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This map highlights changes Gloucester school administrators are proposing for the city’s school zones.

This map highlights changes Gloucester school administrators are proposing for the city’s school zones.

The Gloucester School Committee heard an earful from parents on changes to school attendance zones proposed to start in the 2023-2024 school year, with the transition to the new map taking place over a three-year period.

While the School Committee took comments from some 48 people on Zoom during an Oct. 5 public hearing, it did not hold a vote. A vote by the committee is scheduled for this Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Superintendent Ben Lummis said a majority of families, up to 85%, would not be impacted, but that was little comfort to some on Zoom worried about transitioning young children to a new school or splitting up siblings between schools.

“My family is very saddened to hear of the rezoning and how it will affect our children,” said Amy Orlando of Acacia Street. She has a daughter in first grade at Plum Cove Elementary School on Hickory Street, she said, and a preschooler who will be attending elementary school soon. Under the proposal, Acacia Street is among those switching to Beeman Memorial on Cherry Street from Plum Cove to make the school zone more contiguous.

“It is quite disappointing that the documents state that this is impacting a limited number of families as though those families that are being impacted will be fine or just don’t matter,” she said. “Why isn’t the shift affecting West Parish at all to help with the balancing of socio-economic status even further?”

She questioned the three-year transition period, asked about school choice and transition plans, guarantees of peers being together at their new school, staff training to handle students who switch schools, and the social-emotional impact on children.

“My hope is you will deeply consider the wellbeing of the students in the district that we all call home,” Orlando said.

Lummis said the impetus for updating the zones for 1,300 kindergartners through fifth-graders is the opening of a new elementary school on Webster Street in the fall of 2023.

When the school zones of Veterans Memorial and East Gloucester Elementary schools combine, they would not fully utilize the new school with has a capacity of 440 students.

Lummis said school leaders were looking to make as few changes as possible. Under the plan, the West Parish zone remains the same and East Gloucester and Veterans zones remain primarily the same with the addition of some streets.

“We are aiming to make more sensible and contiguous school attendance zones because right now a few of them are disconnected,” Lummis said.

With Beeman and Plum Cove schools seeing many of the changes, Lummis said the zones were meant to reduce the length of bus rides for those families. He also said the new zones would help the schools’ socioeconomic balance. He outlined a three-year timeframe to fully enact the zones.

Under the proposal, any child in the second grade or higher would complete elementary school at their current school. Those who attend Beeman and who ride the bus would still be able to get a ride to Beeman, even though they live in a zone that has switched to Plum Cove.

Families with kindergartners, first-graders or younger siblings who are not yet in public school would have up to three years to transition. The district plans to work with families individually on the transition this fall.

“Our job is to balance the needs of the entire school system and look at it from that broader perspective but at the same time acknowledge and understand that if a family has to move, it’s hard for the family,” Lummis said.

Gloucester Avenue resident Chelsea Unis thanked the School Committee for the public hearing and thanked Lummis for his “vision to bring educational equity to Gloucester and also just to making the school zones make sense.”

Unis said she has worked as a public school teacher for the past 16 years in schools with high populations of students with special needs and low-income families, and is also a parent of a second-grader at Plum Cove, noting he will be able to stay there, but her preschooler would attend Beeman under the plan.

“So we are definitely impacted by this decision,” she said. She was concerned about a lack of student growth and achievement on MCAS scores over the last few years at Beeman.

Unis said as someone who works at a school with failing MCAS scores, she was not trying to be disrespectful to the school’s families, teachers and leadership.

“And I also think of simply moving students from one school to another won’t correct the disparity in the academic performance,” she said. She asked for reassurance that there would be a strong, whole-school improvement plan in place and for transparency with that process.

School Committee member Melissa Teixeira Prince said she wanted to reexamine the definition of grandfathering in students, and favored “not wanting to push kindergarten and first-graders to a new school.”

Lummis clarified that “when we talk about limited number, meaning it’s not across the whole district … but again and again I want to reiterate to everyone that is listening and families, it’s a really big impact on families who have to switch their kids.”

More information on the proposed school attendance zones may be found at https://www.gloucesterschools.com/families-community/schoolzones, including Lummis’ Oct 5 presentation and a list of impacted streets.

Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714,or at eforman@northofboston.com.

Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714,or at eforman@northofboston.com.

What: Public hearing and vote on proposed school rezoning at the School Committee's regular meeting.

When: Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 6 p.m.

Where: To attend via Zoom, visit https://gloucester-ma-gov.zoom.us/j/81682906419 or call (309) 205-3325 or (312) 626-6799. Webinar ID is 816 8290 6419.

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