McKay: Middle School Consolidation Not Viable Due to Enrollment

Consolidation of the Seven Bridges and Robert E. Bell middle schools is off the table for the next few years.

Addressing the topic at Tuesday's school board meeting, Chappaqua Superintendent Lyn McKay noted that projections for the coming years will not result in a decrease to allow for a change.

“We need all six schools going forward, at least for the next four to five years," she said.

Enrollment is expected to drop by about 100, based on a new revision of a 2008 projection study, which is current as of Oct. 5. The district could revist combining Bell and Seven Bridges in the future if grades 5-8 each drop below 300 students.

Having two middle schools in the district has long been a contentious issue locally, ever since voters narrowly approved a $56,779,000 bond in June 2000 to build Seven Bridges. That school opened in fall 2003, and resulted in a grade configuration change from 6-8 when only Bell operated, to grades 5-8 for each middle school. The transition process also led to outgoing students from Roaring Brook Elementary School being split up between the middle schools, which has been controversial.

More recently, some have called for closing and selling Bell, according to comments written on local online media.

Even without consolidation on the table, major changes could be in store for the middle schools. McKay will be holding the first of her promised "Knowledge Cafés," or community forums, on Oct. 24 and 25 to explore possible schedule changes and restructuring.

Scheduling changes will include 4-6 models that will range from preserving the team format to having longer periods.

Also up for discussion will be whether or not to change the grade configurations so that one middle school holds grades 5-6 while the other is for 7-8. However, McKay explained that they, speaking on behalf of officials, don't see “any real fiscal reason to go in that direction."

For more details on the Knowledge Cafés, click here.