Plan aims to ease overcrowding at 3 Lynn schools

LYNN – About 250 kindergartners will attend classes next school year in the Marshall annex building on Commercial Street under a plan School Superintendent Catherine Latham said will ease overcrowding in Tracy, Brickett and Ford schools.”They are having serious capacity issues and Tracy is really crowded. Rather than wait, I think we need a plan ready to go,” she told School Committee members Tuesday night.Latham wants to move 10 kindergarten classes from the three schools to the Commercial Street building by September after school administration offices on the building’s second floor are relocated to the former Ford School annex building on Bennett Street.School Committee members voted to approve the move Tuesday night after Latham warned overcrowding poses “a serious problem” at Ford and Tracy with slightly less overcrowding at Brickett. Creating the “early childhood center” heads off a school overcrowding situation that will grow worse next year, she said.View a map of the schools to be bused. Click on each icon or line for more informationView Overcrowded Lynn schools to bus kindergarten students off campus in a larger map”For example, next year, if everything were to remain the same, Tracy would have two grade-five classrooms with 35 students each. By moving the kindergartens and using one of the freed-up classrooms, Tracy will be able to make three grade-five classes of 24, 23 and 23 students,” Latham noted in an electronic mail.The move, said Committee member Rick Starbard, will free up space in the three schools.”For grades one through five that are overcrowded, this will allow creation of smaller classes. It’s the best way to go,” Starbard said.Latham said creating the early childhood center will cost $580,000, including new furniture, salary for a center principal and other salaries. Committee members want more details about Latham’s plan to transport kindergartners by bus from the three schools to 90 Commercial St.”I have a ton of questions. I can see the bus issue as a logistical nightmare,” Committee member Donna Coppola said.Coppola acknowledged the “serious space crunch” but questioned Wednesday if Latham had unveiled and committee members approved “a fast fix.” She wants to hear veteran kindergarten teachers’ and parents’ views on the Commercial Street center.Committee member Maria Carrasco said details concerning transportation and parental pickup need ironing out for Latham’s plan to succeed. She said parents prefer to have elementary school-age children attending the same school.”How are principals going to work with parents to assimilate the change?” asked Carrasco.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].