Jump in New London school population leads to expansion of Harbor School
New London — An influx of new students and need for more space has led the school district to expand the number of classes and grades at the Harbor School for the new school year that starts Sept. 1.
More than 200 students, grades pre-K through 4, will start their first day of classes at the more than 100-year-old former elementary school.
Harbor closed in 2013 after completion of the construction of Winthrop STEM Elementary Magnet School and Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School. It sat vacant for only a year before it opened as the Early Childhood Center at Harbor School in 2014, welcoming students in kindergarten and pre-K. The school has been expanding ever since.
Harbor had about 130 students in pre-K through second grade last year and had planned to add third-graders.
About 80 new students have now been placed at the school, which will include some classes that combine third- and fourth-graders, according to Kate McCoy, director of planning and magnet school development.
She said fifth-graders will not be far behind if the school population continues to increase at the current rate. The district's magnet schools have attracted students from 34 communities.
The expansion of the school is due to an unprecedented number of students entering the school district this year. School officials had projected 171 new students districtwide when the budget was formulated. The actual increase as of last week was about 250 — for a total of 3,574, according to Superintendent Manuel Rivera.
But the bulk of this year's jump in population, about 38 of the 250 new students, is due to an increase in New London residents entering the school system, McCoy said. The reason for the increase is not exactly clear.
McCoy said it is likely a mix of new families moving into New London and other residents returning from outside districts.
Renovations to Harbor completed over the summer, at a cost of about $300,000, provided the space on the second floor needed for the new classrooms.
Millions of dollars in renovations is expected once the district finalizes plans for Harbor’s role in an all-magnet school district.
For now, the school will remain, like C.B. Jennings Elementary School, an intra-district magnet school and accommodate only New London residents.
The new students at Harbor are mostly children who are late to register and never entered the lottery.
McCoy said all of the first-graders decided to return for second grade, a testament to the attraction of the school.
Harbor Principal Margaret Bucaram said the attraction is likely less about the facility itself — although it does have river views — and more about the teachers and the learning environment.
“A school is all about the teachers and I saw a lot of happy students excited about learning,” said Bucaram, who was finishing final preparations with staff at the school on Thursday.
Parents and students are expected to meet with faculty during an open house next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, work crews were finishing installation of new cafeteria tables. Rows of boxes filled with educational materials lined the hallways outside classrooms — most of which have been decorated by teachers.
Projections show the school system increasing to 4,300 students at its peak in 2023, Rivera said.
“Harbor right now is a school that is moving more and more towards full utilization,” Rivera said at a recent meeting. “There is no question in my mind that Harbor needs to be online as a school pre-K through grade 5, absolutely no question. The question is what is the Harbor of the future. And what would that look like?”
The studies about how best to renovate Harbor are in the works even as the district plans for construction of two new sixth- through 12th-grade schools — replacements for the high school and middle school.
The scope of future renovations is pending further study.
The City Council earlier this year was presented with a proposal to add a $40 million project onto its capital projects plan. The proposal was deferred this year and the school district has not formally applied for state funding for a project.
Until a renovation plan is fully funded, Rivera said the district has used state grants funds for renovations and upgrades.
The district, he said at a recent school Buildings and Maintenance Committee meeting, was able to repurpose a $3 million low-performing school grant for renovations at Harbor and other projects.
Timothy Wheeler, chief of operations for the district, said the district has an additional $1.125 million grant from the state Department of Administrative Services. Some of that money will be used to replace a boiler at the high school and other work across the district — from playground improvements to painting and infrastructure work.
Wheeler said the district also is exploring the idea of installing an elevator at Harbor, at a cost of between $325,000 and $375,000.
Harbor is in the planning stages of being a feeder school into a yet-to-be -fully-developed leadership program.
The plan for Jennings is for a language and culture pathway with an International Baccalaureate program that contains a dual language component, McCoy said.
A timetable for Jennings to become a magnet school and benefit from more state funding is unclear.
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