Today, West Elementary has the highest population of any elementary school in Andover (600+ students and 130 teachers and staff) and almost every educational space fails to meet MSBA’s standards for occupancy. Given the enrollment projections based on birth rates and the expectation that many seniors in the West Elementary district will downsize and sell their homes to families, the current over-crowding situation is only going to get worse.
A new school will be built to accommodate 925 elementary school students and 130 preschoolers. Sanborn and High Plain Elementary Schools are both over-crowded today, so this new school will also help to alleviate over-crowding at those schools. This school will solve over-crowding issues FOR THE DISTRICT.
Andover’s only intensive special education program (BRIDGE) for elementary students on the autism spectrum is housed at West Elementary. This program requires small spaces adjacent to classrooms to use for periodic calming periods. These spaces do not exist in the current building. Teachers must improvise with the nursing clinic or the Principal’s office.
Shawsheen’s special needs and general education preschoolers are isolated in a multi-level, 100-year-old building that does not meet current ADA standards. A new school will accommodate special educational services for a wide-range of disabilities and include appropriate spaces for these programs to be successful. By keeping special needs students in one building from preschool to 5th grade, we will ease their transitions to the next level of learning and help them remain in Andover’s public schools.
Stairs to West El’s Therapy Room
The old stage used for OT and PT therapy is only accessible via stairs. The very space that is, by default, being used by students with special needs is not ADA compliant.
Shawsheen Preschool Ramp
The one handicap ramp at Shawsheen is not code compliant and on the opposite end of the building from the main office. The ramp leads to the building’s only chair lift, which itself enables access to only two of the five levels.
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