Centerville Elementary School

Story

The Barnstable Public School District oversees the operation all public schools in Barnstable, Massachusetts. The Superintendent of Schools is Meg Mayo-Brown. The Assistant Superintendent is Kristen Harmon.HistoryAlthough it is unknown when the school district started, it is generally believed to have been in existence by the early 1900s.2001 and 2003 Overrides FailIn 2001, a Proposition 2½ override failed to pass. In addition to teacher cuts across the system and reductions in each school's budget, the most significant losses were to the schools' award-winning music program; elementary school feeder programs were cut completely. In 2002 the district faced another budget shortfall and the school committee voted to implement fees for bus transportation, music programs and sports programs. A 2003 override was attempted to remove these fees and prevent further staff lay-offs. The override failed and the fees remained. The loss of feeder music programs in 2001 and the subsequent fees for participation in the high school music program decimated the award-winning Barnstable High School Marching Band.Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School CommitteeIn 2001, the school committee was sued under the court case Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that parents could sue school committees for sexual harassment under the Fourteenth Amendment. The $3,000,000 suit was eventually settled for $150,000.2008 Budget CrisisWith the Late-2000s recession, the state was forced to cut $6,000,000 in local aid. Faced with serious budgetary constraints, the School Committee opted to go with their third option, which entailed closing three elementary schools, moving the fourth and fifth grades into Barnstable United Elementary School (formerly Barnstable Horace Mann Charter Public School), moving the sixth and seventh grades into Barnstable Intermediate School (formerly Barnstable Middle School), and moving the eighth grade into Barnstable High School. The School Committee chose to close Cotuit Elementary School, Marstons Mills Elementary School, and Osterville Bay Elementary School in 2008. To date, only Cotuit Elementary School has been re-purposed by the Waldorf School of Cape Cod. The other two buildings remain vacant and have fallen into disrepair.