There’s no indication of data used to support the decision.”

Nayatt parent Adam Resmini, about district's decision to phase out the MAC program

We want every student to have opportunities to learn and grow and build connections with each other”

Barrington Superintendent Michael Messore

Primrose was a great program, but do you force people to fill in places where they didn’t ask to be in a multi-age program?”

School Committee member Frazier Bell

I think the teachers (in the MAC program) do a great job in there. I think all the teachers at Nayatt do a great job.”

Superintendent Michael Messore

It’s easier in retrospect to say that we should have had more stakeholder input but I think that’s mostly because we’re hearing from people who are upset.”

School Committee member Megan Douglas

The Barrington School Department will not begin phasing out a multi-age program at Nayatt School, as officials had initially planned. 

Late last month, members of the Barrington School Committee voted to postpone the phase-out of Nayatt’s MAC, or multi-age classroom, program. Committee members TJ Peck, Patrick McCrann and Frazier Bell said district administrators did not follow the proper process or the decision-making policy when planning to eliminate the program. 

Peck was bothered by the timing of the situation — he said the Committee should not be grappling with the question of whether to eliminate a long-time elementary school program at a meeting in late July. 

McCrann said members of the community were blind-sided by the planned phase-out. He said a decision such as this should have been discussed at an earlier public meeting. 

Bell said it appears that while the district was making the right decision by planning to phase out the MAC program, officials did not follow the policy. 

Committee member Megan Douglas voted against the motion to postpone the phase-out, and also challenge the School Committee legal counsel’s interpretation of the policy, stating that it was the fourth one she had heard. Attorney Aubrey Lombardo did not respond to Douglas’s comment. 

Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore said the administration met with staff members to discuss the MAC program. He said there was no intent to deceive anyone about the future of the multi-age classroom program. Messore also asked for clarification on any mis-steps the district took while planning the phase-out. 

Parents’ pleas

The July 25 School Committee meeting started with parents’ pleas to save the Nayatt MAC program.

Adam Resmini spoke first. The long-time Barrington resident asked school officials to imagine that they had entered a meeting one day and found out that a program they had been a part of for many years was ending suddenly.

“There was no study,” he said. “There was no input from the teachers who run the program. There’s no input from the families. There’s no indication of data used to support the decision. 

“And you learn that it’s ending and that’s it.”

Resmini, who works as an attorney, said the suddenness of the decision to unwind the program begged the questions: Were the appropriate policies and procedures ever followed? Was the school improvement team consulted?

“I don’t believe it was,” Resmini said. 

Resmini cited the district’s strategic plan and its commitment to making student-centered decisions. He spoke about the benefits of the program, the families’ rights to know what is happening in their children’s schools, and then urged School Committee members to review the administration’s decision to unwind the Nayatt MAC program. 

“Our school administration must stand behind being transparent,” Resmini said. “We must start by respecting our teachers. It’s time you consult with them. They’ve earned a seat at the table. They may have answers that you are looking for to keep the program alive and well.”

Later in the meeting, Committee member Bell asked the district leaders what the main reason was for removing the MAC program.

Messore said the district has had other multi-age classroom programs in the past — one at Sowams, and one at Primrose Hill that was called ALP. He said the content for multi-age classrooms, where students in different grades share the same classroom, goes “way back.” But times have changed, Messore added, referencing more recent work with professional learning communities and social emotional responses to students’ needs. 

Messore said building administrators (principals) began phasing out multi-age programs because they wanted one school community, “not a school within a school.” The Superintendent said the decision has nothing to do with the quality of teaching and learning taking place in multi-age programs.

“This has nothing to do with the quality of our teachers,” he said. “They’re great teachers.”

“A student that’s in one program or not is still going to get a high level of education, because they have great teachers.”

Messore said there are great things taking place in the multi-age classroom programs, but school principals want those things to take place throughout the whole school. 

“We want every student to have opportunities to learn and grow and build connections with each other,” he said. “That’s why, years ago, Primrose made the change.”

Primrose Hill School dropped its multi-age classroom program in 2015.

A handful of parents spoke out in favor of the Nayatt MAC, citing numerous benefits for the students and their families. 

Sara Adams said her son has benefitted from the program. She said other students should have the same opportunity as her son. Another parent said he had two daughters in the MAC — one has aged out of the program, but the other is still in it. He said that while his daughters are very different, they have both benefitted from the multi-age approach. He said it would be a real shame if the program went away.

But officials said the MAC enrollment is also dwindling: there are 22 students in the program, but only five are there by choice. The others, said officials, have been placed in the program to fill the empty seats. 

Committee member Bell said he was troubled by that. 

“Listening to all the parents, it’s tough,” he said. “Primrose was a great program, but do you force people to fill in places where they didn’t ask to be in a multi-age program?”

Some parents said officials are not promoting the Nayatt MAC as much as they had in the past. 

Messore, who acknowledged that shrinking enrollment was a factor in the decision to phase out the program, said the district was not going to recommend the MAC teachers over the other educators in the building. 

“I think the teachers (in the MAC program) do a great job in there,” he said. “I think all the teachers at Nayatt do a great job.”

Messore said he believes there is an opportunity for the entire building to feel that same connection that is experienced in the MAC program. He said that is part of the reason why he supported the building administrator’s recommendation to phase out the program. 

“When people come to this town and ask me ‘What’s you best elementary school?’ My answer is “All three of them, and (grades) four and five,” Messore said. 

The process

McCrann voiced concerns about the process surrounding the phasing out of the MAC program. 

He said there are policies in place that are meant to ensure that decisions such as the elimination of a well-established program are discussed in public. McCrann said that was not the case with the Nayatt MAC program. The School Committee Chairman said he was not judging the merit or value of the program or the decision to unwind it, just that it was not done in public. 

Douglas said she did not believe that the issue would have gone before the School Committee. She said that the new school-based guidelines put in place recently leave this decision to the building administrator. 

Douglas also said Nayatt Principal Melissa Moniz met with the teachers more than once, although not specifically to discuss the decision to phase out the MAC. She said informational meetings were open to the public, but only two people attended. 

“It’s easier in retrospect to say that we should have had more stakeholder input but I think that’s mostly because we’re hearing from people who are upset,” Douglas said. 

She added: “But it wouldn’t have come to us, as far as I understand, based on the new rules.”

Douglas said she saw a letter from a teacher at Nayatt that stated she supported the change to phase out the program. 

Peck said he did not have the skills or qualifications to opine on whether the MAC was a good program or not. But, he added, the school administration needs to follow the policies in place, and failed to do so with the phase-out of the MAC. He specifically cited the decision-making policy. 

“I think if we really are truly about transparency and empowering the administrators that we have your back, we have to make sure the policies are followed,” he said. “If they’re not, it takes away this body’s oversight… I don’t think this is a valid decision because the policy wasn’t followed.”

Peck said he did not want the blame to fall on the Nayatt Principal, rather it belongs on the central administration.

Douglas countered, stating that the decision-making policy only pertains to when the issue impacts a certain number of students. Peck then asked legal counsel to weigh in. Lombardo said she was hesitant to offer legal advice in public on something that might be challenged by a lawsuit. She said the School Committee could adjourn and go into an executive session. 

“I think that answer is telling enough,” Peck said.