Proposal for Tuscan/Seth Boyden merger?

At the risk of starting a sh*t storm and possibly perpetuating an untrue rumor, I heard through a pretty reliable source that there may be a proposal on the table to merge Tuscan and Seth-Boyden into a Marshall/Jefferson model. Lower grades at one school, higher grades and the other. My guess is that the proposal is in response to over-crowding at Tuscan and fewer families opting in to Seth Boyden. Anyone else hearing about this? Thoughts?

Now THAT'S an interesting thought. Though I still think you redraw the lines and be done with it. Either way you slice it, folks will be in an uproar and will be inconvenienced.

Remember what happened when they redrew the lines between Tuscan and Clinton?

I don't know the current demographic distribution in the area that would become the Seth Boyden zone in that scenario. But, in the 1990s when the current model was drawn, if they had instead just redrawn the zone lines as you suggest, it would have resulted in Seth Boyden being 80-90% African American and that was not deemed acceptable in the community. That's why they looked at other approaches instead, with the Demo School model being the one that was selected. I'm pretty sure that one of the other choices at the time was a Tuscan/Seth Boyden pairing and it was NOT well-received by many members of the potentially affected neighborhoods. I'd like to think that we have evolved since then, but the uproar over the changes with the Clinton zone border a couple of years ago (a mere "tweak" by comparison) makes me fear otherwise.

That's very interesting.

I actually didn't mind the Marshall Jefferson thing at all, and my kids were the ones who started middle school away from most of their friends. It really all worked out. I loved being able to walk my little one and then send them on the Bus when they were older. And I know other people appreciated the bus with the little ones and then allowing. Their older kids to walk.

Oof. I wouldn't be a fan of the merger. I've no complaints with Seth Boyden. However; I live a few short blocks from Tuscan and our kid is walked to beforecare by my husband, who then continues his walk to the train. His morning commute would be massively screwed up if we had to bus or drive our kid to SB instead. (We're 1.25 miles from SB.) Plus, we've another kid 5 school years behind our first, so a change in which would screw us for years to come! Thumbs way down. (Yes, I'm being selfish. https://montclair.worldwebs.com/assets/images/smileys/21.gif" width="" height="" alt="oh oh" style="border:0;"> )

I think the schools are too far apart to split the grades, rezoning, if necessary, seems an easier fix.

Gundudad said:

I think the schools are too far apart to split the grades, rezoning, if necessary, seems an easier fix.
They aren't any farther apart than Marshall and Jefferson, are they? There would have to be busing to support the pairing, just as for Marshall/Jeff (as well as for the current Seth Boyden opt-in.)


The schools aren't that far apart, only about a mile or so apart and many kids live close, within walking distance to both schools. Jefferson & Marshall are more than 2 miles apart.

I like the idea actually. Hopefully, if SB stays basically as it is, you'd get the best of both schools while keeping the kids with their friends. Next year will be the only year that all 4 of my children will be in one school (5, 3, 2 & K at Tuscan next year) and that would put an end to that, but that's really the only thing that bothers me. I love Tuscan and I also love that it's short walk from my house, but there are so may great things about SB too. I love the garden, the huge play space (vs the tiny playground at Tuscan), the knitting & dance programs, the outdoor classroom that they're working on just to name a few, so I don't think it would be a bad thing to have that too.

I think it is more like a mile and a half. We live pretty much on a line between the two schools and are one mile from SB and several blocks from Tuscan. (For driving or busing purposes ... less as the crow flies.) Our kids did sometimes walk to SB, but only accompanied by an adult ... not so much because of the distance but because of crossing Springfield Avenue (even with a crossing guard) plus having to traverse the "wagon wheel" area of the neighborhood around Plymouth Avenue that was along our route. When we were still at Tuscan, our older child was able to walk without an adult ... although these days, I gather that might be "frowned upon" by the anti-free-range movement.

Google maps puts them at 1.1 miles apart.

If this merger happens, I believe it would make Clinton the only elementary school in the district with all K-5 students in the same building?

sprout said:

If this merger happens, I believe it would make Clinton the only elementary school in the district with all K-5 students in the same building?
That's correct.


sprout said:

Google maps puts them at 1.1 miles apart.

