Irving is a feeder school.

In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the BPS school committee passed Supt. Johnson's proposal to "bring" a k-8 school to Roslindale. She is doing this by making the Irving a feeder school for Roslindale elementary schools. Essentially, the vote "will give fifth graders who attend the Bates, Conley, Haley, Mozart, Philbrick, and Sumner elementary schools priority admission to the Washington Irving Middle School."
I have mixed feelings about making the Irving a feeder school for students from Roslindale elementary schools.
While I am well aware of the benefits and drawbacks, I still haven't come to my own conclusion about the situation.
Well, the School Committee will immerse me and my fellow teachers in a bit of "reality teaching." The faculty and staff of the Irving will open its doors next school year first to 5th graders attending Roslindale schools, then to siblings of those elementary school students (of middle school age I'm guessing), and third "would go to those students who don’t attend the six elementary schools, but live in walking distance of the Irving."

I am sad because many of my favorite students are not Roslindale residents, and this may seem like a trivial reason to dislike the change, it is, nonetheless, true for me.
Also, while Roslindale is an increasingly diverse neighborhood, it is far less diverse than the city of Boston, which is where all of my students come from now. I even have students traveling from East Boston---ah, perhaps no longer with the new proposal.

What I am hoping will come out of this is 2 things: increased enrollment and increased funding. Simply, our numbers are down, and perhaps those parents who were wary of the Irving's reputation will see this as a reason to send their kids to our school.
What I said above, about our numbers being down, is in fact a bit ironic. While the school numbers ARE down, my classroom sizes are UP. The fact of the matter is, when school numbers go down, Administration cuts positions. When positions are cut, classroom numbers go up because there is one less teacher for each subject area. Last year I had about 22-23 students in a class. This year I have 27-28 in each class. While 5 students may not sound like a lot, it is!

Just one year of this "experiment" may be too little to tell its repercussions. I only hope they are positive for all our students.