Cranston Public Schools could see significant changes next year, with plans calling for the transition of sixth grade back to the middle school level and the conversion of Hope Highlands Elementary School into a fourth middle school.

“I think as a district, we have to constantly change. We have to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of our changing city,” School Committee Chair Janice Ruggieri said during a presentation from the Sixth Grade Transition Committee at Western Hills Middle School on Monday. “This has been a well thought out plan … and it’s done with an eye to the future as well.”

“This is a need. We need to do something. These are the proposals, these were very thoughtfully considered … You know I have a child who is in the mix here,” Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse said. “This is very personal … We didn’t call in a consulting firm and say, ‘Tell us how to do it.’”

Cranston’s middle schools previously housed the sixth grade from the mid-1990s until 2008, when the grade was moved to the elementary level. Nota-Masse said the transition back has been under discussion since July of this year, with approximately 20 members – including administrators, teachers, and parents – serving on the committee.

“This has been going on for a while,” she said.

The impetus for the proposed changes, Nota-Masse said, stems from several factors.

Preparations are ongoing for all-day kindergarten across the district as part of a state mandate, with four classrooms currently being piloted at three schools. The hope is for the program to launch in full this coming fall.

The expectation, the superintendent said, is that all-day kindergarten will exacerbate space constraints in elementary schools that already face overcrowding issues. She pointed to the presence of portable classrooms at some schools, and to the problem of “clustering” – in which, for example, a family moving into the district after the start of the school year is unable to send a child to the school for which they are districted because it is already full.

The superintendent also noted that kindergarten classrooms are subject to special requirements, and “careful consideration needs to be made as to where we’re putting the all-day kindergarten classrooms.”

“By bringing in more kindergartners … It is forcing a space issue that we did not anticipate,” she said. “Our elementary schools will not be able to accommodate these additional classrooms without changing our current structure.”

Another factor, Nota-Masse said, is the “desire to enrich sixth-grade students academically and socially.” She said benefits would include access to extracurricular activities and participation in the “teaming” concept, in which teachers split instruction in core subjects among groups of up to 120 students.

Park View Middle School Principal Michael Crudale also spoke of the merits of the “teaming” approach – calling it a “big academic advantage for these students” – and said many lamented the loss of sixth-graders at the middle school level when the shift to the elementary schools occurred several years ago.

“I can tell you first-hand, losing the sixth grade in the middle schools was definitely a big impact,” he said. “If you ask any teacher at the middle school level, they would love to have the sixth-graders back. We’re moving in the right direction.”

Nota-Masse and members of the transition committee said multiple approaches were considered as part of the sixth-grade transition discussions. Since Park View and Bain were found to have sufficient space to accommodate the return of the sixth grade, the core consideration proved to be capacity issues at Western Hills.

According to figures provided during the presentation, moving the sixth grade to the middle school level with the current district lines in place would exacerbate existing overcrowding issues at Western Hills. For the 2016-17 year, for example, Western Hills would see a projected enrollment of 1,136, compared with 742 for Park View and 573 for Bain Middle School. By the 2017-18 year, Western Hills would have 1,170 students, while Park View and Bain would have 707 and 499, respectively.

“There is no way physically possible to fit 1,170 students in this building [Western Hills] … without portables,” Nota-Masse said.

The superintendent said portable classrooms are far from optimal, given the costs involved and the security issues they present.

“Portables are extremely costly. They’re a short-term solution,” she said. “And it creates logistical and security concerns … We’ve spent a lot of time and effort and money to try and make our schools secure.”

The idea of redistricting, or changing the boundaries for school enrollments, was also rejected.

“Redistricting causes major disruptions throughout the district … If we redistrict based on the current population, in five years, things may change,” Nota-Masse said. “We’re really trying to look for a long-term solution that’s least disruptive to students and their families.”

Given these considerations, Hope Highlands became the focus. The committee discussed the possibility of the school becoming a “sixth-grade center” for the western side of the city – with Western Hills hosting the seventh and eighth grades – but officials said that option would undermine the academic and social objectives of the transition while forcing some students to attend three schools in as many years.

As a result, the committee found the most appealing option to be the conversion of Hope Highlands into a full-fledged middle school. Officials said the facility is capable of serving that purpose.

