Lorelai Magerkurth is a 9-year-old student at Waltham Elementary School. Although the school still is new and well-lighted, Lorelai spotted a problem: the noise.
As Waltham has grown crowded, the din has ratcheted up. Thatβs what happens when you cram more than two dozen children into a classroom.
βIt was really crowded,β Lorelai said, βand it was really hard to learn.β
District officials are hoping Lorelaiβs testimony wins votes Tuesday, when Utica-area voters report to the polls. Easing the space crunch will take an expansion of almost $10 million, and voters must agree to fund a 38-cent tax increase to fund it.
Hoping to rally voters, Waltham held an open house Thursday along with a late push to get voters to cast a βyesβ ballot come Tuesday. About 20 spectators joined the tour, where Superintendent Kristi Eager said the problem wasnβt planning but rather, surprise developments, including COVID-19.
Eager said the centrally located school was designed with flexible classrooms, some fitted with partitions, to accommodate fluctuating class sizes.
βWe planned for what we had and what we knew,β Eager said.
But the flexible floor plan wasnβt as helpful when the district had to adapt to a few societal trends that emerged. And these arenβt problems unique to Waltham β theyβre nationwide issues:
- More special education students β The demand for special education is soaring, and Walthamβs special ed students swelled from seven to 45.
- More full-time staff: Waltham once had a part-time social worker and part-time speech pathologist. No more. Both professionals are needed full time.
- Pre-kindergarten: Two years ago, Waltham didnβt have a pre-kindergarten program. Legal and societal changes effectively force the district to have morning and afternoon pre-K sessions to accommodate dozens of little ones β and busing them off-site isnβt an option.
βItβs hard,β teacher Eric Bara said of the resulting logistics, βbut we know of the importance of having a preschool.β
The upshot is that classrooms have grown more crowded. Walthamβs goal was to hold the student-teacher ratio to 24-to-1 before splitting a grade level into smaller class sizes. The space crunch has pushed class sizes to almost 30.
βWhen youβre cramming 29 kids in,β Eager said, βare you meeting their needs?β
Eager said her faculty has been dedicated β βOur teachers are rock starsβ β but a long-term solution is needed to meet the new and still-evolving changes.
The proposed solution is an addition of 22,000 square feet that would include a new preschool wing, a junior high wing, a multipurpose room and more parking.
After months of discussion, Waltham voted in December to adopt a resolution seeking $9.96 million for a building addition to ease the Utica schoolβs space constraints.
The dollar figure might not be an easy sell come Tuesday. According to a Shaw Local projection to give a tax bill example, Utica Mayor David Stewart, who last year paid Waltham $1,636 (total tax bill: $4,246) faces an 11% jump to $1,814.
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