Displaced students a concern in Lynn

LYNN – School administrators are still determining how many students will be forced to return to neighborhood schools when the Ford School Annex closes this summer.The preliminary school department budget, relea-sed last week, does not include funding for the Bennett Street annex which serves Ford students in grades 6-8.As a result, those students will return to the school’s main building on Hollingsworth Street, where they will join students in grades K-5 next year – something that has some parents of students at other schools worried that too many displaced children will overcrowd classrooms.The move will save the district money in a time when administrators are struggling to make ends meet, but will also displace a certain number of out-of-district students back to their neighborhood schools.While rumors are circulating that masses of children will be swelling class sizes at the city’s other three public middle schools – Breed, Marshall and Pickering – Superintendent Catherine Latham said Tuesday that she is still unsure of how many students will be leaving the school and where they will be going.”We are still figuring that out, we are going to meet with (Principal Claire Crane) this week to discuss that,” she said. “We are still not sure what we are going to have for space up there on the hill, so we don’t know the numbers just yet.”When Latham presented the first draft of her $107.3 million budget last week, she told School Committee members that most students from the annex would be returning to the Hollingsworth Street location next year and that some out-of-district students would be re-assigned to neighborhood schools.By consolidating classes, moving walls and relocating a computer lab, Latham said Crane is hoping to move as many of the students from the annex as possible over to Hollingsworth Street next year.The Ford School Annex will become the fourth school to close its doors in the city in the past two years, as statewide budget cuts continue to eat away at the foundation of local communities.In fiscal year 2009, the district closed the Fallon Elementary and Washington Community Elementary schools, displacing students to newly assigned neighborhood schools. In a corresponding move, the O’Keefe School was also closed when the Welcoming Elementary School housed in that building joined other special education programs in reoccupying the Washington.Aside from surrendering the Ford Annex, Latham and her staff were forced to make sacrifices across the board, laying off employees in every department and shutting down programs at some schools.Along with 99 teachers, the budget calls for the elimination of school monitors and several administrators, including vice principals, guidance councilors and Classical High School’s academic dean.Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute will also lose four shops due to cuts, but that school’s overall budget reflects an increase of more than $891,000 over fiscal year 2009, making it the only high school that was funded above last year’s total.The additional money is said to be reserved for bolstering academic offerings, including a full-time Spanish course and additional social studies electives.The School Committee has been reviewing the first draft of the budget this week and will meet Thursday night at 7 p.m. to discuss the spending plan.