ROWE — After reviewing a baseline study of Rowe Elementary School’s conditions, residents indicated they would not support additional studies or joining the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Regional school districts in their plan to form a single campus.
In October, Rowe voters approved $9,950 for an initial analysis of the school district’s current finances, enrollment and building conditions. The baseline study conducted by Berkshire Educational Resources K-12 (BERK12) found that while enrollment is dropping, the elementary school building is in excellent condition and the town is in good financial standing to keep it in operation.
With the results of the analysis in hand, the Rowe School Committee turned to community members for input on whether the town should spend $30,000 to $35,000 for additional modeling of the future conditions of the school, and join the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont districts in further research and planning geared toward changing the regional agreement to create a single campus for all students at Mohawk Trail Regional School in Buckland.
“The Rowe School Committee just really felt like we could not make this decision on our own,” School Committee Chair Susan Zavotka said. “We really needed community support and input.”
Baseline study results
Project Manager Jake Eberwein said the BERK12 team examined several aspects of the school in its initial study: enrollment, facilities, transportation, finances and staffing.
Like most rural schools, Rowe has seen operational costs increase while state aid has remained relatively stagnant, Eberwein said. However, Rowe has an excess levy capacity of more than $1 million and a commercial tax base that can help ease the burden on residents, putting the town in a relatively good position to keep funding the schools.
He added that Rowe Elementary gains a lot of revenue from the number of students from other towns who use School Choice to go there for their education. In fiscal year 2024, Rowe saw a net gain of $183,732 in School Choice revenue.
With School Choice revenue offsetting the budget, the town spends $34,298 per pupil annually. Eberwein said without those funds, the district would be paying $60,675 per pupil for its Rowe students.
Rowe has one of the highest starting salaries for teachers in the region at $50,416, and favorable insurance benefits where the town pays for 85% and staff pay 15%. Eberwein said the turnover rate at the school is low, and teachers tend to stay for seven to 10 years.
The elementary school building is in excellent condition, Eberwein said. It was built in 2014 and is reaching the half-life point for some features, like carpeting, that will need to be replaced in the coming years. The building itself is also underused and is at 38% capacity, with 56 students. The building could comfortably fit as many as 150 students.
He added that the school’s location is a big strength, and its students, on average, have some of the shortest bus rides in the region at 26.4 minutes. Seventy-eight percent of students in Rowe have ride times that are less than 30 minutes long.
The biggest challenge to the school is one lauded by community members as its greatest strength: small class sizes.
Rowe has an average class size of six students. Eberwein said more than half (35) of Rowe Elementary’s students are School Choice students from other towns. Only 21 Rowe children attend the school.
He added that the birth rate in Rowe is low, and the school should not expect the number of resident students to increase.
BERK12 Project Researcher Brendan Sheran added that Rowe Elementary offers a high-quality education. Its students have seen steady improvement and surpassed state averages on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam, and 90% of community members surveyed said they would rate the school an A or a B.
Community discussion
After reviewing the data, community members were invited to weigh in and share their thoughts on whether the district should explore joining Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont in additional studies pursuing a single campus.
Residents said it is difficult to attract young families to grow the school population, as house prices are high and there are not a lot of jobs in the region, but for the families in town, they chose Rowe because of the school.
“I love the school. I was part of the building committee that went through all that emotion to try to figure out if we should build one or not” after the previous school building burned down, said Janet Cowie. “I’ve talked to a lot of young families and they may not have moved or selected their houses to purchase up here if there wasn’t a school.”
Finance Committee member Wayne Zavotka said that rather than merging with Mohawk Trail, perhaps Rowe could create a new regional agreement with the town of Heath and the Hawlemont Regional School District, and keep both schools open, designating one building for younger grades and the other for the older grades.
“The thing I think is most valuable about the elementary school is the interaction between grades,” said Town Clerk Kevin Balawick. “Group dynamics allow for them to learn leadership and how to care for the younger kids.”
While residents seemed unsure of what path they would like Rowe to take in the future, they did seem to be in agreement that joining the next phase of the two-district, eight-town sustainability study was not one they wished to pursue.
“I don’t feel it’s worth putting additional money into this study at this time,” Selectboard member Bill Baker said. “I’m open to other ideas; I just don’t think is a great idea.”
Even if Rowe opts not to join Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont in the next phase of the ongoing sustainability study, John Franzoni, superintendent of the North Berkshire School Union, said the NBSU is preparing to undergo its own study.
“The four other members of the NBSU — Clarksburg, Florida, Monroe, Savoy — are about to enter into a regional study,” he said. “The focus of the study is to really start off on the secondary level of grade 6 through 12 to see how they can collaborate and be more efficient going forward.”
The BERK12 presentation, and additional informational briefs on Rowe Elementary, can be found at 2districts8towns.org.