Sounds about right. Personally, we're under a half-mile from Tuscan, but would be about 1.3 miles from SB. I guess we could bus our daughter(s), but... ugh. The house we bought got extra points for us by being close enough to the elementary school to easily walk there, and for that school to then be on the way to the train. A Tuscan-SB merger would ruin our routine quite nicely. https://montclair.worldwebs.com/assets/images/smileys/10.gif" width="" height="" alt="surprised" style="border:0;"> (Yes, yes, I know: redistricting happens, you can't guarantee schools stay static, blah blah blah. That's why we thought buying closer to a school would help us not get redistricted a mile+ away.)

I believe with at least one of the schools (S. Mountain?), you can drop off both kids at the big school, then the younger sibling can get bussed to the Annex from there.

Enrollment at Tuscan is flat to down YoY isn't it?

What would this do with the current status of Seth Boyden as Demonstration School? If they combined the two schools into one, would there still be an option to send kids from any part of the district to the new combined school?

Clinton occupies a special place in the district as well, as the dedicated ESL school. So it might be more challenging to create a Clinton/South Mountain pairing, for example.

Yes. There are buses at South Mountain between the Big School and the Annex in the morning and afternoon.

Jackson_Fusion said:

Enrollment at Tuscan is flat to down YoY isn't it?


When Tuscan enrollment fills up each year, new students districted to Tuscan have been registered at SB or Clinton. Clinton had an entire extra Kindergarten class added at the last minute to handle the Tuscan overflow a year ago.


Wouldn't the problem be solved by simply expanding the zone for SB? That would certainly impact fewer people.

Gundudad said:

Wouldn't the problem be solved by simply expanding the zone for SB? That would certainly impact fewer people.
That's when demographics (see my 1:28pm post above) may come into play. Not sure of the current status, but maybe someone has some data on that.


Gundudad said:

Wouldn't the problem be solved by simply expanding the zone for SB? That would certainly impact fewer people.

It becomes a very angry battle pitting neighbor against neighbor against BOE. Which houses get rezoned?

There were some Tuscan addresses redistricted to Clinton recently. It got ugly fast. Very unlikely to be the approach we'll see for this.

I like the idea but it would cost a LOT of money. An entire school population would need busing.

beachbum said:

At the risk of starting a sh*t storm and possibly perpetuating an untrue rumor, I heard through a pretty reliable source that there may be a proposal on the table to merge Tuscan and Seth-Boyden into a Marshall/Jefferson model. Lower grades at one school, higher grades and the other. My guess is that the proposal is in response to over-crowding at Tuscan and fewer families opting in to Seth Boyden. Anyone else hearing about this? Thoughts?


I thought this was a VERY old thread since this was discussed and became the subject of intense controversy close to 20 years ago. It's part of why SB became a Demonstration School, and BTW,

Gundudad said:

I think the schools are too far apart to split the grades, rezoning, if necessary, seems an easier fix.


I measured the distance back then. 1 mile door-to-door


Jackson_Fusion said:

Enrollment at Tuscan is flat to down YoY isn't it?


no

yahooyahoo said:

Jackson_Fusion said:

Enrollment at Tuscan is flat to down YoY isn't it?


no


Actually it is, but sprout listed a reason for it being so (607 for 14-15 vs 616 13-14).


Tuscan is over-enrolled.

Another idea, if the district wants to keep SB as a demonstration school then why not combine Clinton and Tuscan?

sprout said:

Gundudad said:

Wouldn't the problem be solved by simply expanding the zone for SB? That would certainly impact fewer people.

It becomes a very angry battle pitting neighbor against neighbor against BOE. Which houses get rezoned?

There were some Tuscan addresses redistricted to Clinton recently. It got ugly fast. Very unlikely to be the approach we'll see for this.

Im not convinced the fear of adults acting like schoolchildren is a good enough reason not to explore it.

sac said:

Gundudad said:

Wouldn't the problem be solved by simply expanding the zone for SB? That would certainly impact fewer people.
That's when demographics (see my 1:28pm post above) may come into play. Not sure of the current status, but maybe someone has some data on that.

I'm not sure demographics ought to be either.

ctrzaska said:

sprout said:

Gundudad said:

Wouldn't the problem be solved by simply expanding the zone for SB? That would certainly impact fewer people.

It becomes a very angry battle pitting neighbor against neighbor against BOE. Which houses get rezoned?

There were some Tuscan addresses redistricted to Clinton recently. It got ugly fast. Very unlikely to be the approach we'll see for this.

Im not convinced the fear of adults acting like schoolchildren is a good enough reason not to explore it.


The district can explore it. But I'd be willing to make a significant wager that simply redistricting a chunk of the current Tuscan zone to SB ain't gonna happen.

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