By Carol Britton Meyer

The school committee continued its discussion of the potential consolidation of school buildings Tuesday night, with Superintendent of Schools Judith Kuehn outlining the educational implications of moving most students out of Memorial Middle School and educating students in preK-7 at the Jacobs Elementary School and grades 8-12 at Hull High School.

Under this plan – known as Option 4 among those recommended in the Best Educational Use of School Facilities study – the middle school would become a mixed-use facility, to be determined by the school committee and town officials and guided by a memorandum of understanding. The South Shore Educational Collaborative programs would remain and the school committee would retain overall control of the Memorial building.

The superintendent said that implementing Option 4 could produce benefits, including more efficient use of administrative staff, the potential for mitigating the frequency of staff reductions, for a full-staffed library and assistant principal, for cross-grade instruction and activities, and for starting foreign-language instruction and the band program in earlier grades.

Option 4 was outlined in the MARS consulting group’s report and recommended by the town’s ad hoc committee that studied the consolidation proposals. The goal remains to do what is in the best interests of Hull Public School students. The final decision rests with the school committee.

Consolidation proponents also say the atmosphere of Hull High School would be improved with the addition of more students and “supportive programs, low class sizes, common planning time, [and also that] worthwhile extracurricular activities would be best sustained,” according to Kuehn.

In addition, students would have only one transition, from Jacobs to HHS, and “the excess capacity of HHS and Jacobs would be used in a more balanced way,” she said.

Other factors to consider are that under Option 4, the oldest school building would revert to a mixed use while Jacobs would have the capacity to accommodate grades 6 and 7 “and continue to maintain an appropriate educational atmosphere.”

Should a sharp increase in enrollment occur, “the space at Memorial could be negotiated and utilized for expanded educational purposes,” Kuehn said.

Should Option 4 be the school committee’s final choice, the transition plan would be “thoughtful, transparent, and vetted, with the ultimate priority to maintain all educational programs and to enhance educational opportunities,” Kuehn said.

The focus is on ensuring that the selected option fits the goals of the HPS and the town, “which will require cooperation,” Kuehn said. “[We must] never lose sight of the children.”

Kuehn also presented FAQs resulting from the ad hoc committee report and questions asked by school committee members.

These included pointing out that the schools will not be overcrowded if the grades are reconfigured, that HPS won’t lose funding if Option 4 is implemented because Chapter 70 state funding is based on student population and not the number of schools, special education would not suffer under a reconfiguration but could improve with increased collaboration, and that no impact to the theater program is expected.

Kuehn noted that the Hull Public Schools are not the only ones going through this kind of process.

“We realize that this is complex, and that’s why we are putting so much time into it,” she said.