BERNARDSTON — Hoping to brainstorm ways to save the Pioneer Valley Regional School District money, the Bernardston Board of Selectmen is hosting a joint meeting of officials from all four towns.
The meeting will be held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Bernardston Senior Center within the Powers Institute. Members of the selectboards and finance committees from Northfield, Bernardston, Leyden and Warwick were all invited, along with Superintendent Ruth Miller and the Pioneer School Committee.
According to Bernardston Selectman Stanley Garland, state Rep. Paul Mark has also agreed to attend.
Garland said officials from the four towns haven’t held a joint meeting since 2010. So, during a November Board of Selectmen’s meeting, the board decided to put the idea before other local officials as a way to put their heads together about the challenges the school district faces.
“We’re trying to look to see what the district is going to look like in five or 10 years,” Bernardston Selectman Robert Raymond said.
Bernardston Selectmen’s Chairman Andrew Girard said the meeting agenda currently includes three items: district consolidation, budget control and the regional agreement. However, Girard noted the meeting is intended to be “more of a forum,” and won’t be limited to the three bullet points.
Pioneer’s growing deficit in recent years particularly concerned the selectmen. A recent audit of Pioneer’s finances for fiscal year 2015 found several significant deficiencies, including a school lunch fund deficit which has reached $201,000.
“We’ve got to try to map out a process to get the costs under control,” Garland said. “We know we cannot continue the way we’re going now. We have to make some changes.”
Raymond also plans to propose opening the regional agreement to revisions. According to the regional agreement, the document was approved in 1991 and hasn’t been amended in any way since 1999.