Four community to meetings take place this week to gather input
The WCUUSD School Board sent a letter to families in Pomfret, Reading, Bridgewater and Woodstock alerting them about four meetings to gather public input before making a final decision regarding reconfiguring grades among the students of the schools of Woodstock Elementary and Reading. The Prosper Valley School (TPVS) will reopen in the fall after having addressed various building issues, thus the WCUUSD School Board will be voting in March to decide which students will be continuing their education at TPVS.
A survey will also be conducted with further information for the Board to consider.
The public meetings will be held on the following dates and times and are open to all regardless of town.
Reading: Feb. 9, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.
Woodstock: Feb. 9, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
Pomfret: Feb. 23, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.
Bridgewater: Feb. 23 , 2021at 7:30 p.m.
Meeting IDs, passcodes and links can be found on the school board calendar at wcsu.net.
The recommendation presented by the Configuration and Enrollment Working Group (CEWG) after considering four different scenarios was endorsed by the district board Feb. 1. It is as follows:
Move grades 5 and 6 currently at WES to TPVS (86 projected students), and keep grade 4 Reading students in Reading.
This proposal moves the most students out of WES to TPVS and allows Reading students to have one transition instead of a one year move to WES, then to TPVS.
After conducting their own surveys and speaking with many families in the district, CEWG found that there was strong support for TPVS being a grades 5-6 school. There was also support for RES to be returned to a PreK-6 school, as well as support for TPVS reopening grades K-6.
The recommendation adopted allows for the most students to be moved from WES to TPVS. In considering equity of class size, this option comes closest to that goal, the board stated. As district school choice happens in early February, this could further help decrease the enrollment issues at WES, noted Keri Bristow, chair of the CEWG and Woodstock representative to the WCUUSD.
