NORTHFIELD — A new inter-town agreement document for the Pioneer Valley Regional School District that relaxes rules for closing of schools is expected to be voted on at the four member towns’ annual town meetings in May.
The district agreement governs the relationships among the district’s member towns, the School Committee and school administration. This is the first full rewrite of the agreement since the original document was signed in 1991, creating a kindergarten-grade 12 school district for northern Franklin County.
Technically, this new district agreement is an amendment to the existing one. But it makes several major additions, including new rules for the School Committee, a detailed protocol for closing schools and a mechanism for member towns to withdraw from the district.
The proposed agreement was drafted by the HEART Committee (Honest Education and Retaining Trust), a group with membership from all four of Pioneer’s member towns. Reviewing the district agreement was one of the main reasons for the establishment of the group.
The HEART Committee’s finished draft is now to be reviewed by the School Committee, whidh may solicit community input and make changes. After that it would go to the member towns, to be voted on at their upcoming annual town meetings.
The first of the four town meetings this year is Northfield’s on May 6. Northfield’s warrant closes March 25, giving a relatively narrow window for the School Committee to sign off on the document if it is to be approved this spring.
Under the proposed agreement, the School Committee would have an “at-large” member, who would be elected from any of the member towns. This would be on top of the present setup of three members from each of the four member town.
There would also be a term limit of two consecutive four-year terms, and a requirement that the committee’s chair and vice chair positions change every two years.
The question of school closures gets extensive attention in the proposed agreement. (In the current agreement it is not addressed at all.)
A school closure would require a feasibility study be initiated at least 10 months before the final decision. The study would include information on the educational impact of the closure, a fiscal analysis of the district and population trends in the district’s towns.
The final vote would require a two-thirds majority of the School Committee.
Also totally new is a mechanism for a member town to leave the district. The process would comprise a town meeting vote of the town in question, followed by a School Committee vote, followed by town meeting approvals from two thirds of the district’s member towns, followed by a signature from the commissioner of the state department of education.
The exiting town would still be responsible for any unpaid costs to the district and its portion of the district’s debts.
This proposal comes at a time when the district is trying to balance its books, which are about $500,000 in the red, considering closing one or two elementary schools to save money, and under the financial control of a state overseer.
Special state legislation that helps bail out the debt-ridden district allows closure of schools, but the new agreemet would allow similar changes in the future when state oversight ends.