In early 2024 the HWRSD will submit a proposal to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) as part of the process to apply for State funding for a new Cutler elementary school building. The HWRSD and School Building Committee have completed a "Feasibility Phase" that ended up with recommending the construction of an elementary school that will house 740 students from Winthrop, Cutler and Buker.

Such position was taken without carefully studying what is best for our children and for taxpayers of both towns.

But with the ONLY goal in mind to repurpose the Winthrop property for MBTA development use.

If this project moves forward, it will result in a huge tax increase at time where contract negotiations are happening with teachers and teacher's assistants. Choosing consolidation will mean chose not to focus on our precious educators, and leaving behind middle school, high school and the Buker elementary school buildings, that also need a lot of upgrades.

On Jun 6th the School Committee will vote on the consolidation. Once the proposal is submitted to the MSBA in 2024,

there will be no further opportunities to make your voice heard, until people are called to vote in April 2025

But keep in mind that when we vote in 2025 there will be only the consolidation option on the table. If we vote “no” to that option, we’d lose the MSBA funding. So if you want to keep our 3 elementary schools, please make your voice heard NOW so that the school committee tasks the SBC to reconsider consolidation and evaluate other options that will preserve our 2 small schools

This is why we need to speak up now, and tell the HWRSD to refocus their strategy before it is too late

How can you help ?

In addition to signing the petition above, please consider:

Emailing members of the School Building Committee (hyperlink to: https://www.hwschools.net/about/hw-elementary-project/school-building-committee)

Emailing members of the Hamilton Select Board at allselectmen@hamiltonma.gov.

Emailing members of the Wenham Select Board (hyperlink to: https://www.wenhamma.gov/town_government/select_board.php)

Submitting opinions and questions on the Elementary School Project website (hyperlink to: https://www.hwschools.net/about/hw-elementary-project)

• Better learning environment, with higher test results and ratings

• Safer and easier to patrol, all teachers know each and every student and their families

• Stronger sense of community for families, teachers, and administrators

• Stronger sense of belonging, integration and acceptance for all students

Dozens of studies show the benefits of small schools!

Extensive research done in hundreds of districts has shown over the last 60+ years that small elementary schools (with 250-350 students) provide a superior learning experience :

The “Economy of scale” promised by proponents of large consolidation efforts has been shown in many cases to be an elusive goal, focused on short term gains (teacher/admin cuts) but not long term losses (teacher and student retention, safety, school rating, property value).

In fact, multiple studies have shown that keeping small schools and managing resources efficiently results in more savings in the long term.

Some selected references are here (click on each tile to download the full manuscript):

Visit this site for a collection of articles that describe the advantages of small schools

Lessons Learned from other School Districts

Did you know that Ipswich attempted a similar consolidation several years ago and it failed, dividing the town into 2 factions? The district is now having to go back to square one with the MSBA after expending countless dollars and resource hours - What does an Ipswich 'mega-school' mean for our children and our schools

Boston is suffering due to their large consolidation efforts involving 4 elementary schools, and the major chaos that this adjustment is causing them - Lessons for Boston on School Consolidation

Manchester/Essex recently took advantage of State funding through the MSBA for a small elementary school (~300 students) and the project was completed successfully!!! The town has a new beautiful small elementary school that was partly funded by the MSBA! Manchester By the Sea received state funding to build a small school

FINAL THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS

Consolidations into a large school model are risky and are often regretted by the tax payers, rightfully so! They are expensive projects, with questionable long term financial benefits.

Letting go of the maintenance and closing one of our highly-rated elementary schools, losing the entire Winthrop and Buker school community, and reconfiguring an educational model that has been in place for 60+ years and has led to consistently great rankings is an unnecessary risk and a potential decades-long mistake.

125+ kindergarteners in the same huge building? 125+ nine-year-old fourth graders in the same building? Hundreds of cars and busses going to the same location in town every morning and afternoon? Is that really what we want?

How will a small child feel walking in a 650-750 student MEGA school other than just a small number? How will this new isolating environment affect children with anxiety, which is reaching skyrocketing numbers already...

How many great teachers and aids will we lose because they don't want to work in a MEGA school or during the transition to it? Will we still be able to attract the same talented teachers?

How many students and families will we lose to small private schools?

How long will it take the district to learn and master an entirely new model? How much will this gap cost us? Could that time and money be better allocated to educational needs and maintenance of existing buildings?

How will our school rankings be affected??? How will our property values be affected?

After this big expense when will the towns have finances to address repairs and renovations needed at Buker and in other schools?

Who is going to benefit from this consolidation strategy ... since it is clearly NOT the students?

Many risks could be acceptable, IF the end result is clearly a better option with long-term financial and educational benefits. But the research shows that the larger the school the worse the education

The lower hanging fruit is Option A, which will cost MUCH less, give the community a new Cutler school, and keep the other 2 neighborhood schools Winthrop and Buker open!

A strategic long term capital funding plan is also warranted, to ensure the other schools are maintained and renovated over time in a fiscally responsible way.

None of these proposals will be without cost to tax payers

In April of 2025 the Hamilton Wenham School District will come to our towns requesting funding for this project that is in excess of the MSBA funding. This request is on top of the the High School and Middle School fields project that was approved this year. In the case of the fields project, we had a clear understanding of the value that our children would receive in exchange for our investment.

If we choose to consolidate our elementary schools, we are choosing to take on a significant additional tax burden for a lower quality of education for our children. We are choosing one building over the educators and the many other school building that need investment.

Truly supporting our schools and our children would mean supporting our teacher assistants and support staff.

Click Here to Sign the Petition

you need to be a resident of Hamilton or Wenham

CONTACT US : if you would like to help/contribute to this good cause please email us at info@savesmallschoolshw.com