Cheshire Board advances survey on redistricting plan; superintendent proposes priority 'legacy' waivers for Chapman families

Superintendent Jeff Solon urged the Cheshire Board of Education to approve outreach to impacted families after presenting a revised elementary redistricting plan that would close Chapman and rebalance enrollments among Barnum, Highland and Norton.

Solon outlined a revised scenario labeled B2 and a two-stage priority-waiver process that would give current Chapman students and a small group of Moss Farms families first opportunity to request a waiver to remain or return to their preferred school. He said the district would first solicit interest, then ask families to confirm commitments in a second survey phase, with a target of resolving waivers by about Feb. 20.

"We came up with something we call the priority waiver," Solon said, describing it as a legacy process intended to limit immediate disruption while the district balances long-range capacity and grant-reimbursement requirements. He repeated that waivers are not guaranteed year to year and that staff would prioritize siblings and families with longstanding out-of-area placements.

Board members asked detailed questions about transportation, class sizes and timing. Solon said district policy does not include transportation for waivers by default and that providing buses for the priority groups could cost roughly $180,000 for the two impacted neighborhoods; he added that district staffing under the scenarios would likely require roughly five additional elementary classroom teachers.

Parents and students filled the public-comment period with emotional appeals for the board to keep Chapman families intact. "We don't want to lose our family," said Kelly Grudadoria, a Chapman parent. Several speakers asked why scenario D — which they said would minimize disruption — was not given equal consideration; Solon said scenario D raises long-term proximity and enrollment pressure concerns and that B2 represents a compromise between short‑ and long‑term needs.

The board did not vote on a redistricting plan at the meeting. Instead, members agreed to authorize staff to publish interactive maps, begin the priority-waiver survey (targeting the B2 map) and return with preliminary survey data for a possible decision on Dec. 18 or, at the latest, mid‑January. The superintendent said the district would post maps and additional documentation online the next day.

Next steps: the district will post interactive maps, send the priority-waiver survey to affected households, collect initial responses through a two‑phase commitment process, and present the survey results to the board before any formal adoption of redistricting.