Temple Elementary School’s Teaching Principal Niki McGettigan has announced plan for retirement, effective at the end of the year.
McGettigan is the school’s principal and teaches a combined third and fourth grade class. TES has about 40 students and three full-time teachers, according to numbers tallied in October. McGettigan’s announcement launched ConVal administrators into a discussion about how to fill the void once she is gone.
Superintendent Kim Saunders told school board members during a regular meeting Wednesday that administrators have drafted and discussed five potential models for the future. She said after long deliberations regarding each of the options, it is recommending that it keep the same teacher-principal position into the foreseeable future.
“The majority of the principal-teaching cohort will be finishing their program this spring and they will be certified principles,” Saunders told board members. “A number of the cohorts have significant classroom experience and would be up for this very challenging role.”
This option would likely be a budget-neutral move and would also buy the district more time to compile and review adequacy data that it plans to use to discuss potential district reconfiguration.
The other options included hiring on another community principal, adding an additional building to one of the community principals, or taking on a part-time principal. She said the first option is not ideal due to financial constraints. The two other options are problematic because the school would not have a principal on location at all times.
Saunders said another possibility discussed was integrating students into a different school and closing the building altogether.
“While this option could potentially save the district dollars, it could potentially alienate the community of Temple and be considered premature in light of the present time effort going into this study of reconfiguration,” Saunders said about the option.
She said the decision would likely be difficult to roll out in time for the start of school in September.
District-wide enrollment has dropped precipitously within the last 10 years, which has left chairs empty at schools across the district. The cost of maintaining 11 schools is costly and, some argue, not beneficial for the students who are placed in small classroom settings.
The current operating budgets at elementary schools this year ranges from $500,000 to more than $2 million. The current budget for Great Brook School is about $2.5 million while South Meadow School is about $3.3 million.
And while shutting schools could potentially slash costs, few people want to see elementary or middle schools pulled from their towns in fear that their community will no longer be areas that are able to attract young families.
At a select boards advisory committee on Thursday, Chair John Jordan said he hasn’t heard much discussion on potential reconfiguration recently.
“There’s really no information coming out on that except for vague,” Jordan said.
Saunders said administrators are in the midst of compiling data on a comprehensive financial analysis of the district, which, once complete, will be peer reviewed and act as a catalyst for potential reconfiguration discussions.
“It will show us how much is this costing for each person of for each town? And is that equitable?” Saunders said during the SAC meeting on Thursday night.
Saunders said of the eight models it’s compiling, administrators will choose four different variations to show what it will look like over time. She said examples of some of the models it’s drafting include “soft borders,” which would allow students from other towns to enroll in the school for a fee, while another possibility includes consolidating some of its schools.
“I am very aware that that (consolidating schools) is not a popular thing to talk about in this district,” Saunders said.
Saunders emphasized that while administrators are interested in the financial piece, they are also conducting an education equity audit as well that will take into consideration the characteristics of the school and how it would change if models are altered.
“The (school) board decided seven or eight months ago that we wanted a full financial picture and a full educational picture before we decided anything,” Pierce Rigrod, vice chair of the select board, said during the SAC meeting. “And we wanted to put together models with that information behind us. We’re going to propose, debate or discuss configuration and consolidation, keeping it the same, or changing our financial formula.”
He said the board intends to take a deep look at each model before it launches forward. Rigrod also emphasized a desire to make the process fully transparent to the public.
“We want to hear from our constituents before there is a discussion about what exactly we want to pursue,” Rigrod said.
But some of the select board members said they are tired of hearing about reconfiguration discussions that never go anywhere.
The most recent attempt to pursue a study regarding the impacts of withdrawal of one or more member towns within the ConVal School District failed last May in a narrow 328 yes, 376 no vote by residents in Peterborough.
Rigrod said if administrators and the school board were able to come to a consensus on the best way forward, there’s a chance one of the formulas could be implemented. The first step is to look at the compiled data, analyze it, and move forward from there.
Saunders said even if nothing changes, resurfacing the discussion every five to seven years is important.
“It also gives us the ability to say for the next five to seven years, this is how we’re going to function,” Saunders said. “And then we’ll look at it again.”
The school board did not vote on a decision regarding the replacement of Temple Elementary School teacher principal. School board Chair Myron Steere told school board members to email Saunders with any questions they may have regarding the matter and said it would pick up the discussion at its next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. Potential reconfiguration discussions will also be a discussion going forward.
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.