WILMINGTON, MA — Superintendent of Schools Mary DeLai told the School Committee on Wednesday night that some incoming kindergarten students who would normally attend the Wildwood Early Childhood Center next school year may have to attend the Boutwell Early Childhood Center instead.
The issue stems from a projected increase enrollment at the Wildwood, coupled with an imbalance in enrollment between the two schools (Wildwood – 141, Boutwell – 97).
“Typically between now and the time school starts, each school picks up 20 more students,” explained Superintendent DeLai. “If the Wildwood picks up 20 more students, we will have an issue. We won’t have enough space.”
The solution, according to DeLai, is to add a classroom to the Boutwell, which currently has 7 classrooms, but is projected to only have 5-6 classrooms for next school year. The space and staffing for an “added” 7th classroom is already in place.
The Superintendent would reassign students from the Wildwood district to the Boutwell district based, primarily, on their household’s proximity to the district dividing line.
Wildwood district students who already have siblings attending the Woburn Street Elementary School or North Intermediate School [edited, fixed, 4/29] would NOT be eligible for reassignment.
Superintendent DeLai would also ask for volunteers first (e.g., perhaps an incoming Wildwood student has a cousin at the Boutwell that he or she would like to be schoolmates with, etc.) before making any spot redistricting decisions.
DeLai stressed throughout the conversation that spot redistricting is NOT a certainty and that analysis has begun so the district will be prepared in the event that some reassignments are necessary.
“We MAY have to reassign students. We will notify incoming Kindergarten parents if enrollments continue to increase,” said DeLai. “We don’t know if we’ll have to do [any re-districting]. We’re putting plans in place [just in case]…. We’ll communicate this to parents sooner rather than later so this doesn’t come as a surprise.”
Watch the discussion, which begins at 1:42:40 mark and runs for about four minutes, courtesy of Wilmington Community Television:
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I think this article contains an error. The current progression is Wildwood -> Woburn St. -> NORTH or Boutwell -> Shawsheen -> West. So students with siblings at the North should not be reassigned to the Boutwell.
Yes, very sorry. I fixed it. Big whoops!