Dr. David Hopson
Although Worthington’s petition for Home Rule continues to be a hot topic of discussion throughout the district, our legislators have told us that, even if this legislation passes, Worthington will remain a part of the district for the 2014-15 school year. Therefore, we will put out a single budget with Worthington included as a member town for the coming school year. Related to this is the fact that the school committee, on a 7 to 5 vote, took a stand against Worthington being allowed to leave the district. Not having had a chance to discuss the issue with the chair of the school committee, I don’t know what actions the committee will take to oppose the home rule legislation.
I find it interesting that so many in the district place the blame for Worthington wanting to leave on the district’s administration and that so many people who were silent during the yearlong process of reviewing the consolidation of elementary schools are suddenly so vocal. As I was recently reminded, the district building committee first put forth a renovation and construction plan that had only 2 elementary schools and would have met the district’s needs, been more efficient, and provided excellent opportunities for all students. Needless to say, that plan did not pass muster with the towns that had elementary schools at that time. Eventually, a compromise was reached to keep five elementary schools open so that the towns could vote the unanimous agreement required for bonding and state approval, despite the warning from many people that this would require more financial resources to sustain in the future.
As that future approached, and the state began a systemic reduction in local aid to the Gateway School District—including a nearly $2 million reduction in FY’03 and FY’04—the district towns had an increasingly difficult time funding education. It may surprise people to know that next year’s proposed budget is only $785,181 more than the district spent in the 2003-2004 school year and is still less than the budget in Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, and 2010. Educationally, the inability to gain additional revenue to cover increased costs impacted the district’s ability to maintain services and led to a period of temporarily closing Blandford Elementary School, creating multi-age classes, decreasing student opportunities in special subjects such as art, music and P.E., and reducing administrative overhead (at one point, Gateway had 5 elementary principals, a middle school principal and assistant principal, and a high school principal and assistant principal).
As a way to continue to support educational opportunities for children, the school committee moved forward with a nearly yearlong study of school consolidation (you can review all of the information from this study, including the input from public meetings that were held in each town in the district, at http://www.grsd.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=2531&pageId=82096 ). The school committee, in 2010, overwhelmingly voted to consolidate 5 elementary schools to 2. Even today, given the circumstances facing the district if Worthington withdraws, I believe the school committee made the only decision it could at the time. The bottom line is whether our students have better, and greater, opportunities now than they would have if we had kept all five schools open. I would argue that they do by almost any measure one chooses to use. They certainly have more time for art, music, physical education, health, reading, and behavioral supports. Many also believe that having classes by grade level, and at least one teacher for each grade level, provides more opportunities and collaboration that far exceeds that found in a K-4 school with only 2 or 3 teachers. Do many of our children spend more time on the bus than previously? Of course, but even those who do don’t have the longest rides in the district as that ‘privilege’ remains with our Middlefield children (whose school closed decades ago for similar reasons).
I don’t know how one can judge the ‘fairness’ in how educational costs are divided among the towns, when the state sets many of the determining factors. I don’t know how to judge the fact that many students now ride the bus longer than they did before consolidation, while Middlefield students continue to have the longest bus rides in the district. I don’t know how one determines the fairness of having an elementary school in one town verses another—and the impact on property values and other related indices—when some towns have never had an elementary school (or haven’t had one for many years). And I don’t know how to judge the fairness of potentially opening one elementary school in order to entice a town to remain in the district, given the increased costs to other towns that would still not have their own elementary school.
I do know that, in my nearly 4 decades of living in the hilltowns, attending town meetings, holding elective office, and being a part of the district’s leadership, I have heard many more arguments about perceived excesses in school spending because towns have decided that they couldn’t pay, rather than concerns about the actual school budget, or any extended discussion on educational quality, student opportunities, or what might be in the overall best interests of our children. It appears that, for many, the town assessment page of the annual district budget is the only page that matters and what the budget provides for our children is of secondary importance. I’m hopeful that the opportunity to review all aspects of education in the Gateway District, as part of Worthington’s withdrawal process, may finally allow us to focus primarily on what’s best for all of our students.
