Enrollment up in Winthrop Schools

By Adam Swift

School enrollment is at its highest level in years, Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard informed the school committee as part of her superintendent’s report at Monday night’s meeting.

“Our enrollment is up to 2,000 students, that is the largest we have been in a long time,” said Howard. “It is staying very consistent, so October 1, we had 2,003 students, and now we have 2,000. However, I don’t consider that a big number considering where we were in the 1960s and the 1980s and in years past.”

Howard said it is ironic that other school districts near Winthrop such as Revere, Everett, and Chelsea, are seeing major declines in enrollment.

“I’m happy that our enrollment is up and we are getting kids to come to school and stay in school,” said Howard.

In other business, Howard said the district is continuing its work on the budget for next year and is looking at all potential capital needs. The superintendent said she began her meetings with principals in December to look at what the schools need for expenses and staffing in the coming fiscal year.

“We do have one capital improvement that we know we’re facing right now, and we are in the process of getting an updated evaluation at the Cummings School regarding the heating system,” said Howard. “Something wonky is going on with the heating system where some classrooms are extraordinarily hot and others are freezing; it has something to do with flapper valves.”

Howard said the district is expecting a report soon with more details on what needs to be fixed and the potential cost.

“We had a report on this two years ago and we put at the time, not just band-aids but some good work into it, but it’s continuing; once you fix one thing, something else breaks,” said Howard.

Once the report is in, the superintendent said she will have the facilities manager look at it alongside Town Manager Tony Marino.

Howard also welcomed new school committee members Kaitlin Burroughs, Leslie Darcy, and Shannon Kubik.

“We are excited to get down to business and work with you all,” said Howard. “For me, I’m incredibly lucky that I’ve built a relationship with the three new members in the past on the override committees that they were on and with all the events that took place with the 2-½ override. The work ethic is there … more importantly, the foundation of a relationship has been built.”

During an earlier meeting following the swearing in of the town’s elected officers on Tuesday, Jan. 6, the school committee elected Layne Petri as the new committee chair and Gus Martucci as the vice chair of the committee.