Parents and staff protest plan to place Yale program classrooms in DeMacy Elementary pod

Parents and teachers urged the Evesham Township Board of Education to reconsider a contract that would place Yale program classrooms in the fourth/fifth-grade pod at DeMacy Elementary School, saying the move would displace students and diminish the elementary-school experience.

During the meeting Doctor Smith and Mister Yates described an existing agreement with Yale to lease space at Evans and an ongoing effort to find district space when Yale needed to relocate from Medford. Doctor Smith said district planners identified three classrooms at Marlton Middle School for Yale middle-school classes and three classrooms in the fourth/fifth-grade pod at DeMacy for elementary Yale classes. “At this point, that’s how we’re planning to do it,” Doctor Smith said, describing the effort to keep grade-appropriate Yale classes together.

Teachers and parents countered that DeMacy’s pod is in active use for small-group instruction, assemblies and PTA activities, and that moving DeMacy fourth- and fifth-graders into middle-school space or trailers would disrupt routines and student supports. Erica Wiskowitz, a fifth-grade teacher at DeMacy, said the move would displace two fifth-grade classes along with a computer class and two resource teachers; she said shared spaces used for projects and small-group instruction are not available in the middle-school areas reserved for older students. “We feel you need to reprioritize your commitments and think about what is best for Evesham students first and foremost,” Wiskowitz said.

Several parents raised concerns about safety and supervision. Andrea Brown, who said she has a son in Yale and a child at DeMacy, asked whether the district had reviewed how the two student populations would be kept separate and whether facilities and staff are prepared to manage behavioral episodes that might lead a Yale student to elope. Other parents described their children’s trauma during repeated years of uncertainty and asked why the board signed any contract before final state funding numbers arrived.

DeMacy PTA leaders and parents described the pod as central to elementary activities — student council, assemblies, projects and special events — and urged the board to seek alternatives such as trailers on Evans property or other nonclassroom space so DeMacy students would not be displaced. “This decision has a direct impact on our children, and the fact that parents are finding out through the rumor mill and not by the board or the administration is insulting,” one parent said.

Administrators told the board the Yale agreement began before the district learned it could take the additional tax levy authority, and that timing constrained available options; they said they planned to honor the commitment while minimizing disruption. Board members said they understood parents’ concerns and asked the administration to prioritize student experience and communicate more fully with staff and families as plans are refined.

The board did not vote on the Yale placement at this meeting; multiple speakers requested clearer, written plans showing which classes would move, how students would be kept separate, and what contingency steps would be taken if the planned rooms are unavailable.