NORTHFIELD — Within the next several years, Pioneer Valley Regional School could be welcoming a group of new students from Winchester, N.H.
The Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee has voted unanimously to explore the possibility to accept Winchester students. However, as the Winchester School Board is still evaluating its options, a final decision could be a ways off.
Currently, Winchester sends its students to Keene High School in New Hampshire. Keene has been the only option for Winchester students since 2005, when the town’s Thayer High School was closed, according to a June 10 article in the Keene Sentinel.
However, Winchester residents and school officials have questioned whether Keene is the best option for their students.
According to the Keene Sentinel, “concerns have included the rising cost of tuition, frustration with what they say is a lack of information about how Winchester students are doing as a group at Keene High School and students losing their sense of community because they’re leaving a small school to attend a larger one.”
Pioneer school board member David Young said that Pioneer would be a “somewhat more affordable option” for Winchester students. He estimated it would cost $13,500 for each student to attend Pioneer, though the price would be a bit more for students with special needs.
The Winchester board voted unanimously during an early June meeting to notify the Keene Board of Education that unless it agreed to modify the exclusivity provisions of the two districts’ high school tuition contract, the Winchester board would tell Keene that it would terminate the agreement, effective June 30, 2019.
Young said the Winchester board wishes to honor the longstanding relationship with Keene and work toward an agreement that would give students options, rather than terminate the contract. The Winchester board wants the exclusivity clause removed, and replaced with a percentage of how many Winchester students need to attend Keene High School.
Young attended the Winchester board meeting with other Pioneer officials to answer questions about the district’s offerings. He said that after the meeting, the Winchester board heard opinions from the public.
Young said he was particularly touched as he watched naturally introverted teens stand up before 200 people to say, “‘I think I’d be better off at a smaller school.’”
According to Keene High School’s website, the school has approximately 1,400 students in grades 9 through 12. The students come from Keene and 12 surrounding towns. The Cheshire Career Center, an on-site technical school, serves 700 students from three area high schools including Keene.
By comparison, Pioneer Principal Jean Bacon said, Pioneer has approximately 450 students in grades 7 through 12. Pioneer is roughly 10 miles from Winchester, as opposed to Keene’s 13.
Simply giving students a choice between Keene and Pioneer is key, Young said, adding that many could have better quality relationships at Pioneer.
“They’re not just another face in the crowd,” he said. “They’d have the ability to have more personal relationships with faculty and staff.”
Accepting Winchester students would also benefit Pioneer, as the number of high school aged teens within Warwick, Northfield, Bernardston and Leyden continues to decline, reflecting a general trend that Young has seen throughout New England.
However, Young said that if Winchester is able to reach an agreement with Keene to send students to Pioneer, the school will need to work hard to align the curriculum. Young remembers one student at the Winchester board’s June meeting who held up a Keene syllabus next to that of Pioneer.
“Ours was quite thin in comparison,” Young said. He explained that this is in part because Keene is able to offer more classes through its on-site technical school.
Should an agreement be reached, Young said Pioneer officials would look to “find some things that people might think belong over at the tech school, but add them to the curriculum.” For example, Young suggested adding computer classes.
Young said the majority of the Winchester board isn’t ready “to just be done with Keene, and recognize it will take more of a process.”
According to the Keene Sentinel, the contract with Keene is good for 20 years, but includes a clause allowing Keene or Winchester to terminate the agreement at any time by giving written notice. The notice must specify the last school year for which the contract would be in effect, which has to be at least three full school years following the year the notice is given.