The recent public meetings in both Leyden and Warwick to address the possible shut down of the two smaller elementary schools have been both hopeful and disconcerting. I am glad and inspired by the civic engagement around the challenging issues of underfunded rural public schools as people are speaking up about the quality of education in these towns and the value of that education. There is much to be proud of in terms of teaching, services and programming despite limited funding. I am concerned about what is truly needed to maintain the quality of education and services for our collective student population in our district. I believe, unless funding rural schools suddenly changes in Beacon Hill, school closings must happen for the PVRS district to survive.
For the past three years, PVRDS has been cutting teachers, programs, and services to attempt to balance a budget that has not grown to meet the demands of increasing costs, shrinking revenues, fewer students and underfunded transportation monies. The district is borrowing almost a half a million dollars from the state and now has an overseer to make sure we are accountable for what is spent and how the district will pay this sum back. We, the taxpayers, will be paying for this overseer and of course, the lent monies along with the accumulating interest. The findings of the consultants, hired by the HEART committee, made it crystal clear that a ‘do nothing” plan will see us in the red for hundreds of thousands of dollars for at least the next ten years. The state has also made it clear that the borrowing of this money would be based upon an effort to make significant and thoughtful change in how the budget is managed in the future. The finance committee members from all four towns made it clear at the December school committee meeting that asking for more funds from the towns is a nonstarter.
It will take strong leadership from the school committee to close both schools. While I have been dismayed by the past school committee’s inept leadership and limited fiscal acumen, I am hopeful that the recent election has brought some change. I have been heartened to see more effective advocacy for Pioneer’s programs and even some thoughtful diplomacy when, at the recent Warwick forum, new chair, Sue O’Reilly-McRae, encouraged townspeople to see the larger picture by supporting the district as a whole.
There have been many costs to keeping these two smaller school open already. This year, both Northfield and Bernardston have had significantly larger class sizes going from an average of 14 or so to 21-26 students in 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes. All specials (music, art, band, library, computer) across the four elementary schools have been limited to half hour blocks instead of past 45 minutes of learning. Warwick students have had no instructional band or music and there is no 4th grade band instruction in any of the four schools. The middle school at Pioneer had no art instruction this first semester. There is no money at all for field trips at any of the five schools, in addition to no late buses at the high school. The students, from pre-K to 12th grade, have had their educational experience compromised in various and significant ways this past year.
The benefits of consolidating the schools are many. Both Bernardston and Northfield have larger facilities with the capacity and ability to welcome these students and most of the staff into their schools with almost no adjustments needed. Leyden has already successfully bused its 5th and 6th graders to Bernardston this year. Both larger schools also have early morning and afterschool programming, which the smaller schools do not. The benefit of increasing class sizes, with a desired class size being less than 25 students, increases the chance that no class will be as large as the current 6th grades classes in both Bernardston and Northfield. The average size should return, according to Superintendent Jon Scagel to no more than 17 or 18 if the schools are consolidated. More equitable distribution of technological resources would also be a benefit. Students will enjoy a wider range of peer relationships thus supporting their social and emotional growth. Teachers and other staff will have greater ease in collaboration. Staff who have been traveling between schools will be able to use their time more effectively and efficiently. Issues of privacy, access and accommodations to meet standards set by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be resolved by having students in the larger schools.
If these two smaller schools are not closed, we will experience a repeat of last year’s budget slashing nightmare when every meaningful service and program at PVRS was on the chopping block. I witnessed the school committee meeting in late June vote to zero out all the student activities monies, totaling $14,000, for the high school. This money was allocated for the running of the Student Council, the National Honor Society, French/Spanish Club, Envirothon Club, etc. The committee mercifully voted this down. A repeat of last spring, when a desperate school committee randomly started cutting every spare dollar from programs that help to make PVRS a viable place to send our children is not what, I hope, the current school committee wants. I can only imagine, without the closing of the two smaller schools, that the band, chorus and perhaps the sports’ teams will all be options to eliminate. Who would send their children to this school if this happens?
We have an opportunity to make the PVRS district a healthier and stronger one than we had a year ago. While the communities of Leyden and Warwick will experience loss, the overall financial stability of this district depends on making these hard choices. We all want our children and their educational opportunities to be stable, fair and sustainable. These four towns already have had success with sharing our recreational and town resources and collaborating on some of our town committees for grant funding. Why not extend these positive relationships and resources into how and where we educate our children? I encourage all parents and citizens of these towns to speak up in support of making PVRS a more financially secure and educationally sound district by encouraging the school committee to make these hard decisions.
Deborah Potee is a Pioneer Valley Regional School parent and a Northfield resident and taxpayer.