Underwood & Ward Elementary Planning

No, there will be no changes for any current NPS students (including incoming Kindergarteners) for the 2023-24 school year.

This has not yet been determined. The work of the task force will be presented to the School Committee in December 2023 for consideration. Prior to any recommendations to the School Committee, options under consideration will be shared with staff, families and the community in the fall in order to collect feedback. 

The Task Force understands that some of the short term options have provoked a great deal of worry for some families in both communities. We look forward to future discussions in which we expect to narrow our focus to the most feasible options based upon data, research, and feedback.

In December 2023, the Task Force will present a set of short-term and long-term recommendations to the School Committee. These recommendations will be based upon the research, data analysis, and community feedback conducted by the Task Force. The School Committee will discuss the recommendations and determine how to move forward. In addition to community meetings in the fall, a School Committee public forum will be held prior to the final vote of the School Committee.

The reason we are undertaking this initiative now is to address both the short-term challenges identified at each school and to integrate a longer term plan for Underwood and Ward into the district-wide long-term facilities plan as it continues to move forward. 

As new or renovated elementary school buildings come on line (2025 - Lincoln-Eliot, 2026 - Horace Mann, 2027 - Countryside, 2027 or 2029 - Franklin,) the district needs to consider enrollment across the district and student assignment areas, capacities at these schools, and how these updated buildings impact student services and building operations.

The outcome of this study is needed ahead of the district’s upcoming review of buffer zones and student assignment areas for the Lincoln-Eliot project, which will be completed for Fall 2025, and allows us to be ready to submit a Statement of Interest to the MSBA in the next application cycle. The December timeline also ties into the update of the Enrollment Analysis Report and the opening of Kindergarten registration, which take place in the December-January timeframe. 

There are educational, social and staffing challenges of having a school with approximately 11-12 classrooms. These challenges are difficult to manage and have a direct impact on students’ educational experience. The short-term issues we have identified at both schools are as follows:

• Challenges of “right sizing” classrooms–potential for class sizes markedly lower or higher than district average

• Shared/part-time staffing model: partial full time equivalent (FTEs) for specials (Art, Music, Library, Physical Education) makes scheduling difficult. Challenges of hiring and retaining qualified staff with partial FTEs

• Limited social opportunities

• Flexible grouping challenges, limited cohort clusters for academic/programmatic purposes

• Limited grade level teacher teaming/collaboration capacity with only one class in a grade level; annual changes in team composition 

Both schools are nearly 100 years old and have building systems that are well beyond their useful life. Building systems include mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and building envelope (roof, exterior walls, windows and doors).  In addition, the majority of spaces in both schools are undersized, with some spaces missing. Both buildings also have significant accessibility issues that limit students, staff or family members with mobility challenges or visual impairment from fully accessing the building or core building spaces.

Our consultant, Perkins Eastman, presented their findings on the existing physical conditions of both buildings and sites at the June 13th Task Force meeting. Their presentation also included an analysis of the space use and space sizes in the existing buildings. 

Here is the full presentation of the Existing Site and Facility Conditions with Space Use Analysis. A detailed report with all of the existing condition information is forthcoming and will be posted on the Underwood and Ward Facility and Enrollment Study webpage.

In addition to the educational, social and staffing challenges, schools with 12 classrooms or less and lower than average class sizes become operationally and fiscally inefficient, potentially impacting what programs and resources can be offered or supported across the system.  

Yes, we are considering short-term options because of specific challenges that have been identified at both schools that will impact the student experience in the next 1-3 years. Short-term options include, but are not limited to:

• Maintaining the status quo with the associated ongoing challenges

• Identifying and implementing administrative shifts to address class sizes and total number of classrooms (to increase enrollment at Ward and/or Underwood), such as faculty student assignments and buffer zone placements.

• Consolidating Underwood and Ward students at one of the existing schools (either Ward or Underwood). 

