MATTAPOISETT — The School Committee didn’t object to cutting a teacher recently, but at the Feb. 26 Board of Selectmen meeting Town Administrator Michael Gagne proposed something more drastic: cutting an entire elementary school.

“I met with Doug White recently, and told him that we need to start to look at the issue of is it financially frugal and necessary to have two elementary schools?” Gagne recounted.

Gagne recommended that the Board have a report on the issue made by professionals with recommendations for the fiscal year 2021 budget.

The Town Administrator first started considering the change when he looked at the school data that the Massachusetts Housing Partnership provides from 1985 to 2017. The Partnership records enrollment data for public, private, vocational and regional schools, and data shows school enrollment is declining. 

He also took a broader look at the town’s population, both to explain the decline in elementary school populations, and to consider alternate uses for a school building, should a school be cut.

Alternatives include another town hall building, a Council on Aging, or a recreation center.

The Town Administrator says that data shows that school enrollment peaked in the 90s and has been declining since then. Town population data also shows a sharp drop off in the number of town residents between the ages of 25 and 44.

Chair of the Board of Selectmen Jordan Collyer commented that the low numbers for younger adults explains some of the school trends.

“Those who are going to bring kids into the school system just aren’t here,” he observed.

The highest number of town residents are between the ages of 60 and 64, which prompted Gagne to say “we need to look at how to provide services to that portion of the community.”

The Selectmen also speculated that school choice could have an impact on how many students are leaving Old Rochester High School, though they speculated that school choice might bring just as many students in to the school system.