East Windsor Regional School District administrators are putting into place the district’s elementary school reconfiguration plan in time for the first day of school on Sept. 6.
The plan, which has been in the works for about a year, seeks to balance enrollment in the four elementary schools. The plan will ensure that bilingual students and students with special needs are placed in their “home” elementary school and not bused to one outside their neighborhood for programming purposes or because they enrolled late.
When classes ended in June, students in grades K-5 attended one of the district’s four elementary schools – the Ethel McKnight, Perry L. Drew, Walter C. Black or Grace N. Rogers elementary schools.
Under the elementary school reconfiguration plan, the four schools will be divided into two pairs of K-2 and 3-5 elementary schools.
When students enter sixth grade, they will attend the Melvin H. Kreps Middle School.
The reconfiguration plan calls for the Walter C. Black Elementary School to enroll students in grades K-2 and for the Grace N. Rogers Elementary School to teach students in grades 3-5. The schools are across the street from each other on Stockton Street in Hightstown.
The Ethel McKnight Elementary School, on Twin Rivers Drive South, will educate students in grades K-2. The McKnight school is being paired with the Perry L. Drew Elementary School on Twin Rivers Drive North, which will teach students in grades 3-5. Both schools are in East Windsor.
Administrators said one goal of the reconfiguration plan is to even out the enrollment at each school. In June, enrollment ranged from 492 students at the Ethel McKnight Elementary School to 662 students at the Perry L. Drew Elementary School.
The enrollment will be reduced to fewer than 600 students in each school in the 2018-19 school year.
At the Ethel McKnight and Perry L. Drew elementary schools, enrollment is projected to be 531 students for grades K-2 and 563 for grades 3-5. The Walter C. Black Elementary School is expected to enroll 543 students in grades K-2, and the Grace N. Rogers Elementary School will have 582 children in grades 3-5.
Administrators said another advantage to the plan is that it will allow bilingual students to remain in their home school. District administrators projected that 308 students in grades K-4 will need English as a Second Language assistance in 2018-19, but they will be taught in their neighborhood school. Historically, 38 to 58 percent of those students were placed “outside” of their home school.
Similarly, more special education students will be enrolled in their home school than in the past. Of those children who have been classified with language and learning disabilities, for example, two students will not be taught in their home school. This compares to 36 students during the 2017-18 school year.