The BOE voted for Coleytown Middle School students to remain in their current relocations for the remainder of the 2018-2019 school year with sixth and seventh graders at Bedford Middle School and eighth graders at Staples High School. The CMS students were relocated in late September due to an abundance of mold identified within the school.

“I like it because we’re not going to be getting sick from the mold at Coleytown, since before I felt like I was getting bad headaches everyday,” Faye Kahn ’24, a Coleytown student relocated to BMS, said. “The school is big, and it is confusing to find my way around, but I’m happy to be there.”

Colleen Palmer sent out an email on Oct. 16 informing the district employees of the news and explained the lack of a current permanent solution. The district team is also looking to eradicate inconveniences teachers may face due to the relocation process.

“The District has a full-court press to add 6 portables to BMS, and we have begun the preliminary work to get Town approvals as we work with portable vendors,” Palmer’s email stated. “Most importantly, the BMS/CMS administrator teams have been working on a revised schedule to be implemented next week that will alleviate all instances where teachers have only 5 minutes to travel between BMS and SHS for teaching assignments.”

Staples students seem to be indifferent about the decision made. The eighth graders have been mostly isolated in the foreign language department’s hallway, since Staples students have been asked to avoid walking in this area as much as possible. The result has been little to no communication between the eighth graders and high school students. Other than the inconvenience from the relocation of foreign language classrooms, Staples students have no complaints about the middle school presence.

“I don’t mind them being in the building at all,” Juliette Schwebel ’19 said. “I don’t have any classes where I have to walk through their hallway anyway. I just feel bad for them because I’m sure they want their normal classrooms and facilities back.”