ConVal school consolidation will be on the warrant in March, giving voters the option to reduce the district’s 11 schools down to five.
In fact, voters will see two cost-saving options on the warrant this year: One that would reduce the number of schools in the district, and one that would charge extra to under-populated schools.
During its meeting on Tuesday, the school board looked at three options for warrant articles to address district costs. The board didn’t support an article that would have specifically targeted the closure of Dublin Consolidated School and Temple Elementary School, currently the schools with the smallest number of students, but did approve putting two other articles on the warrant.
Both votes were split among the board’s 13 members.
The board voted 7-5 in favor of putting forward an article that would reduce the number of schools in the district to five – two for pre-Kindergarten through third grade, two for grades four through six, and one school for seventh through twelfth.
The five-school model would be phased in and be completely implemented by July 2025.
The school board also approved a second warrant article for voter consideration in March. If approved, the plan would charge schools in the district a surcharge if they did not have a student population of at least 65.
Based on Nov. 2018 enrollment figures, the elementary schools in Dublin, Francestown, Hancock, and Temple would fall into that category.
The number charged per student under the threshold would be calculated by dividing the total amount of the budget to be raised by taxes throughout the district and dividing it by the district’s average daily membership to get an average assessment per student cost. That cost would then be multiplied by the number of students a town has under 65 to determine the surcharge amount.
About 45 people attended Tuesday’s meeting, with several parents from Temple and Dublin objecting to the prospect of closing their elementary schools.
“I moved from a big town because I didn’t want to raise my children in a class of 20,” Christine Mackensen of Temple said. “Our children benefit from a small school. It’s a family. It’s not a school, it’s a family, and that’s how I feel. I don’t want to lose the small environment that my children have gained and love so much to be thrown into a big school.”
Erin Nolan, who lives in Peterborough but sends her children to Dublin for elementary schooling because she prefers the smaller environment, said she has not seen enough evidence of the cost savings closing elementary schools would provide, and said the idea shouldn’t be on the table until that was clear.
“There are no firm facts that have been presented to show the cost savings to anyone,” she said.
Several parents told the board closing elementary schools would have a negative impact on the town’s ability to keep and attract residents.
“It’s going to ruin our towns. Whole-heartedly,” Temple resident Cindi Connolly said.
Last week, Connolly approached the Temple Select Board about forming a committee to come up with alternatives to the school board’s proposed consolidation plan. She floated several suggestions to the board, including changes to the district’s articles of agreement to give towns the authority to decide whether or not to keep the fifth grade in their individual elementary schools or move them on to the district’s joint middle schools, or even to go as far as withdrawing from the district and exploring consolidation options with other surrounding districts such as Mascenic Regional School District for middle and high school.
The Temple Select Board approved the formation of the Committee, and asked Connolly to compile a list of names of potential members to submit to them for approval.
Members of the district may submit petition warrant articles to the district as long as the article is signed by 25 registered voters of the district. Petitioned articles must be submitted before the fifth Tuesday prior to the district meeting.
Stephan Morrissey, the school board representative for Francestown, told the board and the assembled residents that the elementary schools cost significantly more than other schools in the district. With advancing requirements from the state and decreasing funding, something must be done to control costs, he said.
“We’re being forced into a corner,” he said.
This isn’t the first time discussions around consolidation have proposed to put the smallest of the district’s schools on the chopping block. In March, the district voted down a petition warrant article that would have allowed the School Board to close schools which had under 50 students two years in a row.
Rich Cahoon, the school board representative from Antrim, was in favor of the article to surcharge schools with under 65 students.
He referenced two tax cards for similarly valued homes on the same road, one in Peterborough and one in Hancock. The Peterborough home paid approximately $1,100 more to the ConVal School district in local school tax than the Hancock one.
“I don’t think it’s equitable,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair.”
Dick Dunning, the school board representative for Peterborough, said in Peterborough particularly there is a perception that the larger towns are carrying more than their fair share.
“They feel they’re carrying the burden for small towns, and eventually that causes a division,” he said.
Nikki McGettigan, the school board representative for Temple, said when the district began as a cohesive unit, towns bought in to that idea based on the thinking they were going to keep their elementary schools.
“We are ConVal,” McGettigan said, referencing the district’s motto. “We need to remain ConVal. We all pay. We’re being fair.”
Cahoon said if the towns were determined to keep their elementary schools, there needs to be a change in how the district is funded.
“If people want to keep these very small schools open, they have to understand they’re more expensive,” Cahoon said. “People keep saying they support their schools…well, put up or shut up.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.