• Redistricting Ward and/or Underwood Elementary School students to other elementary schools in the district. 

• Housing grades K-2 at one school and 3-5 at the other to create a larger cohort at each grade level.

It is important to note that every school project begins with a comprehensive review of a wide variety of options without initial judgment about the merits or likelihood of feasibility. After review of relevant information, we narrow the options, eliminating some and prioritizing others. In addition, there may be additional options to consider as the Task Force continues its exploration and feedback is received from families and the community. 

Given the immediate educational, social, staffing and fiscal challenges identified and the projected ongoing nature of these challenges, it is incumbent upon the district to develop a plan to address these challenges.  

Although it is difficult to think about some of these potential short term options, it is important to discuss the options now and to work together to identify potential paths forward. This will need to be done within the context of the district’s long term facilities goals. 

Building projects typically take 6-8+ years to complete, including hiring the project team, feasibility study, schematic design to detailed design and construction documents, bidding and construction.  They also require time to identify funding with the City, which may include a debt-exclusion vote from the community, or partnership with the state through the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) building program. As presented to the School Committee on November 7, 2022 in the Consultant Scope of Services, the long-term options to be considered include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Renovation of both schools

• New construction for both schools

• Renovation of one school and new construction of the other

• New construction for the Ward or Underwood Elementary School to be the new home for both schools, resulting in consolidation of the two schools

• Redistricting Ward and Underwood Elementary School students into other elementary schools in the district. 

There may be additional options to consider as the Task Force continues its exploration and feedback is received from families and the community. 

Built in 1924 and 1928, Underwood and Ward are our two very oldest elementary school buildings. As you know, the district has been systematically updating our elementary schools given the age and condition of the buildings. Underwood and Ward are being considered at the same time because they are our two oldest buildings, they are located a bit more than 1 mile apart, and both have enrollments around 200 students with 11-12 classrooms per building. The size of the schools, physical conditions of the buildings, and the number of classrooms per grade level, have a variety of implications for each school community, as well as the district as a whole.

Ward is projected to have 1-2 classrooms per grade over the next five years, with small class sizes in many sections. Underwood is projected to maintain 2 classrooms per grade for the next 5 years, and class sizes are projected to continue to decline. Fewer than 3 classrooms per grade and very small class sizes present educational, social, staffing, and fiscal challenges. In fact, Newton’s recently completed and planned elementary school projects all have a minimum of 18 classrooms for 3 classrooms per grade, which addresses these educational, social, staffing, and fiscal challenges.

The age of the facilities, their condition, accessibility issues, and the limitations of both facilities to fully support the educational program are the primary factors driving this initiative. However, enrollment is always a factor that is taken into consideration as we review facility needs. When we think about enrollment, our main focus is on what that means for the number of classes per grade level and the number of students per class. We also need to match the individual school with the numbers and trends across the district, including number of students and number of classrooms capacity.  

Newton’s one-year enrollment projections have historically had a variance from projection around +/- 2% for the district as a whole and by level (with the exception of the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years during the COVID-19 pandemic). Projections for the kindergarten class tend to be more variable than projections for grades 1-12 given the data that is available to the school district. We compare our internal 5-year projections to external projections conducted by NESDEC (the New England School Development Council), an organization that many local school districts utilize for enrollment projections. Our 5-year projections are typically very similar to NESDEC projections, although our projections tend to be slightly higher due to differences in the methodologies utilized. NESDEC provides district projections by grade level, but does not provide projections by school and grade.  The most recent Enrollment Analysis Report can be found at this link and a comparison of NPS projections to NESDEC projections can be found on pages 21-23 and page 159: 

Enrollment Analysis Report 

We do not typically publish 10-year projections because at the elementary level, these projections include students not yet born and require using an estimated number of births to calculate a projection. Although we share 10-year projections for building projects, they are shared with the caveat that they utilize estimated birth rates and include more variability than the 5-year projections. These projections can be useful to look at trends over time, assuming that birth rates remain similar to those most recently observed. The district has contracted external demographic studies in the past. Given the many changes that have occurred in both Newton and across the country (including the COVID-19 pandemic) in recent years, the results from the last demographic study are less useful today. 

