We are pleased to relay the following statement recently approved by the board of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association:

Statement of Support for Bridge Street Elementary School

In light of the recent discussion by City Officials concerning the possible closing of a Northampton elementary school, the Board of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association would like it to be known that we strongly value and support the continued vitality of our neighborhood school, Bridge Street Elementary. As a school, Bridge Street Elementary greatly contributes to the overall vitality and health of Ward 3.

Not only do we greatly value Bridge Street’s considerable academic achievement, we value the school for its role in our community as a hub for neighborhood social and civic activities.

Furthermore, in light of this relationship, we strongly support the on-going vitality of all Northampton neighborhood schools for the breadth of activities they offer and the sense of community they provide.

We are committed to working with the City to find long-term solutions to keep all our neighborhood schools open.

--Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
9 September 2008

See also:

Bridge Street School Website
The proximity of the Bridge Street School to downtown Northampton allows for a variety of school-community activities including walking field trips to local businesses, historical sites, nursing homes and municipal offices, and collaborative efforts with area colleges.



Northampton School Committee Minutes of August 14, 2008 (PDF)
REPORT: Strategic Planning Committee: Mayor Higgins and Ms. Hartry introduced Mr. William Allen, a consultant from Future Management Systems. They then introduced those members of the Strategic Planning Committee who were present. The twenty-five members of committee include representatives from the schools and the wider community, a parent and a teacher from each school, and two administrators... Mr. Tom Riddell, Mr. Jim Dostal and Ms. Gwen Agna were present from the committee. Mr. Allen spoke about the goals and the process of the committee. He described it as an ambitious and timely process, the group will focus on identifying future goals for NPS for the next 5 years. Focus Group meetings will include members from every constituency in the community; two focus groups will be by invitation, and one will be an open forum.

The group will present its recommendations to the School Committee by Dec 15. In response to a question from Ms. Minnick, Mr. Allen talked about how data would be collected and collated. The committee will look at performance data, development data, and demographics. They will look at the beliefs, values, and assumptions about education in the district. They will bring these responses together to shape realistic goals to adopt and pursue, always bearing in mind what is best for the students of NPS. Mayor Higgins asked Mr. Allen to share the interesting statistic that in 1964 80% [of] households in Northampton had children in schools system, now only 20% of household have children in system.

Closing Bridge Street School Contradicts Smart Growth Goals (3/19/08)
Due to Northampton's looming budget shortfall, it has been widely reported that Bridge Street Elementary School is at risk of closing. We appreciate that the closure could save $400,000, but it goes against some of the better goals of the Sustainable Northampton Plan, which include getting people out of their cars and encouraging them to live downtown through amenities (as opposed to coercing them with laws).

On page 11 of the Sustainable Northampton Plan, Land Use objective number 5 states:

Locate housing within walking distances along safe paths, or with bicycle access, to and from neighborhood commercial areas, parks and recreation, schools, and public transportation.

On page 51, one metric of progress is "Percent of children able to walk to school".

It is well known that mothers of young children are heavy users of cars...

Officials cite declining enrollment as a reason to consider closing the Bridge Street School (Gazette, 3/13/08). However, the Sustainable Northampton Plan envisions accommodating "the vast majority of new smart growth residential development" within Northampton's Traditional Neighborhood and Receiving Zone, which precisely characterizes the Bridge Street neighborhood.

If Sustainable Northampton achieves its goals, it seems likely that Bridge Street School enrollments will rise...

Boston Globe: "Walk-to-school movement afoot across Mass." (9/19/08)
This so-called walking school bus is part of a new citywide campaign this fall that mirrors a growing effort across the state to encourage children to walk to school instead of hitching a ride with their parents.

Just persuading students to put one foot in front of the other, advocates say, could dramatically reduce school traffic jams, slim children's waistlines, and help relieve school budgets of some gas-guzzling buses. And high prices at the gas pump might just jolt parents into giving it a try...

Just 15 percent of students today make the trip by foot, compared with 42 percent four decades ago, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

NEAT Bulletin: "Phenomenal" outpouring from community headed off school closing (4/7/08)
The Superintendent described the outpouring from the community as "phenomenal" and made clear that this decision was largely influenced by all of our hard work.

Education World: "Are Smaller Schools Better Schools?" (7/20/00)
The researchers found that student achievement was greater in the small schools than in the larger schools. Students, parents, teachers, and community volunteers reported greater satisfaction because they felt more connected to one another, Wasley told Education World...

Although a variety of factors affect student achievement, the greatest factor was the reduction of anonymity -- going to a school where someone knows you and your name. Being known by your teachers and peers makes a difference, Wasley noted.

"Back to School for Planners"
(Fall 2004 issue of Planning Commissioners Journal)
...the trend towards mega schools continues despite widespread agreement among researchers that the size of most U.S. schools is too large. A growing body of research has shown that "student achievement in small schools is at least equal and often superior to achievement in large schools." A higher percentage of students, across all socio-economic levels, are successful when they are part of smaller, more intimate learning communities... Security improves and violence decreases, as does student alcohol and drug abuse.

The assumption that larger schools are most cost-effective has also been questioned. In a 1998 review of research literature, Mary Anne Raywid of Hofstra University concluded, "When viewed on a cost-per-student-enrolled basis, they [small schools] are somewhat more expensive. But when examined on the basis of the number of students they graduate, they are less expensive than either medium-sized or large high schools."

...Cities are combining school revitalization funding with other municipal investments, using schools as a key component in efforts to stabilize entire neighborhoods...

Since travel to school can represent 10-15 percent of morning rush hour motor vehicle trips in many areas, the choice of school location and design affects traffic congestion and air quality as well as having implications for school transportation budgets. And, as concern mounts about the amount of physical activity school children get, many school districts, planners, and parents want to provide as many children as possible with the option to walk safely to school...

