Swampscott officials discuss educational benefits of proposed elementary school

SWAMPSCOTT – The School Building Committee held its last public forum for the summer, this time focused on what a district-wide elementary school would mean for education in Swampscott.?Traffic is important, but what it really comes down to is the children and what the educational benefits are going to be to this project,” said committee member Glenn Paster.The committee invited educational consultant Frank Locker, who has contributed to other school consolidation projects in the state, to share insight. Locker said the questions Swampscott was asking – if a consolidated school will be better for students than traditional neighborhood schools – was one many communities were pondering. “It?s probably a sign of the times,” he said.Superintendent Pamela Angelakis dove right into the benefits of a new school for all Swampscott elementary students. “There?s a lot of talk of ?21st century schools,?” said Angelakis. “But our current schools are only (equipped) for the big three: reading, writing and arithmetic.”While Stanley, Clark and Hadley cannot support a wireless Internet connection, said Angelakis, modern students needed infrastructure that would support modern technology. The new school would be compliant with disability codes and would allow for both large spaces for collaborative learning and smaller, private areas for one-on-one meetings. Currently, said Angelakis, occupational therapists were meeting with special-education students in closets.?It?s time we invest in the younger population and give them the facility to provide 21st century skills,” said Angelakis.Selectman Naomi Dreeben asked Angelakis if the teachers were on board with a district-wide school. Angelakis said she sent a survey out to all K-12 Swampscott teachers and received 104 responses, with 71 in favor of plans moving forward with the district-wide school.Some community members were concerned that a student would feel lost in a school of 635.?This is not a gigantic school,” said Locker. He explained that the school would be designed to feel like “smaller communities” for each grade. The projected figure for each grade, he said, was about 155, a number that was consistent in a concept “that people know each other really well and form strong relationships.”A total enrollment of 635 was actually considered mid-range, said Locker. “It?s a good size, not overpowering,” he said.About 20 showed up to the meeting. As Paster expected, the committee also heard questions on infrastructure, including traffic and the future of the Hadley Elementary School building. Some expressed that they were dissatisfied with vague projections instead of more concrete numbers for cost projections, including savings.Paster said he was happy to see that even questions emailed to the committee had changed tone, focusing more on education and tax dollars instead of traffic.Chairman Joe Crimmins said he would have been happy to talk about education from the beginning, but questions from the community didn?t steer the conversation that way.