The Chelsea School Committee voted 9-0 Thursday night to formally oppose Pioneer Charter School of Science’s request to add more than 440 seats and extend its grades down to pre-kindergarten, a change the resolution says could pull another $7 million a year out of the Chelsea Public Schools.
The vote came at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour meeting at City Hall that also brought the first look at an outside review of how the district staffs its schools, new attendance and dropout numbers, and repeated references to the federal immigration enforcement families have reported around the city this week.
What the resolution says
Pioneer is a regional charter school that draws students from Chelsea and neighboring districts. According to the resolution, which the committee clerk read into the record before the vote, Pioneer has asked the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to change its grade span from kindergarten through 12th grade to pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, adding more than 440 seats, which the resolution describes as a 57 percent increase in overall enrollment.
The resolution’s other figures:
- Charter schools already take more than $23 million from the Chelsea Public Schools this year, about $20 million after state reimbursements.
- The expansion could cost Chelsea more than $7 million more, bringing Chelsea’s charter tuition payments to Pioneer alone to more than $8.7 million a year once it is fully phased in.
- Students with disabilities are 22.9 percent of Chelsea Public Schools enrollment and 11.3 percent at Pioneer. English learners are 46.1 percent in Chelsea and 22.9 percent at Pioneer.
- Students of color are more than 95 percent of Chelsea’s enrollment and 62 percent at Pioneer. Low-income students are 75 percent in Chelsea and 47 percent at Pioneer.
The resolution says Pioneer has not shown a need for the seats or why adding pre-kindergarten requires such a large increase, and notes that because Pioneer is a regional school, the exact cost to each sending district cannot be calculated. It closes by asking the state to weigh the committee’s objection along with the usual educational, financial and operational review of the application.
Dr. Sarah Neville, who introduced the resolution, said the committee learned about two months ago that Pioneer had filed the request. Neville credited the Chelsea Teachers Union and AFT Massachusetts with pulling together the data. “Public schools, by contrast, by design, are for educating every single student, no matter how difficult their needs are,” Neville said. Neville asked for a unanimous vote “to send a strong message” to the state.
Neville said the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will decide on the request in January and that written comments should reach the department by December, sent to Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez and the department’s charter school office. Neville said the teachers union has also set up an online form for residents to send a message.
Another member said the district has opposed charter expansions before and that if anyone adds early-childhood seats, it should be the public schools. “If we’re going to be expanding seats, it should be here,” the member said.
Four people spoke for the resolution during public comment, including Catherine Anderson, president of the Chelsea Teachers Union, who said Chelsea “could lose up to $8 million per year” if the expansion goes through, a teacher at the Early Learning Center, and a parent with two children in the schools. A fourth comment, submitted in writing by a parent recovering from surgery, was read into the record.
We covered the district’s budget outlook in October: Chelsea schools project a $22.3 million shortfall for next year.
The staffing review
Simone Carpenter, a director with the Boston-based District Management Group, presented the first results of a staffing study the district commissioned last spring. The study compared Chelsea with the state, with national figures and with four other Gateway City districts chosen for similar demographics: Lawrence, Lynn, Brockton and Lowell.
The findings:
- While enrollment fell, the district’s full-time-equivalent staff grew 31 percent between the 2020-21 and 2025-26 school years, most of it in school-based instruction and instructional support.
- Chelsea has 8.8 teachers per 100 students, close to the state average of 8.4, but more of them hold special education or English learner certification than the state or comparison districts, and fewer are general education only. Carpenter said that looked like a deliberate choice.
- Chelsea has 2.8 paraprofessionals per 100 students, slightly below the state’s 3 and in line with the comparison districts.
- Chelsea has about 50 percent more clerical staff per 100 students than the state average and the most of the four comparison districts, and about twice as many instructional coaches as those districts.
- The central office is about 7 percent of the district’s staff, in line with similar districts.
Carpenter recommended the district set clear rules for how many of each position schools get, based on student need, while leaving principals some flexibility. Carpenter said cutting the central office would yield little because it is a small share of the staff.
Superintendent Dr. Almi Abeyta said the district used Student Opportunity Act and federal pandemic money to add mental health staff, special education and English learner positions, and paraprofessionals in first grade. Abeyta said the looming shortfall of about $22 million equals roughly 220 positions, the district’s entire Student Opportunity Act increase. “All these wonderful supports that we’ve added over the last five years, six years, will be obliterated,” Abeyta said.
Abeyta said the clerical numbers rose mostly because the district added special education clerks to handle legally required paperwork as special education enrollment grew. Asked by member Jonathan Gomez-Pereira what the District Management Group engagement cost, Abeyta said the figure was not at hand and would be provided. Member Jake Small asked what a purely numbers-based review misses; Carpenter said it does not capture how staffing feels inside schools and recommended pairing it with focus groups and surveys. Abeyta said the district plans community sessions on the findings.
Attendance, dropouts and immigration enforcement
The district’s indicators report showed 33 dropouts so far this school year, 2.13 percent, the highest rate at this point since 2023-24. Of the 33, 16 are multilingual learners. Since school opened, 176 students have registered and 99 have left, a net gain of 77. Abeyta reported total enrollment of 5,463 and said districtwide attendance last year was 89 percent, the highest since 2021.
A committee member asked whether immigration enforcement this week had cut attendance. The administrator presenting the report said the high schools looked about the same as usual, and Abeyta said elementary principals reported that Wednesday and Thursday attendance was unchanged. Abeyta said families had responded with thanks to the district’s message about agents in the city.
The parent who spoke in public comment asked the committee for a written plan: walking groups to get children to school, renewed know-your-rights training and “red cards” for families. “I don’t want to hear it’s a city problem,” the parent said.
Chair Ana Hernandez closed the meeting by saying the district is aware of the immigration enforcement presence, sent messages to families Wednesday and Thursday, and has added administrators and staff at dismissal. Our earlier report: Chelsea schools sent families a notice about immigration agents in the city.
Also at the meeting
- Joint budget meeting: Neville announced a joint meeting of the School Committee and City Council on the school budget, Monday, November 23, at 6:30 p.m.
- Gifts and a grant accepted, 9-0: 100 backpacks worth $5,000 from Voya Financial, 1,000 pairs of Bombas socks worth $4,000, 1,200 children’s books worth $10,740 from Reader to Reader of Amherst, and a $14,000 state My Career and Academic Plan grant for Chelsea High and Chelsea Opportunity Academy.
- Head lice policy: the revised policy was adopted 9-0.
- New student representatives from Chelsea High, Chelsea Opportunity Academy and Chelsea Virtual Learning Academy joined the committee.
- Chelsea High drama: the student report said the drama club performs Arsenic and Old Lace November 12 to 14 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium; tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.
- A Chelsea High guidance counselor received the district’s Name, Strength and Story award, nominated by a former student.
Read the full meeting: transcript of the November 5 School Committee meeting.
The meeting video is on the Chelsea Community Cable YouTube channel.