LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Superintendent Douglas Dias is asking the School Committee to open up a total of 14 school-choice spots for the upcoming year.

 

"Where there is excessive space, we should open choice," Dias said. "Taking in students to a class that is half full doesn't add to the monetary weight."

 

School choice has been a topic of discussion among some town residents who feel the $5,000 in state support isn't sufficient. Some say since the cost per pupil is higher than $5,000, the town is being shortchanged.

 

However, school officials see the $5,000 per student as offsetting costs that are already being incurred. The classrooms opened for school choice are operating anyway and filling those rooms brings added revenue, they say.

 

For the upcoming school year, there are 31 students expected for the third grade. Dias is asking for three more choice spots to be opened to create two sections of 17. In the 4th grade there are 29 students and Dias said since there are already two classes, adding seven additional students will create two full classes of 18 — though historically the school has been unable to attract that many choice students.

 

In the 5th grade, Dias is looking to add three more students to the class of 35 to create two classes of 19. And in the second grade, he is asking for just one student to add to the class of 17. 

 

School Committee member Sheila Hebert had concerns with the seven sports for the 4th grade. She said when those seven get to the high school level and combined with students from Williamstown, it may reach the tipping point when additional staff would need to be hired, which isn't financially beneficial.

 

"If you do get seven, you are carrying all seven through high school," she said. 

 

Chairwoman Regina DiLego said there are already five choice students in that grade, so adding seven more is close to an entire additional class worth. Once the students are accepted — as those five had been already — the district must keep them. 

 

"That's almost a while classroom itself with choice students," Herbert said. "We're having two classrooms to host school choice."

 

The School Council has recommended classes of 16 to 18 students in kindergarten through second grade and classes of 18 to 20 in the upper grades. 

 

"That's consistent with a lot of the elementary schools in the area," Principal Martin McEvoy said. 

 

With classes currently short of those numbers, McEvoy said "by opening up these to school choice and having two full classrooms, it is going to benefit Lanesborough students."

 

Sean MacDonald, president of the Lanesborough Education Association, advocated for smaller class sizes particularly in the first grade. That class is eyed to have around 24 children next year and he believes that class should be split into two.

 

"The first year is a super crucial year for reading," he said, adding that the larger class size could ultimately lead to the school spending more for remediation work for children who fall behind. 

 

Dias said the revenue from school choice shouldn't be used to fund the operating budget but instead be stashed away for future capital repairs to the building. However, DiLego said town officials have nixed the idea of allowing the school to build up reserves in recent years. 

 

"If we don't have the opportunity to save our choice funds, we need another plan," Hebert said.

 

Gordon Noseworthy, who recently served as an interim superintendent, had crafted a capital improvement plan for the school. However, DiLego said most of the focus recently for capital projects has been on the upcoming renovation of Mount Greylock Regional High School. School Committee member PJ Pannesco said that plan should be presented to the Board of Selectmen.