By CHRIS COLLINS
(Greenfield, MA) — There may be fewer school choice students coming to Greenfield’s public schools next year.
The Greenfield School Committee has voted to go along with Superintendent Jordana Harper’s recommendation that the district only make 22 school choice slots available next year, the vast majority of which will be offered in the middle and high schools.
“Given the current situation with the pandemic, I think it makes sense to be conservative with our school choice numbers this year,” Harper said.
School choice allows districts to make seats available for students from other communities, tuition for which would be paid for by the town where said student resides.
Harper indicated that Greenfield’s numbers might be able to be amended upward depending on the recommendations for the fall term, which are expected to be released by mid-summer. The plan approved by the committee calls for two kindergarten seats to be made available each at Four Corners and Newton Street schools, two fifth-grade seats at the middle school, five seats in the eighth and ninth grades and two seats each in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades at Greenfield High School. No choice seats are being made in grades 1 through 4 and 6 through 7.