Following a two-hour public forum with over 120 Walpole parents, teachers and school administrators Wednesday evening at the North Walpole School, Walpole’s Site Based Committee decided to recommend restructuring Walpole schools by sending all third and fourth grade students to the North Walpole School beginning next year.
        
Walpole School Principal Sam Jacobs moderated the session and, noting that it “has become a very passionate issue” reminded those present that “our ultimate goal is to think of what is best for all of the kids.”

Jacobs explained that, because Charlestown had voted to expand its school facilities and take its fifth grade students back beginning in the fall, there would be four empty classrooms at North Walpole School.  That, in turn, has led the Site Based Committee to consider how it might use that “found” space to alleviate serious overcrowding in the Walpole School that currently houses elementary (3^rd through 5th^th grades) and middle school students (6^th through 8^th grades).

Noting that he, other district administrators and the Site Based Committee had considered a range of possible uses of the space, and also recognizing that there is no perfect solution that could make everyone happy, Jacobs laid out the plan that the Site Based Committee intended to recommend to the School Board next Monday night, barring any changes to be made in the plan as a result of Wednesday’s forum.

The Jacobs’ plan calls for primary grades—K through 2—be offered in both Walpole and North Walpole, for ALL 3^rd and 4^th graders in the district attend in North Walpole, and for 5^th through 8^th grades be held for all students at Walpole School.  As Jacobs described it, the plan makes use of the four open classrooms in North Walpole where the building and grounds are perfectly sized for elementary students, addresses Walpole School improvement needs as suggested by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges including appropriate space for art, music and group projects, gives 3^rd and 4^th graders a small elementary school atmosphere as opposed to a middle school atmosphere they are now, and fits with the nationwide trend toward smaller schools.  Further Jacobs argued that the plan might foster better integration between Walpole and North Walpole, save the expenses of one and possibly two teaching positions whose cost would approximate $100,000, and give all students more defined primary, elementary and middle school programs.

The downsides of the plan, as Jacobs conceded, include longer bus rides for 3^rd and 4^th grade students from Walpole, longer bus waits (although Jacobs said planners had been working on ways to minimize this issue), two school transitions for students to adjust to, greater geographic separation for some families, and the loss of benefits of integrating younger students with older students.

In the public forum part of the meeting, Nancy Hague, a Walpole School 4^th grade teacher who will need to transfer to North Walpole, read a statement from herself and other teachers saying that the proposed shift “would foster academic and social growth as well as alleviating serious space problems in the Walpole School.”  Walpole School support staff member Judy Fortin agreed with Hague and noted that the support staff is “very much in favor because of the overcrowding.”

Several Walpole parents questioned whether the committee had considered all possible alternatives, whether it had a “Plan B” or backup plan should the chosen one fail, and whether it had considered the possibility that added time riding busses would seriously impact learning time in the classrooms.

Katie Brown of Walpole said that, under the plan, she would have four students in four different schools next year but that she favored the plan “and would love to see Walpole and North Walpole treated as single district”—a comment that drew applause.

Several parents with experience in the North Walpole School emphasized what a friendly, welcoming, “family” atmosphere it has and how pleased they had been with their children’s academic and social progress there.