Temple residents will vote on whether to withdraw the request for a feasibility study about leaving the ConVal School District during a special Town Meeting Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.
A petition article seeking the study passed at Town Meeting in March. Concern centered on the potential for the district to close Temple Elementary School, which would have been possible if a change to ConVal’s Articles of Agreement had passed in 2024. Low enrollment was cited as the reason for the proposal – which could have led to closures in Temple, Dublin, Francestown and Bennington – and there are currently fewer than 35 students in the K-to-four Temple Elementary.
Thirty residents signed the petition warrant article which passed at Town Meeting, but during a Select Board meeting May 13, only three residents who signed the petition attended, prompting the board to question the town’s interest in the matter and discuss the implications of withdrawal. The board had sent letters to residents who signed the petition asking them to attend the meeting and explore serving on the town’s committee to study withdrawal.
“You invite 30 people and no one shows up,” said said Board Chair Ken Caisse. “Now it’s costing us money to do this feasibility study. We have to do our numbers as to what it’s going to cost up to run the school, and buy it from ConVal, and then tuition them out to ConVal, or Conant or Mascenic.”
An individual at the meeting who did not identify himself said, “I was informed directly that there would be no cost to Temple (for the study) and am withdrawing my signature, because I was lied to.”
Jim Kingston, Temple’s representative to the ConVal School Board, clarified the issue of expenses Thursday.
“There is no direct cost to the town, for the school district withdrawal study. Of course, there is some cost to the school district for legal opinions, representation before the State Board of Education, wages for the districts/School Board’s secretary for taking public meeting minutes,” stated Kingston. “Those costs are shared across all towns in the district just as any other cost to the ConVal district would be.”
Select Board member Bill Ezell suggested the special Town Meeting to withdraw the article.
“I was on the last withdrawal committee, and it’s a lot of work and there are a lot of legal expenses,” he said.
Paul Clifton-Waite signed the petition to study the issue, and during the May 13 meeting said, “I’m agnostic on the matter, but just wanted to put it before the town, but I think it’s an expensive proposition to form your own school district.”
The town’s website states that a study “requires significant work by the town. The town must prepare and present detailed financial and educational plans. Expect quite a few hours of effort. Again, the article did not specify how any of this would happen.”
“It (withdrawing from ConVal) would definitely not save us money. It will cost us money,” said Ezell, adding that the cost of one individual student could cost the town $200,000.
“We’ll have to buy the building, maintain it, hire a principal and form our own elementary school district,” said Caisse. He added, however, that the board is taking no position on the warrant article.