Bonavita said he’d like to see the process end and option one eliminated from consideration. “...For the first time this evening we were given information that it’s not necessary to turn Robinson into an ECC, that we could give the neighborhood schools and that there’d be ECC sections throughout the elementary schools” he said. “So based upon that information tonight, at least is my personal feeling, and it’s up to everyone individually, that we should end the process now. There’s no reason to keep going further on it.”

Bonavita went on to say that the process and discussion about redistricting had “started years and years ago” and that he didn’t “like to see dragging this out where people’s thoughts are they’re not certain what’s going to happen.”

School Committee member, Wendy Rua, echoed Bonavita’s sentiment that the process had been ongoing for years. “As long as I’ve been on the committee, I’ve been in discussion, so for eight years,” Rua said. “It’s not that we’re moving anything quickly, this has really been an eight-year process to get to this point, so it’s not a hasty decision after the workshop tonight.” She said she was in favor of option two mainly because she wanted to “minimize the transition” of students and “maximize the educational opportunity” for students in the district.

Fellow committee members, Carmino Mineo, Shelley Reed, and Tracy Wilkie all agreed that they would like to see the process come to an end and felt as though they could make a decision during the Sept. 24 meeting.

As the discussion was nearing Agawam Mayor William Sapelli, said, “At this point I think everybody’s discussed it enough and I don’t think everybody has anything more to say. What I heard loud and clear is that you’d like to try to settle this thing this evening.”

However, Sapelli emphasized that to choose option two, there were some things that everyone, including the committee, needed to remember. “To do that, redistricting is a huge part of this plan because without redistricting we need to balance the numbers to accommodate all those students in each of those schools and make the numbers equitable. So redistricting will be a part of that plan, just so that’s loud and clear.”

A motion to eliminate option one and officially choose to integrate pre-k classrooms into the existing elementary schools was made and seconded by the entire committee. When the motion passed unanimously, cheering erupted from the audience.

Sapelli ended the statement and stated, “You have decided to finally have an early childhood plan that involves all four elementary schools, that involves redistricting of all the elementary schools.”

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