Portsmouth School Board approves moving Lafayette Plaza into Little Harbor attendance zone

The Portsmouth School Board voted unanimously on Tuesday to ask the superintendent to modify the Little Harbor elementary attendance boundary to include Lafayette Plaza, the old WHB parcel and surrounding wetlands.

"I'll move to request that the superintendent modify the elementary school district map to include the Lafayette Plaza shopping center, the old WHB property and surrounding wetlands as part of the Little Harbor Elementary School District," Board member Byron Madd moved; the motion was seconded and passed without objection.

Board members discussed the rationale and logistics. The motion was described as proactive: the apartments and developments near Lafayette Plaza are not fully occupied yet, so drawing the property into Little Harbor now would pre‑position the district for potential new students. District staff warned that many new rental units are one‑ and two‑bedroom market‑rate apartments that historically yield few school‑age children; past nearby developments produced very low student counts in initial years.

Transportation and cost questions followed. Superintendent staff said a single bus for a small enclave would be difficult to justify if only a few students lived there; the district cited a current modular classroom lease cost of roughly $46,000 in the operating budget as a reference for tradeoffs between modular capacity and additional bus service. "Our modeling would tell us that property is not going to have a lot of kids in it," a district staff member said, noting that boundary moves should be reviewed with transportation modeling.

Board members requested that administration analyze transportation logistics, cost implications and projected student yield before any operational changes are made; the approved motion sends the request to the superintendent for mapping and further study. The board did not implement immediate transportation or facility changes at the meeting.