A map detailing the new shift in the middle school district lines. Courtesy image/Nashua School District

NASHUA – The Board of Education recently voted 5-4 to update the middle school district lines so that students leaving Broad Street Elementary School will be sent to Pennichuck Middle School for the 2024-2025 school year.

“That puts Broad Street, Birch Hill [Elementary School], Charlotte [Avenue Elementary School] and part of Dr. Crisp [Elementary School] at Pennichuck,” said board member Heather Raymond during the Jan. 29 meeting.

Prior to the vote, James Graham, a math teacher at Nashua High School North, shared his opinion on the middle school district lines.

“We’re asking these kids who already went through so much and are just now righting the ship, to split up and attend middle school with total strangers, then move again when fleeting friendships have been forged,” he said, adding that his two sons attend Broad Street.

Graham also said it is not easy to teach students who are depressed or lonely.

“That’s why I find this decision to be so callous,” he said. “You’re sacrificing our children for the convenience of others. The ripple effects of which will spread through so many aspects of these children’s lives. I would rather my kids attend every class in a trailer with more permanent friends than get jerked around every couple years to make numbers match.”

Resident Erinn Kobisky, a parent of two Broad Street children, said students are finally returning to some sort of normalcy after enduring the trauma brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If you continue with the district line being set to Broad Street, you’re suggesting that a very small group of students go through three years at McCarthy [Middle School],” she said. This small group will move on from McCarthy to Nashua High North while the rest of the school will move onto [Nashua High] South — this is neglectful to even consider.”

Resident Daniel O’Neil said 20 percent of Elm Street Middle School students go on to attend Nashua High North, adding that his daughter was included in that 20 percent. As a result, O’Neil said his daughter lost more than half of her friends as they went to Nashua High School South.

“She developed these friendships and now they’re gone,” he said, adding that the freshman year of high school is already difficult without having to make new friends.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mario Andrade said half the students at Crisp Elementary School go on to Pennichuck and the other half are sent to Fairgrounds Middle School.

He said students at Sunset Heights Elementary School stay together through eighth grade while students at Fairgrounds Elementary School are together through fifth grade.

Board member Regan Lamphier said she was not in favor of continuing to split up groups of students.

“It seems like not a great way to do it,” she said.

In response, Andrade said he and his colleagues have been working to minimize the number of splits.

“We used to have five splits, now we’re down to three splits,” he said.

However, for logistical reasons, he said it is not possible to eliminate the splits entirely.

“We have to put a line somewhere, there’s always going to be an impact,” said Andrade.

Board member Neil Claffey pointed out that the board’s vote would effect 85 students.

“If we’re looking at middle school, that’s a lot of students,” he said.

In a follow-up interview, Chairwoman Jennifer Bishop said she would like to see the board adopt similar district lines on the elementary level.

“My goal during the first round of redistricting votes was to shore up both the elementary and middle school lines to decrease the amount of elementary schools that split,” she said. “I am hopeful that when those lines are presented to the board, we see more students who are able to stay together. “