Nashua elementary school may close, a casualty of renovation costs and declining enrollment
Mar. 28—NASHUA — Outside Nashua High School North on Monday, close to 100 parents, teachers and elementary school staff from across the district held homemade signs protesting what they believe will be a devastating mistake: the proposed closure of Mount Pleasant Elementary School as Nashua grapples with redistricting after decades of declining enrollment.
Alex Homola, mother of a kindergartener at the close-knit neighborhood school, was stunned by what she called a surprise decision by school administrators made without warning or input from parents.
"How could they do this?" Homola said. "How wasn't this discussed (at school board meetings)"? Where are we going to put these kids? What is this going to do to morale for teachers and staff?"
Over the past two weeks, parents of children who attend the close-knit neighborhood school started a "Save our School" Facebook campaign after learning from some teachers that the elementary school, which serves 283 pre-K through fifth graders, would likely close in June 2024 — a casualty of dropping enrollment district-wide and the cost of upgrading a 100-year-old school that hasn't been renovated since it was built in 1924.
A petition to save Mount Pleasant garnered 2,787 signatures by Monday evening's rally. A peaceful crowd lined the walkway before the Nashua Board of Education meeting started inside.
"It feels like the rug's been pulled out from under me," Homola said. "We have parents who went to this school and are fired up about this."
"What's going to happen to those kids who have all those memories?" said Jeanmarie Eckstein, a paraeducator at Charlotte Avenue School, who came to support Mount Pleasant.
"A lot of our families speak English as a second language and qualify for free and reduced lunch," said Caitlyn Lemando, who has taught Grade 4 at Mount Pleasant for more than a decade. "We're a tight-knit community. These kids will be absorbed into other schools" that are already short-staffed.
Many Mount Pleasant School families struggle with dysfunction and challenges at home, said Danielle St. Hilaire, a former Mount Pleasant PTO president whose children attended the school. "You're taking the kids out of a place where they feel safe and have connected with people they trust."
Nichole Washafsky, whose 7- and 8-year-olds go to Mount Pleasant now, values the "stability and consistency" the school provides after closures during the pandemic, followed by a hybrid schedule and interruptions in social and emotional learning that made returning to full-time in-person classes both a blessing and a challenge.
For her third grader, "This is the first normal school year. "
Declining enrollment
Nashua schools' declining enrollment follows a statewide trend. The number of pre-K through 12th-graders in New Hampshire's public schools has dropped by 22% since November 2002 as a result of declining birth rates, an aging population and other social and economic factors, according to the New Hampshire Department of Education.
Between the 2019-2020 school year and this one, statewide enrollment sank by just over 10,000 students.
Nashua's schools served more than 12,000 students 20 years ago, said Superintendent Mario Andrade. Enrollment at the start of this school year was 9,913, following a steady decline of roughly 150 to 200 students a year.
With McCarthy Middle School scheduled to open in 2024, a redistricting committee of 25 to 30 teachers, community members, school administrators, a Nashua city planner and a representative from the state Department of Education is looking at redrawing enrollment lines to even out class sizes and allocate resources.
If kept open, Mount Pleasant Elementary School will require renovations costing $20 to $25 million in the next five years, Andrade said. "It's the last school (in the district) that hasn't had renovations."
In 2000, enrollment was 511. Now it's 283. If the closure is approved by the school board in April or May, after considering the committee's report and the superintendent's recommendation, Mount Pleasant students would shift to another school in fall 2024.
'Walking school'
A key to Mount Pleasant's appeal is that it's a "walking school" for children who live nearby. The school frequently serves siblings from the same family, providing a stable launching pad to the upper grades.
"We know transportation and walking is a big factor," Andrade said. "It's very early in the process. We just don't know what the final (redistricting) lines will look like."
The potential shuttering of Mount Pleasant "is not a reflection of the quality of education, teachers or community," Andrade said. "We have to be fiscally responsible and we have to look at all our options."
Andrade said the next school board meeting April 17 might be too early for the board to make a final decision.
The prospect of closure remains unsettling.
"It's always been like a family," said Bill Nelson, who taught physical education at Mount Pleasant School from 2010 to 2013.
Between 2018 and 2022, seven public elementary schools closed in New Hampshire, according to the state education department: Inter-Lakes Elementary School in Meredith, Jefferson Elementary School, Maple Wood Elementary School and Idlehurst Elementary School in Somersworth, Brown Elementary School in Berlin, Pembroke Village School, Hallsville School in Manchester, and Union Sanborn School in Northfield.
