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Higher kindergarten enrollment prompts Westwood to add sections and move a classroom reduction to Sheehan
Summary
Superintendent reported unexpected enrollment increases at Downey and Martha Jones kindergartens and recommended adding a section at each school; to remain budget neutral the district will reallocate turnover savings, shift one IA and reduce one elementary classroom at Sheehan (grade 5).
The Westwood School Committee heard on June 12 that kindergarten enrollment at Downey and Martha Jones exceeded budgeted projections and that the district plans to add a kindergarten classroom at each school for fall 2025.
Superintendent Tim Puawar told the committee that adding two kindergarten sections — one at Downey and one at Martha Jones — would cost roughly $230,000 (two teachers at about $170,000 plus two instructional aides at roughly $60,000). The district proposed covering about $115,000 of that total with turnover savings and reassigning one instructional aide, leaving an $85,000 shortfall.
To balance the approved fiscal year 2026 budget without a new appropriation, the administration said it will take a single elementary classroom reduction elsewhere in the district. After reviewing student needs and enrollment distribution, the administration decided to take that reduction in grade 5 at Sheehan for the 2025‑26 year while maintaining literacy and math support in the building.
Puawar emphasized that the class‑size guidelines the committee sets are not hard caps but policy targets and noted that kindergarten class projections are more uncertain now than before the pandemic. He said enrollment projections had been built conservatively for the budget process and that registrations can continue to trickle in through the summer.
Committee members asked that the affected classrooms and students be monitored closely during the coming year. Members also suggested earlier registration windows or additional demographic checks of preschool providers to improve planning for future budgets.
