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District recommends 'Option 3' for elementary redistricting; committee to decide May 18
Summary
Scituate district staff recommended 'Option 3' as the redistricting plan to move from four elementary schools to three, saying it minimizes student moves while targeting 20 students per classroom; the school committee will vote May 18.
Superintendent Lynch and district planning staff presented a recommended elementary redistricting map called Option 3, saying it best meets the process priorities of balanced class sizes, minimizing student disruption, and preserving neighborhoods.
The district official presenting the materials said the plan was developed from two public sessions, an online survey and follow-up revisions. "Option 3 is more of an evolution and an improvement on the first two," Matthew Cropper of Cropper GIS said, adding the recommendation reverts some earlier movements so "nobody from Wampatuck is moved out of Wampatuck, and nobody from Jenkins is moved out of Jenkins in this recommendation." The district said the plan is intended to hold for about 20 years barring major demographic shifts.
District slides showed projected 2027–28 enrollments under the recommended configuration: the new elementary school at about 476 students, Jenkins at about 434 and Wampatuck at about 396; staff emphasized those figures are estimates used to reach the 20-students-per-class target. The presentation reiterated that the 20-student target is a design benchmark and not an absolute capacity limit.
Committee members pressed staff on what the recommendation sacrifices compared with prior options, how new housing and census updates are captured in projections, and how the district will address fifth-grade placements. Superintendent Lynch and staff noted the district maintains petition processes under policies JC and JCA that families may use to request assignment exceptions, and said the committee's approval would be followed by a period of outreach to impacted families. "Once the recommendation is made to the committee and the committee makes their decision on May 18, then that would give an opportunity for us to look at where those fifth graders have been assigned," the district said.
The committee did not vote on the recommendation at the April 27 meeting. Staff said they will return on May 18 with the formal recommendation for committee action.
The committee also heard that Option 3 was developed after public feedback on two earlier draft scenarios and is intended to minimize the number of students moved while meeting enrollment targets.
