Tilton School (pictured) will gain two kindergarten classes and lose two fourth-grade classes in the effort to balance school populations and keep students in the schools closest to their homes.
Haverhill Superintendent James F. Scully explained his plan for filling the city’s schools next fall. The annual exercise involves moving some grades out of one school and into another, but Scully made it clear to the School Committee Thursday that the changes are limited and a normal event.
“There is no redistricting plan,” Scully said. “We’re moving students as we do every year to make them fit.”
The biggest changes will happen at the Bradford elementary School, where the population will grow by about 100 students. There will be four kindergarten classrooms as well as English Language Learning beginner classrooms. The exact number will be determined when student registrations are final.
Consentino School will serve grades 3 through 8, with kindergartners through second graders feeding in from the Bartlett School.
At the Greenleaf School, the number of kindergarten classrooms will fall from four to three. The eliminated kindergarten moves to Bradford Elementary.
Greenleaf will serve as a feeder to Silver Hill, a former charter school now under the control of the city’s public school district.
Next year, Silver Hill will have two kindergarten classes, down from five this year, and one third grade will move from Bartlett to Silver Hill. One kindergarten class will move to Bartlett and the other two to Tilton School. Scully stressed that all current Silver Hill students and their siblings will be able to remain in the school until they age out.
The two added kindergarten classes at Tilton brings the total number of kindergarten classrooms to four. Two fourth grades are moving out of Tilton to make room.
All school assignments are subject to change depending on final enrollments, Scully said.