HEATH — As a prospective third member town of the Hawlemont Regional School District, Heath would be “a good fit,” according to Selectman Hussain Hamdan, noting the rural character and common values held by Heath, Hawley and Charlemont.
On Thursday, town officials from all three towns met at the Heath Elementary School for a first discussion on whether it would be plausible for Heath to join the preK-Grade 6 Hawlemont Regional School District.
They plan to follow up with a subsequent meeting with Hawlemont’s lawyer, to find out what would be necessary for Heath to withdraw from full Mohawk membership and enter a new, three-town regional agreement with the Hawlemont towns. Heath school board member Kenneth Rocke said the process could take a few years.
Heath has been a full member of the Mohawk Trail Regional School District since the 1990s, but Mohawk has been under increasing pressure to consolidate or close the small schools, to save money — even though such a move would require a vote of approval by all the member towns affected.
Besides meeting with Hawlemont, Heath is also hoping to meet with Rowe officials to discuss a possible two-town regional elementary school district. Later, it also hopes to hold talks with Colrain Central and Buckland Shelburne Elementary town and school officials, to explore the idea of bringing at least its older elementary students into those schools.
In the first exploratory meeting with other towns, Heath selectmen, school committee members and members of the Heath Educational Initiative Task Force explained that their 20-year-old, 50-student elementary school — ranked as a top performing school by the state — cannot financially keep the preK through Grade 6 school running well with such low student numbers. But the task force stressed that Heath wants to find a solution in which its students continue to get a very good education that’s affordable, and that townspeople and parents will still have a voice in how their children are educated.
Heath visitors to Hawlemont are excited about the enthusiasm and success of the HAY (Hawlemont Agriculture and You) program, which uses a farm-based curriculum for its students. And Hawlemont school board members said they appreciate how the Heath School has used its art programs and school plays to generate student enthusiasm and community participation.
“Hawlemont is very excited,” said Hawlemont School Committee Chairwoman Ivy Palmer. “There’s not a bad thing about it — we can’t come up with any cons,” she said, referring to Heath joining Hawlemont’s district. “Hawlemont has been pushing to get its enrollment up. We have new families joining the school, new faces involved.”
Knowing that Heath is a place where parents are invested could mean the addition of more parent participation in Hawlemont’s activities and events, Palmer said.
“We want a small, sustainable community school,” said Hamdan. “And this is a very rare opportunity now to recognize all these things and make it possible.”
If Heath were to join the Hawlemont district, all three towns would have equal representation on the school committee, which would either be a six-member board with two members from each town, or a nine-member board with three members from each town.
Heath would pay its share of education and capital costs based on enrollment averages, as Hawley and Charlemont do now. However, a plan for Heath’s capital “buy in” for Hawlemont would have to be worked out.
It’s not yet known what would be done with the Heath Elementary School building, but Heath officials would still like to see the building used for educational purposes, especially for early education.
Until the early 1990s, explained selectmen’s Chairwoman Sheila Litchfield, Heath tuitioned its elementary children to the Rowe Elementary School; but then Rowe put an enrollment cap on the number of children it would accept from Heath.
She said the town would like to keep an early education program in the current Heath Elementary School building, which is now mortgage-free.
Heath’s partial withdrawal from Mohawk Trail Regional School District would require town meeting approval of all of Mohawk’s eight member towns.