The Charlemont Selectboard sent a letter to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on Monday regarding a request to close Hawlemont Regional School, catching school and town officials by surprise.
“We were not contacted about this,” said Hawlemont School Committee Chair and Hawley Selectboard Chair Hussain Hamdan, adding that a decision to close the school would require Town Meeting approval by both towns.
Hamdan said that while Marguerite Willis, chair of the Charlemont Selectboard and author of the letter, had expressed her opinion on closing the school in the past, the School Committee was not informed prior to Monday that the town would be sending a letter to the state.
Hawlemont serves about 136 students in preschool through six grade who live in Charlemont and Hawley. Students from Heath attend on a tuition basis. The school is located on Route 2 in Charlemont.
According to the letter, the request follows a majority vote by the Charlemont Selectboard and Finance Committee at a joint meeting last week.
“As much hope that we have for Charlemont again becoming a small, thriving village with our soon-to-be completed broadband, our solid commitment to economic revival around our outdoor recreational businesses, and the large state investments in our roads and bridges, we will still be a small town without the resources to support a building with staff,” Willis wrote.
Willis told DESE officials the town has waited, “perhaps too long,” for the Hawlemont School Committee to decide to either extend its cost-sharing agreement with Mohawk Trail Regional School District, or seek out a possible partnership with Northern Berkshire School Union.
“Neither project has been completed and it is the start of budget season,” Willis wrote.
The letter, however, caught Hawlemont and Mohawk Trail regional school committee members, as well as Hawley town officials, off guard.
“The School Committee was not aware the (Charlemont) Selectboard and Finance Committee were planning to take a vote to recommend closing the school and sending the kids to Mohawk Trail,” Hamdan said. “And we were not consulted.”
Although the letter stated Mohawk Trail School Committee Chair Martha Thurber had “indicated her support” for Charlemont children attending the district, Thurber clarified this is an email response to everyone that had been sent the DESE letter.
“Just so everyone is clear, I did not ‘indicate’ my support for Charlemont children to attend the Mohawk Trail Regional School District,” she wrote. “That question is totally up to the people and town of Charlemont in the first instance, and up to the people and towns of the MTRSD should that request be made.”
Thurber wrote that she was asked at the joint meeting last week a “hypothetical question” of whether she thought the existing Mohawk Trail Regional School District towns would support Charlemont’s voting to join the Mohawk Trail district.
“I responded that while there had not been any discussion among MTRSD towns about this to my knowledge, I did not believe MTRSD towns would support adding the Hawlemont school building to the district, but that adding Charlemont children to existing MTRSD elementary schools likely would be less of a hard sell,” Thurber wrote.
Still, she emphasized, neither herself nor the Mohawk Trail School Committee has taken a position with respect to where Charlemont children would attend school.
Willis could not reached for comment as of press time Tuesday.
According to Hamdan, at the Hawlemont School Committee meeting held Monday night, members of the community expressed opposition to the request in the letter.
“We just reiterated that the School Committee has had nothing to do with this, and we are not taking any kind of action to close the school,” Hamdan explained. “And we don’t support it.”
The letter indicates that Charlemont officials hope to hold a meeting with parents and residents on Dec. 6 or Dec. 13 to explain the two boards’ votes, what the process might look like to close the school, and the state’s expectations of schools.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne