WILLIAMSBURG - Bursting at the seams, the Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School has expanded into an additional section of its longtime home at the Brassworks Building to add classroom and computer lab space.
Amy Aaron, the school's administrator, said teachers are thrilled to have more space to settle into when school starts for the year Wednesday.
Aaron said increasing space was critical in part because enrollment grew by eight students from last year - from 154 to 162. In addition, students in the so-called prisms class, which includes seventh- and eighth-graders, have long been crowded in their quarters.
The prisms space is located in a freestanding building across the driveway from the main Brassworks building, in the former Squires Restaurant, overlooking the Mill River.
This year, Aaron said, some of the prisms classes will be taught in new space on the third floor of the Brassworks, means prisms students will go back and forth between the buildings.
Aaron said volunteers and paid helpers over the summer moved computers and other equipment from the school's cramped computer and technology lab to new quarters upstairs in an 1,800-square-foot section of the Main Street building.
"That space up there has been empty for a few years," Aaron said. "Half of the new space is going to be for seventh- and eighth-grade language arts and math and the other half is going to be used for our computer tech lab."
The old computer lab has been turned into office space for a new position of development coordinator and meeting space, "which we've been desperately short of," said Aaron.
To cope with budget cuts and funding decreases similar to those at other area public schools, Aaron said Hilltown teachers and staff have accepted pay cuts.
"We didn't give any raises, all staff members got a number of furlough days and we had to cut some hours for some of our positions," Aaron said. "Everybody compromised and it was a pretty good process."
In addition to returning to a school with more space, Aaron said students will enjoy new trips, performances and projects. For example, in September, each class will be visited by members of the Westfield River Watershed Association, a traveling group that spreads awareness about area waterways by performing a show called "The Watershed Waltz."
There will be familiar rituals too. Aaron said students new to the school will be greeted by returning students on the second day of classes in an all-school assembly, as is traditional. "The other students sing songs and welcome the new kids," Aaron said.
In other highlights, the school's fourth- and fifth-graders will work with members of the local Historical Society to follow the path of area residents who lived during and fought in the Revolutionary War; sixth-graders will attend Nature's Classroom in November, an environmental education program in Charlton; and seventh- and eighth-grade students will study Ancient Greece and travel to Washington, D.C., in the spring.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
HILLTOWN CHARTER FACTS
Administrative Coordinator: Amy Aaron
Education Coordinator: Dan Klatz
Community Coordinator: Deirdre Arthen
School phone number: 268-3421
Number of students: 162
Number of teachers: 14
Calendar: Sept. 2, first day of school, students dismissed at 12:30 p.m.; Sept. 4, Welcoming ceremony for new students; Sept. 7, Labor Day, no school; Sept. 29 and 30, school photos; Oct. 12, Columbus Day, no school; Oct. 13, professional day, no school; Nov. 11, Veterans' Day, no school; Nov. 25 to 27, Thanksgiving break; Dec. 23, Solstice Celebration, students dismissed at 12:30 p.m.; Dec. 24 to Jan. 1, Winter Break 1; Jan. 19, professional day, no school; Feb. 15 to 19, Winter Break 2; Feb. 22, professional day, no school; March 12, parent teacher conferences; April 19 to 23, Spring Break; May 31, Memorial Day, no school; June 9, half-day, staff luncheon; June 23, Graduation; June 25, projected last day of school.
School hours: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; on Wednesday, K-5 is 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Lunch prices: $3.70 (they come from Blue House Cafe
Parent/Teacher organizations: Cooperative School Web site: http://www.hilltowncharter.org
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