Five Danbury Schools: Mill Ridge: Too Many Peas in a Pod

Mill Ridge Primary enrolled another 80 students this fall, and Principal Mary Cronin, Ed.D., spent the entire summer creating classrooms where there had been none.

 “We now have an additional kindergarten, two additional first grades and an additional third grade,” Cronin counted. “Do we need more space here? Absolutely.”

 Deputy Superintendent Bill Glass, Ed.D., said, “Mary spent her summer cleaning, restoring, and clearing out closets to create more space. This was known as a 1970 building. It was built without classroom walls, which we built over time. We put in three additional classrooms over the summer, and we had to split a classroom.”

 “Because of the space issues, we added more classes but we have now filled the building. In this class, if they had to add one more table...”  Shaking her head, Cronin said, “They are at max now.”

 Cronin explained how these changes have effected the students. “We used to be able to keep the kids together by kindergarten and first, second and third. Now it's mixed. We have two first grades in the other pod, but they are isolated from socializations except for lunch and recess. We have paired them up with reading buddies so they can do lessons together, so they know who they are.”

 Glass explained during a tour of Mill Ridge Primary's open floor plans was created to foster a sense of community. Cronin said, “Some of these classrooms had no walls or doors before this summer.”

 Because the architecture in the round is challenging to work with, certain kinds of classrooms are not possible to create. Glass said, “If you walk into the Great Plains School, there are rectangular walls, there are risers in the music room.” Pointing to a desk, Glass said, “Here is the music room. There is Art on a Cart.

 “And that is the art station,” Cronin said, pointing at an another desk. “We used to have art and music rooms, but around the time of the Savin Report we lost them.”

 According to Cronin, the cafeteria is the only large learning space with doors in the building. “I have three different music people who have to go into the cafeteria if it's available. The room is used for music, sometimes art, sometimes assessment,” Cronin said, citing all of the ways the cafeteria is used. “I had to add another table for the new students. We are maxed out for safety and regulations.”

 Photos show that the cafeteria also holds cabinets of books for a parents resource library, the after school program, math and language arts labs. “We had no walls, so the math assessment teachers would bring them in here. We do instruction here as well, but teachers have to sign up for time to use it. This is our auditorium slash lunch slash teaching room.”

 “We didn't do too shabby on the tests. Our math went up, our reading went down a little. The environment you provide does have an impact,” Cronin said.

 “We even have gym on a cart,” laughed Cronin sadly.

 Lest that be construed as a joke, Citywide PTO member, teacher, and Mill Ridge Primary mother Terri McCarthy, said, “The gym teacher has been doing gym on a cart. He moves from class to class, and they either go outside or in the pod. The art teacher is amazing, if you gave her a hand basket and told her to make amazing things, she will.”

 As a teacher in another school district, McCarthy has an experienced perspective. “I have had at least one child in the school for seven years. I have seen how the budget cuts are effecting the schools. The teachers are working twice as hard, and by the end of last year the teachers were ragged from trying to make ends meet."

  "Seven years ago, when my son was in kindergarten," McCarthy continued,  "there was a para(professional) in the room full time, now there are none. I see the staff staying there late.  The teachers stay until 5:30 to do their planning, which they used to do during the day. I was there picking up my daughter and at 4:30 in the afternoon, Cronin was in there wiping everything down with lysol. She does it herself, and if she needs to get it done, she will get down on her own hands and knees to do it. If you have Cronin at the head of the ship, it will get done. Her teachers work hard because she doesn't ask them to do anything she wouldn't do."

According to reports by school officials, several schools are encountering similar space limitations.  To read more about this issue, click here.