Members of the Francestown School Committee reported to residents Wednesday night that the group supports withdrawing from the ConVal School District and creating a new, independent Francestown School District – although a new opinion from ConVal’s attorney could affect those plans.

“Our plan would be to create the Francestown School District. We would offer education for pre-K through fifth grade  and tuition grades six to 12 back into ConVal district with a negotiated tuition rate,” said Laura Mafera, a Francestown parent who spoke on behalf of the Francestown School Committee. 

However, at Thursday’s ConVal Feasibility Study Committee meeting, attorney Dean Eggert of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, which represents the ConVal School District, said that towns which leave ConVal “shall remain a part of the school administrative unit it was part of prior to withdrawal.”

This was contrary to a previous opinion that withdrawing towns would automatically leave the SAU, and Mafera said at the feasibility meeting that the new information “throws a wrench into our plan.”

Committee reports findings

Mafera noted that the Francestown School Committee is “a group of concerned residents” and is not an official town committee at this time. Pat Troy and David Stahlin also represented the FSC at the meeting, where the committee presented the findings of a survey put out to town residents in June. 

“The town has made it clear we that value Francestown Elementary School. The community wants to keep FES open for now,” Mafera said. 

The results of the FSC survey indicate that 85% of respondents rated FES as “good or excellent.” According to the FSC,  70% of the residents who took the survey responded that they feel it is important or very important to have an elementary school in Francestown. Forty percent of residents responded they felt it was important to stay in the ConVal district, while 60% said it was not important. 

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The meeting in the Francestown Town Offices was sponsored by the Francestown Recreation Commission as part of the commission’s regular speaker series.  The Francestown School Committee was created in response to a failed 2024 ConVal warrant article proposing a change to the district’s 1967 Articles of Agreement, which would have paved the way for possibly closing the district’s four smallest elementary schools in Bennington, Dublin, Francestown and Temple.

The ConVal School Board and administration stated that reconfiguration is necessary due to the financial strain and inequity among schools caused by low enrollment. Currently, the district is operating about about 40% of capacity. The warrant article, which needed a two-thirds majority vote in the nine towns of the ConVal district to pass, received only 45.47% of the vote. 

Voters in Dublin and Francestown approved requests for feasibility studies for withdrawal from the ConVal School District at their March Town Meetings. The district’s Feasibility Study Committee, which is comprised of a Select Board member and a School Board member from each of ConVal’s nine towns, is tasked with determining whether it is feasible for Francestown, Dublin or both towns to withdraw from the ConVal School District, and whether the withdrawals would be feasible for the district as a whole. 

Mafera noted that the financials on withdrawal have been difficult to obtain due to the upcoming departures of both ConVal Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders and ConVal Business Administrator Brian Cisneros.

Select Board Member Charlie Pyle, who serves on the Feasibility Study Committee, said ConVal will provide additional numbers.

“ConVal acknowledged that the numbers were preliminary, and they are still working in them,” Pyle said. 

Mafera said the FSC will continue to look at and gather information. 

“Our committee has been looking at comparable school districts and other towns that have been through this process. We believe that the town can run FES on its own and tuition kids back to ConVal for the same price we are paying now,” Mafera said. “Tuitioning back in will offset the costs to the districts, and  it will support social and community integrity.”

The Francestown School Committee will present its findings to the Feasibility Study Committee on Aug. 8 at 6 p.m. in the SAU conference room.