Worcester School Realignment Heads to a Dec. 3 Vote: What Could Change

Worcester school realignment is entering its final five weeks. Worcester Public Schools plans to settle new school assignment zones, feeder pathways and possibly bell times with a School Committee vote expected Dec. 3, and families have two more public forums, Nov. 7 and Nov. 16, to weigh in before the options are narrowed.

The district calls the effort its School Boundary and Quadrant Alignment Project. It is being developed by the nonprofit Dillinger Research and Applied Data, and the district has said it “could be one of the most impactful on the Worcester Public Schools for years to come.”

What the Worcester school realignment would change

According to a Worcester Public Schools notice, recommendations are likely to include:

• Redrawing school assignment zones, so some addresses could be assigned to a different school within one to three years.
• Making elementary-to-middle-to-high-school pathways more predictable so classmates stay together.
• Expanding full-day preschool at elementary schools as federal and local money allows.
• Shifting start and end times to widen school bus access and shrink walk zones.

The administration’s goal is to bring buildings into an 80% to 90% utilization range, relieve overcrowded schools and make better use of under-enrolled ones, The Worcester Guardian reported in its preview of an earlier committee meeting. More than 350 community survey responses had been collected at that point.

Proposals on the table

The district released initial scenarios Aug. 14, a second version Sept. 17 and “Scenario 3” on Oct. 8, according to district announcements. Preliminary recommendations reported by the Guardian include:

• Moving Grafton Street and Rice Square sixth-graders to Worcester East Middle School.
• Shifting Belmont Street Elementary from the North Quadrant to Burncoat, Columbus Park from South to Doherty, and Jacob Hiatt from Doherty to South, with Hiatt becoming a neighborhood school instead of a magnet.
• Possibly reopening 120 Granite St. as a neighborhood elementary school and moving the Gerald Creamer Center to the Fanning Building.
• Turning Worcester Arts Magnet into a neighborhood school to absorb growth around Lincoln Village and Great Brook Valley, with Francis McGrath Elementary becoming the designated arts magnet feeding Burncoat Middle and Burncoat High.
• Making Chandler, Columbus Park, Rice Square, Thorndyke Road, Vernon Hill and Worcester Arts Magnet all-walk attendance zones.
• Placing at least one full-day preschool classroom in each of the district’s 33 elementary schools over time.

The administration has also recommended dropping the “magnet” label from Canterbury Street Computer Magnet, Jacob Hiatt Magnet and Tatnuck Magnet, since those buildings no longer run distinct citywide magnet programs.

Proposed three-tier bell schedule

The district is studying a three-tier bell schedule so each bus and driver can complete three runs, potentially freeing capacity to expand transportation eligibility. The model under review, as reported by the Guardian:

Each tier runs 6 hours 23 minutes; tiers start 50 to 60 minutes apart (TBR calculation from the proposed times).

Parents push to protect programs

At an Oct. 26 hearing of the School Committee’s Operations and Governance Standing Committee at Forest Grove Middle School, 25 people spoke, many about University Park Campus School, Greendale Head Start and Worcester Arts Magnet, the Guardian reported. The latest draft lists a “co-location under exploration” or “potential merger under evaluation” for University Park Campus School and Claremont Academy.

“There’s a lot of confusion and frankly a little bit of frustration about what exactly the plan is,” said Logan Satalino, a teacher at University Park Campus School. Supporters of the school also rallied at a public forum, the Telegram & Gazette reported.

Committee chair Jermaine Johnson said members “need to ensure and make decisions on what is right for the whole district,” noting that many schools are over capacity. Nick Stellitano of Dillinger said the proposals do not call for closing schools or eliminating programs, though locations or configurations may change, and he opposed extending the timeline because a decision will guide the district’s next budget.

Key dates for Worcester families

If approved, changes could begin with the 2027-28 school year. School Committee meetings offer a virtual option. For other Worcester civic news, see our coverage of the Worcester City Council’s street-repair and drone discussions and the Worcester Homeowner Summit.

Sources

• Worcester Public Schools: Realignment Project Public Forum Dates Announced
• Worcester Public Schools: district news (scenario release dates)
• The Worcester Guardian: School realignment draws pleas to preserve programs as final vote nears
• The Worcester Guardian: School committee preview on enrollment and school boundaries

Additional sources

• Telegram & Gazette: Community rallies against potential changes to Worcester school

Featured photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (file photo of University Park Campus School, 2012).