Local elementary school in danger of closing

On Monday afternoon, April 12, members of the Arlington community, including some Vassar students and professors, rallied in front of Arthur S. May Elementary School in response to recent concerns that the school may be in danger of closing. Because state aid has decreased significantly this year, the Arlington School Board of Education must find a way to balance its budget, and closing one of its nine elementary schools could save the district $1 million per year.

According to the Arlington Communicator, a newsletter sent out by the school district The budget for the 2010-2011 school year, as proposed on April 13, has to accommodate a 9.9 percent cut to state aid for the school district, amounting to $5.5 million. The Board of Education chose to call for the close of the school in lieu of a tax increase to make up for this deficit. They want to cut this particular school because it is the oldest building in the school system and contains asbestos, which can prove hazardous to children.
The school board will make the final decision in a vote on May 18, but in the meantime,  parents, students and teachers protested the potential closing, converging on the sidewalk in front of the school in red shirts and carrying signs.

For former Davison House Fellow Lisa Kaul, parent of a first grader and a leader of the rally who compiled an open letter to the Board of Education, commented that Superintendent of the Arlington Central School District Frank Pepe had been opposed to the protest and "tried his best not to have this happen." As it was, the protesters were instructed to temporarily put their signs down when the school buses drove by at the end of the day, so as to not put the students "in the middle" of the problem, explained Kaul. However, as soon as the buses left, many of the schoolchildren joined in to rally with their parents and community members.

Parents are upset for a number of reasons, not least because the school has been very successful academically with the third-highest test scores of the nine elementary schools in the district and scoring in the 72nd percentile in the state. Arthur S. May is also a Title I school, which means that at least 40 percent of students are from low-income families, and it is the most socio-economically diverse elementary school in its district. As a Title I school, it receives extra funding to be used at the school's discretion for such purposes as extra academic counseling and free breakfasts for students. The parents and children celebrate this fact; at one point in the rally, the crowd chanted, "A-B-C-D, celebrate diversity!" Should the children be dispersed to other schools, they may lose their Title I benefits.

If Arthur S. May is closed and students are bused to other schools in the district, low-income families without independent means of transportation will no longer be within walking distance of their children's schools, and will have a difficult time picking up sick children or attending parent-teacher conferences. The school is located in one of the most densely populated areas in the district, and Gunnar Danell, one of the fathers at the rally, noted, "If our kids go to school far away, there will be extra cost."

Parent Teacher Association Member and Vassar Academic Computing Consultant Baynard Bailey's '90 family "moved to this neighborhood because we wanted our children to attend this school…With all the changes that are happening, it makes us think about leaving the neighborhood." Vassar Assistant Professor of Political Science Fubing Su observed that the school's proximity to Vassar is convenient for College employees.

A number of Vassar students were also at the rally in solidarity with the students, parents and teachers. Elsie Raymer '12 does field work in one of the kindergarten classrooms and feels that "this school seems to be a really good staple here."

If the school closes and 500 children are relocated, parents are concerned that overcrowding at the other elementary schools will become an issue. In addition, closing the school would mean that many teachers and administrators would lose their jobs, and as "shoppers, home-owners and tax-payers," wrote Kaul in an open letter to the board, "their job loss will only increase the economic distress of the community as a whole."  One of her suggestions to the Board of Education is to initiate a salary and benefits freeze for faculty and administrative members. At present, 70 percent of the budget goes to payroll, benefits and pensions, and as Su pointed out, "There may be a salary issue."

No formal decision will be made about the school's fate until the community votes on May 18. As this date approaches, the parents and teachers behind Monday's rally plan to canvas the community to inform people about how, where and when to vote. Until then, they will continue to present their demands to the Board of Education and to spread awareness about the issue.

—Additional reporting by Matthew Brock, News Editor