SWAMPSCOTT — Swampscott Middle School will host five sixth grade students from the Johnson School in Nahant this fall for a rate of $16,897 per student.
Facing what Nahant Superintendent of Schools Tony Pierantozzi called a “uniquely small” incoming sixth grade class of only five students, the two school districts ended their nearly month-long negotiations when the Swampscott School Committee voted in favor of Nahant’s most recent terms.
Nahant currently sends its students in grades seven through 12 to Swampscott’s middle and high schools in return for annual payments in a five-year contract. In May, the Nahant School Committee voted to extend an offer to Swampscott stipulating that the per-student price would be spread out through the remainder of the districts’ contract, which expires in 2027.
The Nahant School Committee also amended the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to afford Nahant the right to extend the agreement an extra year for the same rate, if it sees fit. The amendment was made in lieu of Swampscott’s request to host both the town’s incoming sixth grade class and its seven-student incoming fifth grade class.
“It would be a shock for them,” said Nahant School Committee Member Beth Anderson. “There’s a significant difference developmentally between 10 (years old) and 11 (years old).”
Before agreeing to Nahant’s terms, Swampscott Superintendent of Schools Pamela Angelakis said that although she respects Nahant’s choices, she thought it would be best for the district to bring both classes together.
“I’d be out there with bells on if those fifth graders joined us in fifth grade,” Angelakis said. “Middle school is hard enough, but if a group of kids have a chance to bond quicker, and then you bring in another group of kids, it just feels very odd and like we’re not focusing on the needs of those children.”
Angelakis said she considered the town’s request to spread their payments through the remainder of their five-year contract reasonable and fair, since Nahant has already finished its budget and the districts are in “the eleventh hour.”
Swampscott School Committee members Suzanne Wright, on the other hand, questioned whether the spread-out payments would leave the town enough money to fund extra teachers or staff, if the need should arise. Chair Glenn Paster responded that the school should not have a problem absorbing five extra students with its current resources.
Nahant School Committee Chair Patricia Karras also amended the MOU to earmark all the $16,897-per-student tuition to Swampscott Middle School to ensure that expected “significant cuts” to the middle school do not impact Nahant students.
The Swampscott School Committee voted 4-1 to approve Nahant’s amendments, with member Amy O’Connor voting against the MOU because she did not feel comfortable voting for the amended agreement unless it was in writing.
“I feel very peculiar voting on something conceptually without having something to look at to vote on. It’s not a critique of the bargaining per se or the agreement per se, it’s just hard to get my head around,” O’Connor said.
Paster, on the other hand, reminded the committee that the two districts were approaching the end of the school year, and that an agreement should be made as soon as possible for the students affected.
“I am asking tonight that we allow Nahant to let the students who are affected by this know that there is an agreement in principle,” Paster said.
On May 31, Pierantozzi commended the amended contract, saying it will foster the best possible learning environment — of the options discussed — for the small sixth-grade class. He thanked both the Swampscott School Committee and Angelakis for their work “in the best interest of the students.”
“I am extremely pleased that the School Committee has voted in the best interest of the very few sixth-graders that we will have next year to place them in a position where they would have a broader circle of students than they would if they stayed in Nahant,” Pierantozzi said.
