GRANVILLE – The Granville Selectmen hosted a question and answer forum at the Granville Town Hall, in regards to the Granville Village School.
The vote on either closing the school or keeping it open, will take place at the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School Committee meeting on Feb. 7. With seven members in the committee, five are from Southwick, one is from Tolland, and one is from Granville.
With about three weeks until the vote, the forum on Tuesday night gave the Granville community the opportunity to voice what they think is most important if they want to see their beloved school remain open.
Pam Petschke, who is the Granville representative for the school committee, addressed what should be one of the key arguments Granville residents can make against closing the school; the regional agreement.
“The language of the regional agreement is vague,” said Petschke. “I was given a very partial fiscal analysis.
The part in the regional agreement that Petschke specifically discussed was the fact that she doesn’t believe there was a complete fiscal analysis done.
Granville residents and supporters of Granville Village School attended the question and answer forum at the town hall. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
In the regional agreement, in Section III C, number B, Closure of any school within the regional school district shall not be done without a complete fiscal analysis to determine the cost savings, the impact on the regional budget, and the individual assessments to the member towns.
Petschke reminded those in attendance that there will be a vote to waive any part of the regional agreement that says you have to do a complete fiscal study, at the next school committee meeting on Jan. 24. The vote has to be a two-thirds majority vote.
Steve Cook, who has been one of several active supporters in the effort to save Granville Village School, discussed the Schools Facilities Use Options presentation that Superintendent Jen Willard showed the public at the last school committee meeting on Jan. 10.
Willard showed the MCAS scores for ELA and mathematics. She focused on the advanced and proficient scores from third grade to sixth grade at Granville Village School, and compared those scores to the same grades at Woodland School and Powder Mill School.
Due to the fact that Granville Village School has smaller class sizes than both Woodland School and Powder Mill School, Cook believes that the comparisons between the schools when it comes to MCAS scores, doesn’t truly show how the students are doing.
“She’s comparing nothing to nothing,” said Cook. “It’s just a list of schools, nothing more, nothing less.”
Several Granville residents at the forum also thought that arguing the demographics studies that have been done, could be another way to get their message across about saving the school.
The Granville Selectmen continued to have a dialogue with the community about what steps to take next. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Petschke referenced Willard’s portion of her study where she had the Granville kindergarten through sixth grade enrollment over time.
In the 2006-07 school year, that enrollment was at 163. This school year, the enrollment is listed at 78 students.
Petschke doesn’t see the drop in enrollment as a major reason for closing Granville Village School, as she mentioned that Woodland School had its own issue about 10 years ago when it was overcrowded.
The point Petschke tried to make to the Granville residents, is that 10 years may never be long enough to really determine a complete outlook of a particular school, and the community should fight that.
“Ten years is a drop in the bucket, are we that short-sighted?” said Petschke.
Moving forward, supporters of the Granville Village School will be focusing on quickly thinking of ways to persuade any Tolland or Southwick resident, parent, or school committee member, that keeping the school open is in the best interest of all three communities.