Under the proposed new structure with four middle schools, officials said the overcrowding problem found with the three-school option would be alleviated. Projections for the 2016-17 school year show Western Hills would have 768 students, while Hope Highlands would have 319, Park View would have 743, and Bain would have 573. For 2017-18, it is projected Western Hills would have 714 students, with 465 at Hope Highlands, 710 at Park View, and 500 at Bain.

The current seventh-graders at Western Hills would remain there in 2016-17 for eighth grade under the plan, with Hope Highlands housing sixth- and seventh-graders in 2016-17 before adding the eighth grade in 2017-18. Additionally, students from Woodridge and Peters elementary schools would no longer be split between Bain and Western Hills for middle school, and would all be able to attend Western Hills.

Where the current elementary population at Hope Highlands would move presented another issue, but officials said Orchard Farms Elementary School is capable of absorbing the additional classes that would be needed. The total enrollment at Orchard Farms after the transition would be approximately 480 students, said Principal Kim Magnelli, who serves on the transition committee.

Regarding the contours of the plan as a whole, Magnelli said: “Both sides of the city [would] now have a larger elementary, being Western Hills and Park View, and a smaller middle school, Bain and Hope Highlands.”

The greatest obstacle to the proposal will be the associated costs. Figures were not discussed Monday, and officials said planning and analysis remains ongoing, with the all-day kindergarten program part of the overall calculation.

“We also have to look at specific budgetary impacts. And that’s continually being analyzed … All of that is ongoing and will be ready for the budget process,” Crudale said.

He also assured that the district’s administration and the Cranston Teachers’ Alliance (CTA) would work “hand in hand” on staffing and other issues.

Nota-Masse noted other financial considerations, including the expansion of newly restored middle school sports and music programming and the need for new materials such as textbooks.

“The budgetary impact, that keeps me up at night, I’m not going to lie, because I keep thinking of all the things that will affect us,” she said, adding that figures will be included in the district’s budget presentation for the coming fiscal year in January.

Nota-Masse urged parents and community members to email her with any questions at jnota@cpsed.net. The plan, she said, is to provide a running list of those inquiries with answers on the Cranston Public Schools Facebook page. Additional public forums are also being scheduled across the city.

“We will try to get as much information out as possible as we move along,” the superintendent said.

Officials stressed that no course of action has yet been decided upon, and that the school committee will have the ultimate say.

Ruggieri voiced strong support for the plan, and for the transition committee’s work.

“This allows us the opportunity to create space in our schools not only for all-day K but for additional growth … or for additional programming if we’re able to do that,” she said. It’s just allows us a little bit more flexibility and opportunity.”

School committee member Michael Traficante called the sixth-grade transition discussion – along with the restoration of programming – a “breath of fresh air” after several years of cuts and consolidation in the face of financial woes.

“This is the first school year that the school committee’s been allowed to expand and add programs … It’s been an exciting experience for us,” he said. “There are challenges, but we’ll meet those challenges, and we’ll get it done.”

School committee member Jeff Gale also praised the transition committee’s work.

“I’m very impressed with the comprehensiveness of this plan … and hopefully we can make the best decision possible, and we couldn’t do that without your help,” he said.

The transition committee includes Nota-Masse; Assistant Superintendent Norma Cole; Executive Director Curriculum Joseph Rotz; Executive Director of Human Resources Raymond Votto; School Committee member Michael Traficante; teacher and CTA President Lizbeth Larkin; teacher and CTA Vice President John Santangelo; Coordinator of Professional Development/Evaluation Kathy Torregrossa; Western Hills special education department chair and CTA Secretary Amy Misbin; Bain Principal Jenny Chan-Remka; Crudale; Western Hills Interim Principal Timothy Vesey; Hope Highlands Principal Roxanne Gustafson; Magnelli; Dutemple Principal Beth Basile; Edgewood Highland Principal Marlene Gamba; Bain Assistant Principal Brian Lally; Park View Assistant Principal Kerrilyn Reagan; Western Hills teacher and principal intern Janet Antonelli; Bain teacher Paul D’Ercole; Stadium teacher Andrew Barron; parent and Director of Technology Donna-Marie Frappier; parent and Data Manager Amy Pinheiro; and parents Shelley Fusco, Gina Ginolfi, and Erin Wynn.