West Springfield families decry possible Mittineague Elementary School closing

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Parents, teachers and students are waiting to hear whether the Mittineague Elementary School — a place some call “the small school with a big heart” ― will close.

An outside review of West Springfield’s enrollment and school building conditions warns that continuing to operate Mittineague can’t be justified financially. With the possibility of the school being phased out next year, parents say the town is moving too fast for students whose elementary careers began during the pandemic.

“The children who will be entering fifth grade next year is the class that began school at home because of the COVID-19 (pandemic). The current fourth graders were first graders, and at 6 years old, they never got to attend the school. They did school from their laptops and Chromebooks at home. It’s not a popular opinion to take that group and remove them from their school before they can finish out their time at Mittineague,” Allison Lapierre-Houle told The Republican.

Lapierre-Houle has been the co-vice president of the Mittineague Parent and Teacher Organization for almost two years. She has a seventh grader who attended Mittineague, and she also has a fifth grader transitioning out in the spring.

The main argument is that everybody believes “September of next year is just too fast,” she said. “We feel like it’s not a solid-enough plan, and there’s not enough transition time for the kids.”

Long-term plans

Superintendent of West Springfield Schools Stefania Raschilla said an outside firm conducted the review of all six elementary schools in West Springfield, where Mittineague and the John Ashley School were identified as being “financially unjustifiable.”

The price tag to renovate all six elementary schools also was identified in the feasibility study to be $84 million, and the cost to build a new school similar in size to Philip G. Coburn Elementary School would be about $92 million.

Because there were significant costs associated with renovations at both Mittineague and John Ashley schools to maintain a minimum standard of occupancy, the School Committee did not support renovating, Raschilla said.

Based on recommendations, the district’s long-term plans could include having all preschool and kindergarten students attend their respective elementary schools; an addition could be added to John R. Fausey Elementary School; potential locations for a new elementary school would be considered; and the district would have to approve and write a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Other plans would include redrawing district lines, and reviewing class sizes and teacher-to-student ratios at each school, in addition to researching transportation costs.

Recommendations

Of the recommendations, one option is to move all the students to Coburn, and the Mittineague building could be repurposed for a free full-day preschool program for all 3- and 4-year-old children in town.

With that option, the district could keep the staff and relocate them to other positions. This option also would increase the district’s Chapter 70 per-pupil funding because of the increased enrollment.

Once the School Committee votes on which recommendation it will adopt, a transition plan also will have to be developed.

Plans will have to be discussed and voted on with the School Committee, City Council and other community stakeholders before action is taken, Raschilla said.

Lapierre-Houle said a good transition plan would be one that is phased out over the next couple of years, so that the kids who are now in the school can finish out their elementary career in the neighborhood school.

The social-emotional and the historical implications of the school cannot be ignored, as the town’s 250th anniversary nears.

“A lot of the photos and memories will be brought up from over the years,” Lapierre-Houle said. “The school has been here for over 100 years, and (the decision to close the school) almost says that they’re not treating the school as if it’s an important part of the community. It might be worth dusting a little bit of money off to just do what they have to do to keep it open.”

Comments from School Committee

Nancy Farrell, School Committee vice chair, said the district needs a complete plan before it comes to a vote. She pointed out that $1.3 million of West Springfield Public School staff are being paid with federal pandemic funding, which will run out, and that there is a $500,000 transportation offset and a 3% increase in teacher’s salary to be included in next year’s budget.

“With all of those things in the budget, with the plan, what is the cost of it?” Farrell said. “We need to have a commitment from the mayor to say he is willing to completely fund this before the School Committee can vote.”

Committee member Diana Coyne said, if the board votes for renovations, that will be funded by taxpayers, whereas if the state is involved, there is a 70% to 80% reimbursement for new construction.

William C. Reichelt, West Springfield mayor and chairman of the School Committee, said the district received 75% reimbursement for the new Coburn School building construction.

Though plans are not yet official, parents and community stakeholders can email their thoughts on the long-term plans to the School Committee, he said.

Lapierre-Houle said she is hoping that the committee will rethink the closure.

“We are hoping they will go back to the drawing table and say, ‘You know, we do have to be fiscally responsible for the town, but at the same time, we also need to consider an adequate transition for the students in September 2024,’” Lapierre-Houle said.

Now, all families can do is wait to hear back from the School Committee, Lapierre-Houle said. In the meantime, there is a social media group, “We Are Mittineague,” that will share any updates and information regarding the potential closure.

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