Coastal Connections At "The Fish School"? Parents Say Niantic Center School Is No Place for High School.

For a school district that typically takes years to study any new proposal, East Lyme School Superintendent James Lombardo caught Niantic Center School parents by surprise last week with a suggestion that Coastal Connections, the town's alternative high school program, move into Niantic Center School.

The bombshell was dropped first at last week's Board of Education meeting and fired off as an email from the superintendent to parents on May 13. An information session for parents on the proposal is being held tonight at Niantic Center School at 6 p.m., with a vote on the topic scheduled for May 28.

"We were kind of shocked," said Monica Sistare, a Niantic Center School parent. "They talked abut doing this a few years ago. The same questions were left unanswered then."    

Here's The Big Idea

Lombardo proposes to move the 25 students enrolled in Coastal Connections along with six staff members into empty classrooms at Niantic Center School. For the past two years, the program has been located in the Carelot building, sharing space with a dentist, a psychologist, a child care program and the district's 18 to 21-year-old special education program. 

"As you are all aware, the Board of Finance has directed our school district to reduce our proposed budget ... as a result we are trying to make the required reductions of $650,000 without jeopardizing our programs and our efforts to bring full-day kindergarten to East Lyme," Lombardo wrote. "One of the items we have identified for reduction is our rental costs. By relocating our Coastal Connections program we can reduce our costs by approximately $10,000. To do so will require moving our Coastal Connections property from a rental property to several of the vacant rooms on the second floor of Niantic Center School." 

Coastal Connections students currently spend three days in the classroom, two days participating in community-based supervised internships, and have been using Niantic Center School's gym for physical education classes one day a week.  

Parents Up In Arms 

There has been much debate about how Niantic Center School may be repurposed if, given an acknowledged need to upgrade the town's elementary school buildings and in light of declining student enrollment, the district decides to close Niantic's elementary school.

The new uses proposed for the building include relocating the district's Coastal Connections program (which would save money the district currently pays to rent space for the program) and leasing space out to LEARN, which is keen to expand. Until recently, however, there was no suggestion of either program sharing the space currently occupied by the elementary school. 

Parents who object to the proposal say they have high regard for Coastal Connections, its students, its administrators, and its mission as an alternative school. But they note that high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools are typically maintained and operated separately for good reason.

"We just don’t feel that any high school student should be placed in a class in an elementary school setting," said Niantic Center School parent Donna Rossi. "There’s a reason why we have them all in separate buildings, why 5th grade is separated from 6th, 7th, and 8th." 

And, while there are examples of schools that encompass every grade from K to 12, parents who have endeavored to research similar situations to the one currently being proposed say they've found no precedent for this particular scenario.   

"Through my research, Alternative Education Programs are typically in their own buildings and are in close proximity to the high school so that students still feel both physically and socially connected to their same-aged peers," Rossi, who is also a teacher, wrote in a letter to the superintendent.  

It's Elementary

Elementary schools are designed for little kids, with low toilets and playgrounds. They don't use drug-sniffing dogs to search lockers or require students to take breathalyzers before school parties, as East Lyme High School does, because these social problems aren't an issue for kindergarten students. To operate a school that accommodates students as young as 4 and as old as 18 is no easy feat. 

"Of course, the ideal scenario would be that we have two successful programs, but how can you be assured that placing the alternative program in the elementary school will not jeopardize the nurturing, safe environment and the proven success of the elementary program?" writes Rossi. "In short, I have concerns for both groups of students, high school students and elementary school students." 

A Safe School Environment?

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, issues of security also weigh heavily on the minds of elementary school parents. Both the Superintendent and the Niantic Center School principal say that safety isn't an issue. New doors would be installed to physically separate the Coastal Connections program from the rest of the school.

However, the students will share common areas, such as the cafeteria, the gym, and the parking lot. Kindergarten parents admit they may be paranoid but with the unimaginable tragedy at Sandy Hook still so fresh in everyone's mind, who can blame them? 

They've Got Questions

Here are just a few of the questions parents hope to have answered at tonight's meeting: 

Safety:

1. Currently, there are three campus safety officers on-site at East Lyme High School. What are your plans for security and safety should high school students become verbally abusive, require restraint, or violate safety codes and conduct?
2. How will it be determined that the high school students be allowed to work with elementary school students, as part of what you described as, “one of the job placements for a student working in a school setting.”  Will parents of NCS students be asked permission for this to occur?
3. Will high school students be allowed to drive to and from school and, if so, how can we ensure the safety of our elementary school students on-site

1. What other spaces or sites have been explored for placement of this program?
2. How do NCS students currently use the space that you are planning on utilizing?
3. What effect would utilization of this space have on NCS students, class sizes, supports, or services? How will common areas of NCS be used?  For example, are elementary school  students expected to use the same bathrooms, hallways, nurse’s office, cafeteria, parking lot, grounds, and library as high school students? 

1. What building modifications or renovations might need to take place to accommodate these students and how much will it cost?
2. Will the district be receiving additional funding or grants for implementation of this program on-site at NCS?  If so, how will the funds be used and where?
3. What are the savings and costs to taxpayers?