By Jack Krampitz

Note: This is a summary of some of the concerns of teachers in the Bristol school system about the newly proposed arts magnet school coming to the former Memorial Boulevard School. Our next article will try to get the views of members of the Magnet School Committee in an attempt to answer the teachers’ concerns.

The City of Bristol is currently engaged in an ambitious project to convert the Memorial Boulevard School into an arts magnet school that will be available to Bristol students in grades 6-12. The exact plan is in flux. The basics appear to be these:

• Grades 6 though 8 students will attend school at the Boulevard full time, taking both academic classes and supplemental arts/music/theatre classes as enrichment.
• Grades 9 through 12 students will attend academic classes at Central and Eastern, and then travel to the Boulevard for their arts/music/theatre classes.

TBE has talked to teachers at the high schools and representatives of the Bristol Federation of Teachers.

The basic concern seems to boil down to this: Many teachers are worried that in a plan to save an old building, it could drastically alter or destroy the climate and cultures of at least the two high schools, if not all the schools affected.

Specifically, teachers are worried about the following impacts:

1. The magnet school is likely to draw kids who are active in band/chorus/art/theater from their current school, thus destroying the programs at BE and BC. Many of those programs are state and regionally recognized programs, including Strawberry Fields, the marching band, jazz band and madrigal singers. It would appear BE and BC very likely would no longer have theater programs. There is the possibility of losing the marching bands at football games, especially the Thanksgiving Day game where the bands are showcased for the community. In addition, it could be the end of the fall play and spring musical, and holiday concerts at each school.
2. The diversity of each school’s climate would change dramatically without many of the arts/music/drama kids.
3. The Arts Magnet school would need staff to support its overall operation. The increased staff would include secretaries, custodians/grounds crew, administration, nurse, teachers and security. That would cause increased strain on a budget already past its maximum limits. There would be very limited loss in staff from the current schools to make this a staff neutral change.
4. Former plans for the building over the past few years determined that the building would need significant remodel/repair or upgrades. The building closed for a reason, but now we want to spend those resources to make all of those upgrades? If the city wants to keep the building so badly, they should spend the money to turn it into City Hall or just renovate it for community use.

Maybe the teachers’ biggest concern is that the public is in the dark about the details of a major change in the Bristol public school system. Other communities have embraced magnet schools and the schools have had a negative impact on the public schools already in place. In Hartford, Weaver and Bulkeley are shells of what they used to be.

To quote a famous line from the classic movie, Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

.Jack Krampitz is one of the original TBE staff. He is a retired Bristol school teacher. He is a member of the city’s Charter Review Commission.

Here is a link to the city’s Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School Committee webpage: https://www.bristol.k12.ct.us/board_of_education/school_building_committees/memorial_boulevard_intradistrict_arts_magnet_schoo