LEYDEN — Despite prominent rumors regarding the future of Pearl Rhodes Elementary School, school administrators and employees say that the school will operate in its present configuration for the 2018-2019 school year, and that there are no plans to close it.
Fears about the future of the school were stoked at the Pioneer Valley Regional School District Committee’s March 15 public hearing on the 2018-2019 budget, where Pearl Rhodes Principal Bob Clancy announced a plan to remove Pearl Rhodes’ preschool program and instead send Leyden’s preschool students to Bernardston Elementary School. Such a move would enable administrators to re-structure the school’s classrooms and reduce staff by one teacher as a cost-reducing measure.
Thirty-three students were enrolled at the start of the current school year.
Several attendees objected to the plan, with some suggesting that it would be the first step toward ultimately closing the school.
In response, a public meeting to discuss possibilities for the school’s future was held a week later. Clancy said that at least 40 people attended the meeting, among whom were Leyden residents, Selectboard members, Pearl Rhodes teachers, school district administrators and others.
“The takeaway from the meeting was that next year Pearl Rhodes would be a pre-k through grade six school again as it was, very likely with the same grade configuration,” Clancy said.
The need for before- and after-school programs at Pearl Rhodes was discussed. For Leyden parents who may work in other towns, Clancy said, it is more convenient to bring their children to schools in other towns that have such programs. Parents are able to do this through School Choice, and this has contributed to the declining enrollment at Pearl Rhodes.
“We’re feeling pretty strongly that in order to be successful at Pearl Rhodes and to bring families back that have left, a lot of the issue is that we didn’t have after-school care,” said Pearl Rhodes teacher Lisa Armstrong.
Though plans for such programs are not yet official, Armstrong said that it seems likely that those services will be available in the next school year. She also said that she knows of at least two teachers who have said they would be able to commit to work at least one day a week in an after-school program.
Ideas about eventually turning Pearl Rhodes into a specialized school of some kind — perhaps an agricultural school or a STEAM school, which adds art to the educational mix of science, technology, engineering and math — were also put forward at the meeting, said Superintendent Ruth Miller, though any change to the essential format of the school would be at least several years away.
Members of the Leyden Broadband Committee were also at the meeting. Dave Curtis, a committee member, said that among the hill towns in the Franklin County area, Leyden is unique for its proximity to Route 2 and Interstate 91, making the services in Brattleboro and Greenfield accessible despite Leyden’s ruralness. However, he said, the lack of high-speed internet access has made the town less attractive to young families than it otherwise would be.
“My feeling is (broadband internet) will start to draw newer young families into the area, and we’re gonna need that little school,” Curtis said.
Curtis said that the process of bringing high-speed internet to Leyden is “far along,” and should be complete by next July or August.
“Pearl Rhodes and Leyden have always been two of (the area’s) best-kept secrets,” Curtis said, “but it’s time we let that secret out.”
Contact Max Marcus at 413-772-0261, ext. 261, or at: mmarcus@recorder.com.