Nashua School Board settles on redistricting plan for 2024-25 school year

NASHUA, NH – The Board of Education agreed to update the middle school redistricting line after public comments opposed the Broad Street Boundary line at the Jan. 29 Board of Education meeting.

The board voted 5 in favor and 4 against the motion to update the redistricting line that would result in Broad Street Elementary students attending Pennichuck Middle School. Board members voting in favor of the motion were Jennifer Bishop, Christina Darling, Kristen Prinn, Rob Johnson and Heather Raymond. Opposed were Regan Lamphier, Neil Claffey, Sharon Giglio and Shewanda Daniels-Williams. The revised attendance boundary line can be seen here.

Those who voted against the motion did so for a few reasons. One, it was felt that a lot of time had already been spent deciding on the Broad Street Boundary line. Also, the goal was to have three middle schools with as balanced an enrollment as possible, with each grade being divided into three teams. Now, Pennichuck will have around 800 students while the other middle schools will have slightly more than 600. This means there may only be two teams at each school, which could result in the loss of 12 teaching positions, which was another reason for opposition.

Why Redistricting?

After a facility analysis, the Board of Aldermen decided not to renovate Elm Street Middle School, and opted instead to renovate Pennichuck and Fairgrounds Middle Schools and build Brian S. McCarthy Middle School. The $118 million bond to do so was approved by the Board of Aldermen in late 2019. The project presentation can be found here.

The closing of Elm Street Middle School and the opening of Brian S. McCarthy Middle School for the next academic year prompted the need for redistricting.

The proposed Broad Street Boundary line would have split Broad Street Elementary students between Pennichuck and McCarthy Middle School for McCarthy, to then be split between Nashua North and Nashua South High School. This is similar to how it has been up until now, with Broad Street students splitting between Pennichuck and Elm Street, and Elm Street students then splitting between both high schools.

The Nashua River Boundary means all Broad Street Elementary students would go to Pennichuck and then Nashua North.

“…The goal was to try to balance the enrollment and just create a balance across all our staffing and everything to … accommodate the buildings that we have and their capacity,” said Stacy Hynes, communications director for the Nashua School District.

Several people spoke during public comment in opposition to the Broad Street Boundary line.

“Our children deserve to be in a district where they feel like they matter and are not just looked at as numbers to fill a school,” said Jessica Flynn, a parent.

James Graham, a teacher at Nashua North with children attending Broad Street said, “I would rather my kids attend every class in a trailer with more permanent friends than get jerked around every couple of years to make numbers match.”

Jessica Munroe, a parent,  added, “Social and emotional health and learning has been acknowledged by our district –  by our state, by our country – as a necessary component to student achievement and mental well-being, and pulling these kids from their peers when there’s another option available that allows them to make and keep their friendships is a decision that I disagree with.”

No one spoke in favor of the Broad Street Boundary line during public comment. The school district is directing questions on the redistricting to middleschoolproject@nashua.edu.