HUNTINGTON – Representatives from six of the seven member communities of the Gateway Regional School District convened in the library of Gateway Regional High School Wednesday afternoon to meet with Jeff Wulfson, deputy commissioner of the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The purpose for Wulfson’s visit was to discuss DESE’s take on the ongoing withdrawal effort of the Town of Worthington from the district.
Speaking on behalf of the representatives of the six communities, Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, and Russell, Dan Jacques of the Montgomery Select Board began the discussion by asking Wulfson what the district’s options are.
“Where this is heading, in terms of the bill being a home rule petition, we understand that it’s almost certain to pass, which means it’ll ultimately end up on the Commissioner’s desk,” Jacques said. “How can we work with the DESE and what kinds of things can we ask of our legislators to ensure a more thorough review process to make sure this is in the best interest of all the (towns)?”
“We have a long history, at DESE and DOE (Department of Education), of being supportive of regional school districts,” said Wulfson. “We have lots of towns in the Commonwealth that are basically too small to run an effective and quality school district. We’ve been using them since the 1950s.”
Wulfson explained to the representatives that during his tenure with DESE, he has seen two other instances in which districts have seen member communities withdraw, in the Plymouth County communities of Plymouth and Carver, and when the Town of Pembroke broke away from the Silver Lake Regional District, located in Kingston.
“I’m sensitive to implications of towns and their fiscal health,” he said, but warned that his department’s legal authority is limited. “We don’t have the power to mandate regionalization or to prevent towns from withdrawing from regions. We feel, at the end of the day, that’s a decision for local officials and voters to make.”
Wulfson stated that his department has spoken with Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield) and Representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington) about the matter, but that his department hasn’t taken a public position nor have they been asked to.
“We aren’t lobbyists. We’re part of the governor’s staff,” he said. “The legislature hasn’t asked for an opinion, and we would not be so cheeky as to offer it.”
Wulfson did say that opening up communication with Worthington may be the best bet for the remaining six towns to avoid breaking up the district.
“There is nothing legally preventing Worthington from opening discussions back up,” he said. “Talk is one thing we owe our stakeholders and constituents.”
Pandora Hague, a Russell selectwoman who has been leading the charge to reopen talks with Worthington, asked Wulfson for assistance in future negotiations.
“To me, it was very disappointing that the towns were asked to allow Worthington to leave and voted against it. The next thing we know, it was at the state level and we lost local control,” said Hague. “The best people to solve this are the people here, and I’d like to see us have more time to work on it.”
“All of us have been getting together to talk about what is best for our students, and we need to come together with Worthington,” she added. “I think it’s something DESE should be facilitating between these towns.”
Wulfson was skeptical of the need for DESE involvement in facilitating such talks.
“Worthington is your neighbors. I’m not sure you need us to have a conversation with them,” he said. “We’re more than happy to provide support to those discussions.”
He also explained the purpose of home rule legislation, saying it meant to make sure the legislature “can’t enact a law that can only affect one town.”
“Until legislation is signed, anything can happen. If it doesn’t pass the Senate… the Senate can do what it will, and then the House would have to (re-evaluate),” Wulfson said. “Senator Downing is the point person on this. Representative Kulik has been a key person on this. This legislation puts you on the path to one particular solution. The legislation’s been up for awhile, and there is nothing that stops the towns from making an overture to Worthington at this point saying ‘is there something we can talk about?'”
“It’s a difficult problem, but it was a good discussion,” said Wulfson after the meeting. “We’re here to help if we can resolve it, but these are not easy issues.”
Wulfson, who has been with DESE since 1995, added that while the Worthington withdrawal bears a resemblance to other situations that have occurred during his tenure, the resemblance is only skin-deep.
“Those (districts in Plymouth County), because they were dealing with a big influx of students, was almost easier to solve,” he said. “Here, you’ve got diminishing numbers of students and you’re trying to spread resources more thinly. We’ve seen the same kind of discussion play out in other regions here in the western part of the state.”
He reiterated that most of the potential withdrawal situations he’s seen haven’t resulted in a member community leaving, but there have certainly been a lot of discussions about it in other regions of the state.
“I didn’t get any surprises out of what he was saying,” Jacques said of the discussion with Wulfson. “I think it was just important to have the dialogue and let him see the involvement and how important this is to us as an issue.”
Jacques added that the Deputy Commissioner’s “feedback, explanation of details, process of what they might do, and how their responsibility lies” was also of great assistance.
“It’s going to help us craft our approach moving forward,” he said. “This is a learning experience. Dealing with legislation — what part of our approach is more appropriate to a legislative approach, what part is regulatory, understanding how these different departments work — in the long run, this is all going to help us come to the solution that we want.”
