The Six Town Regionalization Planning Board is holding a series of information sessions on the proposed merger of the Gill-Montague Regional School District and the Pioneer Valley Regional School District ahead of Special Town Meetings this fall.
On Monday, Sept. 15, the first of several sessions will be hosted at Gill Town Hall, 325 Main Road, at 6 p.m. Further sessions have also been scheduled throughout the rest of the month and into October, with the next meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25, at Dickinson Memorial Library in Northfield at 6 p.m., and on Oct. 18 and Oct. 30 at the same place and time. A meeting in Leyden is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 6 p.m. at the Town Offices, followed by another on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 6 p.m. at Warwick Community School.
Board Vice Chair Greg Snedeker said these meetings will provide an overview of the idea behind regionalization.
“[It] will be a rundown of the history of why we were asked to form the board and recommend regionalization, and the impacts,” he said on Wednesday.
The proposed “super district” seeks to merge Bernardston, Gill, Leyden, Montague, Northfield and Warwick into one school district, to potentially be called the Great River Regional School District. High school students from these towns would be educated at the existing Turners Falls High School and Great Falls Middle School, middle schoolers would occupy Pioneer Valley Regional School and elementary students would remain in their current buildings.
At the Sept. 9 board meeting, the amended regional agreement language to be sent back to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for a final technical review was approved, and members examined the town assessments. Additionally, the board discussed its plans for public outreach.
Attendees of the upcoming informational meetings will get an overview of the regionalization plan, as well as town-specific details on the assessments and the regional agreement. The agreement is intended to go to all six towns for a vote during fall Special Town Meetings. It must be approved by each town for the new district to be formed.
Over the summer, the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board worked with DESE to finalize a regional agreement that outlines the process of closing a school within the proposed district. Board Chair Alan Genovese said during the Sept. 9 meeting that the language is “comprehensive” and considers the implications of a school closure in a rural setting.
“This is all one document that captures all the things that would need to happen for beginning to consider closing a school,” Genovese said.
The process includes a feasibility study on the implications of closure after five years with multiple components, including educational impact, proposed reorganization of staff and students, and a fiscal analysis. The school committee must hold a public hearing on the study, and any vote would require support from at least 10 of the 13 members. At least four of the six towns would also need to vote to approve the closure. If two-thirds of the member towns approve it by majority vote at Town Meetings, the school would close on June 30 of the following fiscal year.
Town assessment estimates have also been reviewed using updated data from fiscal year 2026. The preferred model reduces fluctuation when it comes to the amount each town has to contribute to the district as enrollment changes. Snedeker said Thursday that the model demonstrates some decreases for Montague, Gill, Bernardston and Warwick, and some increases for Leyden and Northfield based on increased enrollment at Pioneer.
According to Snedeker, enrollment is the most important factor driving the years of research to understand the feasibility of a merged district, and is a point that will be made during public outreach. He said the board has made an effort to help people understand that regionalization is not solely a financial issue, and that more money won’t address the lack of students to fill building space and academic and extracurricular programs.
“Our charge was to say, if you increase your student population, you can bring back a lot of the things that went away,” Snedeker said.
The higher costs facing schools right now are caused by declines in enrollment that in turn affects state aid and Chapter 70 funding, and is expected to worsen in the years to come. The hope is to find a solution to this decline.
“The finances are one piece of it, but when you start talking about enrollment and what it does, finances can’t overcome that,” Snedeker said. “So it comes down to the cost-benefit. … Look at it like, what are you getting for the money you’re spending?”
To learn more about the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board and upcoming public information sessions, visit 6towns.org.