In considering how to vote on Francestown’s effort to withdraw from the ConVal school
district, we hope citizens of the ConVal towns will consider more than “how will this affect my taxes?” Some conscientious and helpful neighbors have asked: Can Francestown really provide good schooling for its young children if it leaves ConVal?
Our answer is a confident and informed “yes.”
The Francestown School Committee examined the educational programs and financing
of several independent single-school elementary districts in New Hampshire and concluded that it is unequivocally feasible and highly desirable for the town to withdraw
from the ConVal school district and to establish its own district. Districts studied reported
high levels of community involvement, improved test scores, increased enrollment, high
staff retention rates and full-service programming. While all school districts in New
Hampshire face challenges in staffing and escalating insurance and transportation
costs, these obstacles are no greater for small independent districts.
The Mason School District is the best model available for Francestown. Mason withdrew
from the Masenic district over 15 years ago. While its K-4 enrollment is somewhat
higher than the current Francestown Elementary School, the numbers are close
enough to make comparison reasonable, particularly since the Francestown School Committee is recommending that an independent FES offer a pre-school program and
include fifth grade, both of which are part of Mason’s program.
Mason offers robust services, including hot lunch, physical education, art, and music. Its students’ academic performance places Mason at or near the top of all elementary schools in New Hampshire. Mason Elementary has a dedicated and experienced staff with relatively low turnover and very stable leadership. Both the superintendent-principal and business manager were generous with their time and schooled us on their governance, policies and procedures, community engagement, and academic curriculum. The business manager shared 15 years of budgets, with a particular eye on special education costs. She found our
proposed budget, overall, to be more than sufficient and suggested specific areas
where we could adjust our figures to improve our financial forecast. Mason had to buy
their building from Masenic and negotiate enrollment fees for its middle school and high
school students to attend Milford schools. Their relationship with Milford has been
cooperative and productive. Mason set up its own SAU, which has a very modest annual
budget. A newly independent Francestown school board will take on these same
challenges.
Mason is not an outlier. In looking at the elementary district in Hill, as well as several independent districts in the Connecticut River Valley in New Hampshire, we found similar patterns of full-service schools thriving in their independence.
Francestown and eight neighboring towns entered into a cooperative agreement in 1968
to establish the Contoocook Valley Regional School District. Membership in ConVal has
met Francestown’s needs for many years. But over the last decade, Francestown
Elementary has slipped through the cracks in ConVal’s priorities. FES has become a
burden to ConVal and a difficult place to maintain quality services. It has reached a point
where citizens of Francestown believe – with substantial supporting evidence from the
experience of other independent, single-school districts – that we can do a better job of
educating our elementary students. It will be our highest priority to do so.
Shouldn’t there be a “statute of limitations” on an agreement made 58 years ago
in a very different era? It’s time for change.
Francestown resident Kevin Pobst is a member of the Francestown School Committee. He was a member of the ConVal School Board from 2020 to 2023, and is a retired public education administrator.