The principal of Chilmark School announced a shift in class structure as a response to a near doubling of enrollment in the past decade, but the town’s select board and community members are concerned that the change is contradictory to tradition.
In an April letter, Principal Kate Squire said the Chilmark School, which serves grades K-5, will be transitioning from multiage classrooms to single-grade level classes. The previous structure, where first through fourth graders were often learning lessons and working on projects together, was a standard at the up-Island elementary school for generations.
“Please know that this decision was not made lightly. Classroom teachers were unanimous in their belief that this change is in the best interest of student learning. I am of the same belief,” Squire wrote in the letter, which was sent to parents of enrollees at the Chilmark School, dated April 15.
Since then, the letter was sent around to residents in the Chilmark town. It eventually made its way to the select board, and is on the agenda for the board’s weekly meeting Tuesday night. The agenda is created by the town administrator, Timothy Carroll, and chair of the select board, Jeffrey Maida.
“The select board arguably doesn’t have direct jurisdiction, but this is a really big change for the Chilmark School,” Matthew Poole, select board member, told The Times. “This is the first time ever that Chilmarks’ had single-aged classrooms.”
According to Poole, the topic is on the agenda because the select board wasn’t notified of the switch and wanted to give community members who don’t have children in the school a chance to discuss it.
But a parent of two current students at the Chilmark School, Colin Ruel of the Ruel Gallery in Menemsha, who is also on the school advisory committee, told The Times that this switch was not made lightly. He stated that he believes that “the change is absolutely in the best interest of the kids’ education” and added that the teachers agree.
“I think the beauty of having such a small school is that we can change nimbly when the situation and time dictates. Those who are reacting out of nostalgia to a time that was a ‘one room school house,’ [or] ‘smaller’ number of students should leave the shaping of the school in the capable and vested hands of those of us who have kids in the school currently,” Ruel said.
As the letter that Squire sent to parents circulated around the up-Island town, some community members spoke out asking for more of a voice in the decision.
Among them is Katie Carroll, a recent candidate for the Chilmark Select Board and owner of the Menemsha Texaco, who told The Times that the multiage classrooms were an asset to her children when they attended the local school. Her kids graduated a few years ago, but she said she wants a voice in the matter because single-grade learning is new territory for the school that many Chilmarkers consider the “centerpiece of the town.”
“There should have been some sort of transparency in the community that this was happening,” Carroll said. “The Chilmark School was built and designed to be a multiaged classroom school. That was what made the Chilmark School so unique.”
The Chilmark School was known for its multiage and project-based structure. But that curriculum was introduced “when enrollment was quite low,” Squire stated. The school building was historically a two-room schoolhouse, and multiage classes were commonplace for smaller student populations. But Squire said this practice is no longer a reality for students, who often have to split into single-grade levels for math, reading, and writing anyway. She added that the whole school recess, morning circle, and reading buddies practices will remain for all grades to mingle together.
“The genuine multiage classrooms of long ago are not what students currently experience and are no longer feasible given the expectations of evidence-based sequential curricula,” Squire wrote.
In 2017, Chilmark School, the smallest elementary school on the Island, had just 44 students. But a huge spike in the Island’s population (about 25 percent) after the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in more young families in the up-Island town. Enrollment at the school has risen ever since, with 74 students attending this school year.
Squire said the decision to switch learning styles was the “most difficult” decision of her tenure as an educator. In Chilmark, maintaining tradition is a high priority, from select board meetings to housing to education. Veering away from past models of classroom management, she said, is an important but a tough call.
“When I came to Chilmark, I heard from the community about the ardent desire to uphold high academic standards and also preserve the deep sense of tradition. The best scenarios are those that keep both in balance,” Squire wrote. “What I have observed day-to-day this year and in listening to teachers, I am convinced that this shift is necessary … While I believe that this is in the best interest of students, it also represents a painful loss to many of us in our school community.”