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Board moves to phase out sixth grades in Phippsburg, W. Bath
By Seth Koenig, Times Record Staff
WEST BATH — Regional School Unit 1 leaders have set in motion a plan that will eliminate the sixth grade levels at Phippsburg Elementary School and the West Bath School by the start of the 2011-12 school year.
The district’s board of directors voted unanimously Monday night to designate the two schools as strictly pre-kindergarten-through-fifth grade facilities in two years’ time.
“I think we all agree that from an educational standpoint and from a financial standpoint, it would be beneficial to move the (district’s sixth grade) students into (Bath Middle School),” Chet Garrison, who represents West Bath and part of Bath on the board, told his fellow directors Monday night. “We’ve been talking about this for years.”
The issue had been heated in recent months as many Phippsburg parents turned out during 2009-10 fiscal year budget discussions to fight to retain a sixth grade at their school. The board of directors relented, asking Superintendent William Shuttleworth to restore a sixth grade teaching position at the school for the coming academic year, and also called for the grade level in West Bath to be reconsidered in future years.
Early drafts of the district’s 2009-10 spending plan envisioned sixth-graders from Phippsburg and West Bath instead attending either Bath Middle School or the kindergarten-through-eighth grade Woolwich Central School.
Now, although Phippsburg Elementary School will hold sixth grade classes this September, the school has a firm end date for that grade level.
Garrison’s motion to set 2011-12 as the deadline for eliminating the grade levels in the two schools came in lieu of an action on a proposed policy on Monday night’s agenda. Adopting a policy capping the West Bath and Phippsburg schools at the fifth grade by that year, Garrison said, would be “overkill.”
His motion passed unanimously.
“We’re stating a direction and the public will respond accordingly,” said RSU 1 board member Timothy Harkins. “As we’ve seen before, some people will oppose this and some people will support it, but at least now the board’s direction will be clear.”
Regional School Unit 1 oversees education in Arrowsic, West Bath, Bath, Phippsburg and Woolwich.
skoenig@timesrecord.com
The district’s board of directors voted unanimously Monday night to designate the two schools as strictly pre-kindergarten-through-fifth grade facilities in two years’ time.
“I think we all agree that from an educational standpoint and from a financial standpoint, it would be beneficial to move the (district’s sixth grade) students into (Bath Middle School),” Chet Garrison, who represents West Bath and part of Bath on the board, told his fellow directors Monday night. “We’ve been talking about this for years.”
The issue had been heated in recent months as many Phippsburg parents turned out during 2009-10 fiscal year budget discussions to fight to retain a sixth grade at their school. The board of directors relented, asking Superintendent William Shuttleworth to restore a sixth grade teaching position at the school for the coming academic year, and also called for the grade level in West Bath to be reconsidered in future years.
Early drafts of the district’s 2009-10 spending plan envisioned sixth-graders from Phippsburg and West Bath instead attending either Bath Middle School or the kindergarten-through-eighth grade Woolwich Central School.
Now, although Phippsburg Elementary School will hold sixth grade classes this September, the school has a firm end date for that grade level.
Garrison’s motion to set 2011-12 as the deadline for eliminating the grade levels in the two schools came in lieu of an action on a proposed policy on Monday night’s agenda. Adopting a policy capping the West Bath and Phippsburg schools at the fifth grade by that year, Garrison said, would be “overkill.”
His motion passed unanimously.
“We’re stating a direction and the public will respond accordingly,” said RSU 1 board member Timothy Harkins. “As we’ve seen before, some people will oppose this and some people will support it, but at least now the board’s direction will be clear.”
Regional School Unit 1 oversees education in Arrowsic, West Bath, Bath, Phippsburg and Woolwich.
skoenig@timesrecord.com
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