School Superintendent Seeks Guidance for Changes

Seekonk School Superintendent Rebecca Kidwell is seeking guidance from the School Committee about grade reconfigurations for the fall of 2025.

“We are unable to provide small elementary class sizes next year without making a change that would potentially impact next fall,” Kidwell said at the committee’s August 19 meeting.

In the last few years, Seekonk has been experiencing a rapid population growth.

For the 2023-2024 school year, there were a total of 2,061 students with 1,021 students at Aitken/Martin and 1,034 students at Hurley and the high school.

One option which had been proposed would be to move the fifth grade out of Aitken and Martin elementary schools to Hurley Middle School.  Kidwell rejected that idea, noting Hurley wouldn’t be able to accommodate four grade levels considering the current student population.

In 2021, the 10 classroom addition to Aitken Elementary School was completed at a cost of $11 million. Former School Superintendent Rich Drolet said the project was needed to reduce class sizes.

“We want to be as well-planned and respectful as we can of celebrating students’ milestones at transition points,” Kidwell added. “It’s a question of deciding what we value and recognizing what will be the outcome based on those decisions.”