Should Bell & 7 Bridges Stay at Grades 5-8? [POLL]

The creation of Seven Bridges Middle School has historically been a contentious topic in the Chappaqua school district, ever since a multi-million dollar bond referendum that included its construction narrowly passed in 2000, especially because of zoning split of Roaring Brook Elementary School.

Recently, Chappaqua's school officials have explored proposals to change the grade structure of Bell and Seven Bridges, along with longer class periods, the later of which is to give more learning time for students. , one middle school would hold all students of grades 5-6 while the other would house grades 7-8. In essence, middle schoolers would be zoned based on age instead of geography.

Changing the grade structure has support among some district parents because it would undo the Roaring Brook attendence zone split. However, some parents have concerns about changing the grades because it would mean more frequent transitions between schools. Transportation costs would also rise by an estimatation annual cost of $200,000, although changing the grades would allow for the district to reduce staff due to economies of scale in offering classes to larger grade cohorts.

Superintendent Lyn McKay, who personally favors keeping the 5-8 model but has indicated she could change her mind if there is a a lot of community support for restructuring, will make her decision around mid December. The school board does not need to take a vote and any changes would be effective for the 2012-13 school year.

Meanwhile, McKay and administrators have ruled out consideration of outright consolidation. While stats show that district-wide enrollment has dropped to 4,083 students for this year (versus 4,055 in 2002-03, the last pre-Seven Bridges school year), it was decided that the drop is not enough to warrant closing a middle school. Enrollment is projected to only drop further by about 100 students over the next five years, and while consolidation is technically feasible now, McKay has warned that it would produce overcrowding and ad hoc features such as "art on a cart" that are not desired.

McKay's assessment, however, looks at a single 5-8 school. Meanwhile, in a letter to New Castle NOW, resident Betty Weitz proposes making room for a consolidation by moving 5th graders back to the elementary school level, where they were prior to Seven Bridges being opened. One commenter, however, points out that this scenario may be an issue because the elementary schools now have full-day kintergarten, which wasn't in place until 5th graders were moved to the middle school level.

With these scenarios, we want to know what you would prefer? Should consolidation be done? Should there still be two schools but sorted by age? Or should the current arrangement stay in place? Let us know by voting in our poll and speaking in our comments section!