Underwood currently has two buffer zones: the Cabot-Underwood buffer, which was added in 2018-19, and the Underwood-Ward buffer, which was expanded in 2016-17. The changes to the buffer zones for Underwood have not had a large impact on Underwood’s enrollment by moving students away from Underwood.

Within the Cabot-Underwood buffer, the majority of students attend Underwood (please see pages 160-161 of the Enrollment Analysis Report for details on buffer zones). If this buffer zone did not exist, it would add an estimated 0.7 students per year to Underwood’s projections.

The Underwood-Ward buffer prior to 2016-17 had very few students (an average of 6 students from 2008-09 to 2015-16, with a maximum of 10 and a minimum of 2). Assuming that the average in the old section of the buffer remained consistent in recent years, if the expanded portion of this buffer zone did not exist, it would add an estimated 2.4 students per year to Underwood’s projections. 

Taken together, if these two buffer zones did not exist, it would add an estimated 3.1 students per year to Underwood’s projections (for an additional estimated 15.5 students across the 5 year projections). Please note that this is estimated, as incorporating these changes into the projection model could shift the numbers slightly given the different cohort survival ratios at each school and in each grade.

We utilize a variety of data variables to project kindergarten class size for each elementary school in the district. Each year, we publish an enrollment analysis, which includes five-year projections for each school. The data variables utilized to project enrollment include: 

• Newton births

• Historical enrollment data

• Housing density

• Home sales

• New residential developments

Specific counts of school-age children by districted elementary school using Newton census data has not been used in recent years because the data has not aligned with actual enrollment numbers. Using our historical data to project enrollment has been much more accurate.

As the district has continued the construction and renovation of its elementary schools, we have utilized a target or “design” enrollment of approximately 396-465 students for new building projects. The design enrollment is the number of students that a new or renovated school is designed to accommodate.  A design enrollment of 396 translates into an 18 classroom school with three classrooms per grade. An 18 classroom school with enrollment in this range provides appropriate collaboration opportunities for staff, a cohort size that allows for flexible grouping and social opportunities, implementation of important academic supports, and efficiency in operations from a staffing and building maintenance perspective. Three classrooms per grade also provides enrollment resiliency to accommodate the ebbs and flows in enrollment that might see a grade dip to 2 classrooms or grow to 4 classrooms. 

The educational program describes in detail how Newton’s elementary school curriculum is delivered across all areas, including class size policies, school scheduling, teaching methodologies, special education, art, music, physical education, technology, lunch programs, transportation, etc. The educational program serves as the basis for how we plan and design school building projects and, with the design enrollment, it drives the size, number and types of spaces needed to support the educational program.  Documentation of the district’s educational program is required for projects that are in the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) process.  Newton follows this process for all school projects. The MSBA process and guidelines can also be used as a benchmark for evaluating existing school facilities to get a better understanding of where facilities may fall short.  As we evaluate facility conditions at Underwood and Ward, it is important to understand some of the challenges in each facility and how they support the educational program. 

The task force was originally constituted in January 2020 to study enrollment, facilities, and educational programs at Underwood and Ward Elementary schools. Administrators and staff at both the district and school level were included. In addition, PTOs at both schools requested letters of interest from parents/guardians interested in serving on the Task Force. When the Task Force was reconstituted in winter 2023, outreach was done to confirm that the parents/guardians originally selected were interested in continuing participation. As shown on this page, the current task force members include district administrators, school leaders, school staff, family representatives, and City planning officials. Meetings of the Task Force are public and meeting materials will be posted. There will be opportunities for family and community feedback throughout the process. Questions should be sent to: npsunderwoodwardstudy@newton.k12.ma.us