Schools contribute to the economic life and vitality of their neighborhoods. When a community lacks a school, fewer new residents move there and property values decline. The buying power of the school district and its employees, and the purchases students, parents, and community members make in businesses located around the school, can be substantial...

Schools located at a distance from the community's center force people to use buses and automobiles, increasing air pollution and dependence on fossil fuels... schools are "the advance scouts for sprawl"...

Schools bring together people from all ages in a wide range of activities and function as centers of the community. When schools close, this connection is severed. Residents of eight small towns in North Dakota that had lost their school rated their quality of life significantly lower than residents of towns that had retained their school.

"Why Johnny Can't Walk to School: Historic Neighborhood Schools in the Age of Sprawl"
(National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2nd edition, 2002, PDF)
Smaller, human-scaled institutions are easier to fit into existing neighborhoods. They are also easier for community residents to relate to than behemoth-sized institutions...

Like the movement of post offices and other public buildings from downtowns to outlying commercial strips, the migration of schools from settled neighborhoods to middle-of-nowhere locations is one more factor weakening the ties that once brought people together. And like residential or commercial sprawl, "school sprawl" is contributing to the dismemberment of communities across the country...

Older, in-town neighborhoods whose viability is enhanced or even sustained by the presence of a school fear losing the "glue" that holds them together...

...Ann Clancy, former president of the Broadwater School PTA [in Montana], pointed out that city residents have already seen first-hand the ill effects that a school's closing can have on a neighborhood. After an older school in Billings' North Park area closed several years ago, the surrounding area declined...

...If a school's huge size and auto-orientation dictate an edge-of-town location, the school is more likely to be surrounded by a large parking lot than by a human-scaled neighborhood...

"Dollars & Sense: The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools"
(KnowledgeWorks Foundation, 2002)
...ideal upper limits of “small size” for schools with conventionally wide grade spans are as follows:

• High schools (9-12): 75 students per grade level (300 total enrollment)
  
• Middle schools (5-8): 50 students per grade level (200 total enrollment)
  
• Elementary schools (1-8): 25 students per grade level (200 total enrollment)
  
• Elementary schools (1-6): 25 students per grade level (150 total enrollment).

...The research about the value of smaller schools shows that small schools are safer schools and better places for students to work with adults who know them and whom they trust (Barker & Gump, 1964; Wasley, 2000; Cotton, 2001). Small schools graduate a higher percentage of students. Students drop out of small schools at lower rates than they do from large schools, and more students who graduate from small schools go on to post-secondary education than do their counterparts who graduate from large schools. There is less violence in small schools, less vandalism, a heightened sense of belonging, and better attendance. Students earn higher grade point averages, and more participate in extracurricular activities. There is greater teacher satisfaction in small schools than there is in large schools. Members of the community including parents and other relatives are more involved with the life of small schools than are their counterparts in large schools--for the same reasons as their children (Cotton, 2001)...

At least one study spotlights the mechanisms by which small schools become more effective than large schools. Lee and Smith (1994) used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (1994) to show that small schools increased teacher collaboration and team teaching. Lee and Smith report that “large size and fragmented human contact complicate the management of [large] schools, which elevates the importance of formal rules to regulate behavior. The environment in comprehensive high schools is therefore less human” (p. 2)...

Adding up the costs and weighing them against the benefits shows that small schools not only are better places in which to educate children, but that large schools themselves actually create significant diseconomies...

[Funk & Bailey, 1999 research report:]
By two important measures of student outcome, smaller schools in Nebraska generally perform better than larger ones. The additional input cost of supporting students in smaller schools needs to be weighed against their more positive educational outcomes. The so-called inefficiencies of small schools are greatly reduced when calculated on the basis of cost per graduate, and virtually disappear when the substantial social costs of non-graduates and the societal impact of college-educated citizens are considered (p. 3).

Both the Nebraska study and its counterpart in New York show that, measuring by the cost of a graduate, small schools are good financial and educational investments...

While it may be true that in small schools some costs increase because they are spread out over fewer students, research suggests that large schools require added tiers of administration, more security people, and additional maintenance and operations personnel. The reason for this may be that in large schools more students feel alienated from the life of the school and some vent their anger in inappropriate or violent behavior. Therefore, it takes more paid professionals per student to deal with the negative effects of alienation in a large school than in a small one, where people know each other better...

Students who spend less time on the bus are able to spend more time with family and friends, in community activities, and even on homework. Involvement with their families and communities is a no-cost benefit of smaller schools that helps students to live better and richer lives, and to connect more fully with their school as well (Beaumont & Pianca, 2000; Howley & Howley, 2001)...

The closure of a school can be particularly hard on retail stores. Sales from students and teachers evaporate, while parents do more of their shopping near their children’s new school...

When schools and other services move out, downtown commerce invariably suffers as more of the community’s activity shifts to the fringe. Residential subdivisions and chain store sprawl soon follow, eliminating open space and increasing traffic congestion, and further undermining the community’s historic center...

Without a local school, both small towns and urban neighborhoods will be unable to attract young families. Out-migration will increase. Researchers William Dreier and Willis Goudy (1991) found that a larger number of Midwestern towns that had lost their schools to consolidation were losing population and at a faster rate than those towns that had maintained their local school. As population falls, home values drop and businesses struggle. Once this spiral of disinvestment and decline begins, it can be very difficult to turn around...

Schools anchor and unify communities by bringing residents of all ages and backgrounds together for a variety of activities and services. Schools often double as community and cultural centers...

Perhaps more than any other institution, schools are responsible for a sense of community and collective identity. Local schools educate generations of friends, family, and neighbors, providing a shared experience and continuity from one generation to the next. Local schools have much to do with a community’s sense of its own identity...