'Spot Redistricting' of Some Webster Hill Students Approved by West Hartford Board of Education

The West Hartford Board of Education approved a resolution Tuesday night which will move approximately 39 students who currently attend Webster Hill Elementary School to Duffy Elementary School in the next academic year in order to ease overcrowding at Webster Hill.

The "spot redistricting" of students residing in the far southeast portion of West Hartford was first proposed on Jan. 15. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen List advised the Board of Education that the measure would affect students in a neighborhood that currently attends three different elementary schools – Webster Hill, Wolcott, and Duffy. Following the redistricting, students from the area will attend only two different schools.

Affected streets include Abbotsford Ave., Hollywood Ave., Marion Ave., Meriline Ave., New Britain Ave. (from 927-1031, odd numbers only), South St., Southwood Dr., Stafford St., and Stanwood St.

The Board of Education originally planned to vote on the redistricting at the Feb. 27 meeting, but instead waited to monitor kindergarten enrollment to ensure that overcrowding at Webster Hill would be an issue beginning with the 2013-2014 academic year. According to Director of Finance and Planning Chip Ward, there are already 67 children registered for kindergarten next year, and four kindergarten sections will be needed, resulting in the need for a total of 24 sections in a school that can accommodate 23 sections at the most.

Republican Board members Mark Zydanowicz and Jay Sarzen both indicated disagreement with the planned redistricting and presented several different options for the Board to consider.

"Why not reinvest in Webster Hill? Why shouldn’t we spend the money on a school we know parents want to send their kids to?" Zydanowicz asked. He also suggested that if the students could not be kept at Webster Hill, that they be sent instead to Charter Oak, which already has the smallest class size and which is "the closest elementary school to the neighborhood."

"We just allocated money for a new Charter Oak and we still don’t have a clear indication if parents will voluntarily send their kids," said Zydanowicz.

"If we could somehow figure out a way to have Webster Hill accommodate these kids, not disrupt their comfort zone, their friendships … I just would rather leave them there," Sarzen said.

During the discussion Board Chairman Bruce Putterman polled all of the members, and the response was clear. "All seven of us would prefer under ideal circumstances to leave all the Webster Hill students at Webster Hill," Putterman said after the informal poll. However, Ward said that doing so would violate the district's class size guidelines.

Board member Terry Schmitt said that class size restrictions are also written into teacher contracts. In addition, many board members pointed out that overcrowding affects not only the primary classrooms, but also specials such as music, art, and gym.
 
Naogan Ma said that she is very much opposed to increasing class size, even as an alternative to spot redistricting. "If you go to a bigger class, you have kids that would fall through the cracks ... The 'big middle' is going to somehow get lost," she said.

Vice Chair Elin Katz said larger classrooms are not an answer, and would be "detrimental to the entire school."

Zydanowicz said that he is "fundamentally against forced redistricting," which is what he believes is happening. "I’m not confident the solution in front of us is best for our students, families and certainly not the foundation of our neighborhood schools," he said.

However, Schmitt said that because the affected neighborhood is physically cut off from the rest of the town by a "water hazards, heavy roads, train trestles," those kids have to ride a bus no matter where they attend school.

List said that following the approval of the redistricting, outreach by the Duffy community to the affected families would begin.

“We’ve told the families that they will be our number one priority,” Assistant Superintendent Tom Moore said.

Putterman said that this is not an easy choice, nor is it a choice that can be left to the public to decide. “We do believe in choice as a core value, but this is just one of those decisions where the people who are elected to the Board of Education need to be leaders and make that choice for them."

The Board approved the spot redistricting by a vote of 5-2, with Zydanowicz and Sarzen voting against it.