A new program merges two New Haven schools. One school that serves as elementary school will merge with a middle school.
New Haven Public Schools is planning to merge two schools this upcoming school year.
The two schools that will be merging are Wexler-Grant School and Lincoln-Bassett Community School.
NHPS Superintendent Dr. Madeline Negron said these two schools were chosen due to their proximity to one another and their declining student enrollment.
“By merging Wexler and Lincoln Bassett and creating a new community in the Lincoln Bassett community, it frees up the Wexler Building.”
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In the Fall of 2025, Lincoln-Bassett Community School will begin to serve students from Wexler-Grant.
Superintendent Negron clarified the merger does not mean Wexler School will close, instead it will be repurposed to offer a new program and serve in part as a district hub.
“In this design we’re going to be able to push career pathways down into middle school with this prototype that we are calling our Academy of Exploration.”
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The Academy of Exploration will first be offered to district students who currently attend school outside of New Haven.
“This will be a way to keep the funds and be able to do that ourselves and be able to do a stronger program.”
The Academy of Exploration at the Wexler building will begin by serving grades 6-8 and will grow every year until eventually becoming a 6-12 grade school.
It will be centered around project-based learning and hands-on learning.
“It will serve as a prototype also for what we know is best to meet the developmental needs of students in that age group.”
The merger will take effect at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year as part of the district’s Path To Excellence strategic operating plan.
Superintendent Negron emphasized parents should expect to hear of more mergers in the near future as the district prepares to soon share the 10-year vision plan to the New Haven Board of Education.
“I am confident that we are following our path to excellence in terms of thinking about how we are going to become operationally efficient dealing and managing the fact that we have challenges related to our limited resources and this is the beginning of our plan to address these issues.”
While the district continues to work through the plan to merge two schools, parents in New Haven shared some of their concerns as it relates to teacher to student ratio and mixing younger students with older students.
"That part is good a vocational school but I don't think they should merge, I don't think they should add the little kids with the older kids, its not going to balance out," parent Stephanie Coleman said.
"My biggest concern is the teacher to student ratio, I know behavior is big also so will they have the correct services to address that?," parent Dominique Gambel said.
