A virtual community meeting will be held on September 14 at 6PM (Zoom link) regarding a proposal by Family Aid to convert the former Chetwynde Nursing Home, located at 1650 Washington Street, into a long-term family shelter providing housing and services (see Fig City News article). Representatives from FamilyAid, Massachusetts Executive Office of Livable Communities and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Newton City government, and Newton Public Schools will participate.
On Monday, the School Committee will receive an update and possibly discuss the impact of the proposal. According to this memo, based on the projections provided by Family Aid, the School Department expects 50 children to reside at the facility, the majority being children under 4 years of age, with approximately 9 to 16 school-aged children over the next 3 years. (Approximately 6 to 12 are projected to be elementary school children.) In addition, the School Department reports that Family Aid expects that half of the residents will be U.S. citizens and half are projected to be migrant families seeking asylum, with their primary language being Haitian Creole. While the typical length of stay in Family Aid facilities is usually about a year, due to the federal processing backlogs, the expected stay is anticipated to be two years, which may have an impact on NECP enrollment, since the majority of children are expected to be under 4 years of age.
The School Department is recommending expanding the existing Peirce-Williams/Brown-Day/North-South buffer zone to include this new housing facility due to limited capacity at Peirce. The School Department notes that the proposed expansion could have an impact on transportation, requiring another bus for elementary school students or requiring the addition of stops on existing bus routes. A vote by the School Committee on the recommended buffer zone change is scheduled for September 27.
