Earliest to Close an Elementary School: 2013

Ridgefield's school system would save money—while reducing class sizes and gaining all-day kindergarten—if the earliest an elementary school closure occurred was in fall of 2013, Superintendent Deborah Low said at Monday night's board meeting.

Low gave a lengthy presentation on recommendations from elementary school principals and district-wide administrators on how a plan to deal with enrollment decreases on that timeline could work. The talk was an attempt to cohere data, committee research, school board discussions and parent perspectives that have been flying around town since the reconfiguration report was released in October.

While closing a school sooner in the face of declining enrollments would save the district money, Low emphasized a need to prioritize all-day kindergarten and lower class sizes first.

And since next year's teacher's contracts were negotiated with low salary and no health benefit cost increases, there may be rare budget wiggle room to launch all-day kindergarten next year, she said. Further, declining enrollments are a fitting time to lower class size maximums.

"Twenty-thirteen's an ambitious target—it's a desired target financially—'14-15 would give you a bit more breathing room," Low said of a potential goal date to close an elementary school.

By 2013, district enrollment projections show the elementary school population dipping to 2,000 students, the number board reconfiguration subcommittee member Amy Shinohara noted was the agreed-on threshold for seriously considering closing a school. And population analyses from the fall show that the 2013-14 school year is the first one where it's possible to close a school without taking over the rooms Children's Corner uses at Barlow Mountain Elementary.

If Low's proposed timeline were to work, the Board of Education would have to decide during this school year if and when to institute all-day kindergarten, and a plan to close a school would have to be nailed down during 2010-11.