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Study School Enrollment Growth Forums Scheduled In Mamaroneck

MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- Two public forums are set for Monday, Oct. 23 at Hommocks Middle School to discuss enrollment growth throughout the Mamaroneck Union Free School District.

How to best addresss the steadily rising student enrollment in Mamaroneck's schools is the topic Monday at two community forums.

How to best addresss the steadily rising student enrollment in Mamaroneck's schools is the topic Monday at two community forums.

Photo Credit: Contributed/Debbie Manetta
The Mamaroneck Board of Education recently released enrollment trend figures that project 20 percent growth by the year 2021. Public meetings are set for Monday at Hommocks Middle School to discuss possible solutions.

The Mamaroneck Board of Education recently released enrollment trend figures that project 20 percent growth by the year 2021. Public meetings are set for Monday at Hommocks Middle School to discuss possible solutions.

Photo Credit: Provided/MUFSD

The community meetings will start at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the Hommocks M.S. auditorium and then at 7 p.m., also on Oct. 23, in the Hommocks School Library.

The Mamaroneck Board of Education is "studying our challenges related to enrollment growth and instructional space needs and seeking community input for both short-term (fall, 2018) and long-term (two to three years from now) solutions over the course of this school year and beyond," according to Debbie Manetta, school district spokeswoman.

The Board wants to engage as many community members as possible, seeking input every step of the way, Manetta said on Friday.

District enrollment has increased by 650 students in the last decade; and enrollment is expected to continue to climb, she said.

The 650 students added to the Mamaroneck School District since 2010 is the equivalent to an entire elementary school size, officials said. 

By 2021, Mamaroneck's enrollment is projected to be 20 percent higher than it was in 2010.

Using current class size guidelines, "We expect to run out of classrooms in at least one of our elementary schools within the next two years," Manetta said.

Potential options and solutions discussed at a recent Board of Education meeting include:

-- Grade-level class size guidelines

-- Elementary school-assignment boundary lines (District map)

-- Portable classrooms

-- Early-learning center for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten or for pre-k, kindergarten and first graders.

-- New capital projects to build additional instructional wings.

-- Reconfigure the school district's "educational delivery model:

-- Pair elementary schools (Kindergarten through second grade and third grade through fifth grade.)

-- Implement a Princeton Plan: (k/1, 2/3, 4/5)

-- Establish a fifth- through eighth-grade middle school

-- Build a new elementary school.

Possible short-term space solutions include:

-- Explore feasibility of portable classrooms at Chatsworth and Murray schools.

-- Monitor kindergarten registration

-- Plan for temporary classroom space needs (redesign of existing space)

“We are telling the community that we are better as one. We are better when we learn and explore solutions together. We need to work together to strategically plan," Manetta said.

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