WPS superintendent speaks on potential of new zoning to shake up district

The Superintendent of Waltham Public Schools, Marisa Mendonsa, told the Ordinances & Rules Committee she was “not significantly concerned” about the district’s schools’ capacity for an influx of new students. Mendonsa was invited to the Committee’s Feb. 2 meeting to discuss how the housing units allowed by new zoning overlay districts might impact class sizes.

Initially, Mendonsa was asked to attend the Feb. 23 meeting of the committee to present a comprehensive plan on how the school district can accommodate the three new major zoning changes, as well as other large developments under construction in west Waltham. Her attendance at the Feb. 2 meeting appeared to be more casual, as she fielded questions from committee members on the capacities of the Waltham districts. 

Kier Evans of BXP, owners of the land that makes up two of the overlay districts, has said that his company hopes to create 1500 new units of housing, although numbers are still preliminary. Despite this large number, Mendonsa assuaged concerns that schools might be unable to handle the load of new school-aged tenants. 

Mendonsa said that “elementary schools are not necessarily at capacity,” and that there were options to redistrict or add assistant educators to classrooms if necessary. She referred specifically to the Dual Language School, which could be expanded and potentially absorb more students. 

In looking at the specific locations of the new districts, Mendonsa said that the schools most likely to be impacted by increased enrollment would be Plympton Elementary School and MacArthur Elementary School. She also referred to a decline in enrollment of approximately 60-100 students over the past year at Northeast Elementary School, which could provide space for possible overflow at other schools. “We’ve seen a decline in multilingual learners, and I can’t always predict what’s going to happen. Some of these things are out of our control,” she said. 

Despite the district’s demonstrated readiness, large-scale changes to the school system can bring about unexpected hurdles. Ward 2 Councilor Caren Dunn remarked, “No matter what, there will be dollars spent on moving people around.” It was unclear how the district’s current budget would handle the changes, with Mendonsa mentioning that one additional school bus costs around $90,000. 

Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris suggested Mendonsa “get comfortable” with making estimates as the city plans for the new zones to begin construction.