Support Grade Schools' Merger

Citing school under-enrollment and a $1.7 million budget deficit, Cambridge Superintendent of Schools Bobbie J. D’Alessandro announced a plan earlier this month to merge three elementary schools as soon as next year. Students would be relocated to new schools, about 20 teachers would lose their positions and vacant buildings would be used to house other city offices. While such a scenario is by no means ideal, the school committee should endorse D’Alessandro’s proposal. School closings and relatively low staff cuts are far less severe than directly slashing school department funds.

A major cause of the underpopulation is that a large percentage of families, most notably in the whitest, wealthiest neighborhoods in Cambridge, choose to send their children to private schools. As a result, public schools have seen a sharp decrease in the number of students, whereas schools in more working-class areas remain a popular choice for blue-collar parents. This disparity comes in the wake of Cantabridgian rent-control abolition; as many working families who sent their children to public schools were driven out by steadily increasing costs of living, gentrification ensued and private school enrollment became more competitive.

D’Alessandro’s plan would preserve the Intensive Studies Program curriculum, a popular alternative for students who desire a greater degree of academic rigor. The program will be relocated to one of the merged schools, but it will not be eliminated—giving Cambridge’s parents a greater degree of choice in their children’s education and providing a strong alternative to private schools.

Unfortunately, Amigos, a popular bilingual program that has drawn families to Cambridge with its innovative teaching methods, will be scrapped—though bilingual education classes will be preserved. It is a shame that Cambridge, a city which takes pride in its efforts to balance its schools by both racial and socioeconomic standards, would cut such a successful program that serves the needs of its non-English-speaking pupils. Instead, Amigos should be retained, and even expanded to accept more students.

One major goal of the reorganization plan should be to help make schools more appealing to all students in addition to simply saving money. New curricula and better teacher training should accommodate the influx of new students, better prepare students for the statewide MCAS exam and help stem the flight from public schools. The youth of Cambridge’s public education system would be best served if all money saved from the mergers was channeled directly back into the School Department, allowing it to pursue these goals.

With a looming deficit, sacrifices must be made, and D’Alessandro’s plan would save money while limiting the negative impact on Cambridge’s schools. But it must be done to maximize the educational benefits for Cambridge’s students, while also helping the city squeeze through difficult times.

Dissent: School Shuffle Hurts Students

The Staff seems content to compromise the welfare of Cambridge students for the sake of cutting costs. The students in question benefit tremendously from their small class size, which should be maintained regardless of the short-term budgetary implications. The $1 million price tag is negligible in the context of tens of millions of dollars in the Cambridge Public Schools budget, and a temporary deficit for a year would be far better than the confusion, aggravation and demoralization that would occur from consolidating and downsizing programs that have been created to benefit Cambridge students’ various learning styles.

Each school has strengths and weaknesses, but it does no good to shuffle thousands of students simply to raise average test scores—which obscure the reality that many Cambridge students need more help.

—Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero ’04 and Luke Smith ’04