HUNTINGTON – Residents of the seven communities currently served by the Gateway Regional School District received word Saturday morning from Huntington Selectman John McVeigh that his town is considering withdrawing from the district.
At a meeting of the Gateway Towns Advisory Committee (GTAC) at Huntington’s Stanton Hall, McVeigh spoke of the desire of his town to explore the possibility of withdrawal, an action currently being attempted by another district hilltown, Worthington.
“We are taking steps to consider all options available to us,” McVeigh told the assembled GTAC members. “We have notified the office of Senator Ben Downing of our intent to explore all possibilities, including withdrawal from the Gateway district.”
McVeigh said that, in addition to housing Gateway Regional High School, his town contributes the largest slice of the funding pie to the district.
“Up until 2014, Huntington had the largest student population in the district and therefore the largest share of the budget,” said McVeigh. “Our town is not rich in terms of property values or median incomes, but we have richly supported the financial obligations of our district.”
He added that, like the other Gateway Regional towns, Huntington has also borne the brunt of a perceived neglect at the hands of the state legislature, specifially regional transportation funding and cuts in 2008 which led to an almost $2 million deficit and the closing of three elementary schools in the district.
“(We have) enthusiastically embraced the concept of school regionalization, working with our neighbor towns in order to provide our children with the education they deserve for over 50 years,” he said. “Just like our other member towns, we have endured the state’s unfulfilled financial funding promises. We have all beared the burden.”
The Huntington Selectman expressed his displeasure with Beacon Hill’s intervention into the situation, and said, should the legislature allow Worthington to withdraw from Gateway, a potentially devastating precedent would then be set.
“We are obviously upset and dismayed by the actions of our legislators from the State House,” McVeigh said. “Our town has always believed we can resolve school issues within the district without intervention from the state. The legislation opened doors for any remaining town to unilaterally withdraw from the Gateway Regional School District.”
“We do not believe the outcome of legislation will be good for our children and their education. With the loss of Worthington’s students, the number of students attending Gateway schools will drop below 900,” he said. “The increase in the overall assessment to the remaining member towns has been estimated at six to seven percent. The financial viability of our town and our school district is at risk.”
McVeigh stated that all of Huntington’s Selectmen have school-aged children, and “have skin in the game.”
“Unlike our legislators in Boston, we have a personal interest in providing what is best for our children,” he said. “Huntington’s Selectboard cannot idly stand by and let the state determine the fate of our children’s education. We need to ensure that we can provide a quality, financially secured education for all of our children.”
“The selectboard has been entrusted with protecting and advancing the best interests of all citizens, providing education, police and fire protection, addressing health and safety concerns, and fiscal responsibility,” McVeigh said. “We take our role very seriously.”
“We kind of mirror exactly what he just said in Chester, and I think all the other towns are doing the same thing,” Chester Selectman John Baldasarro said. “We have to, at this stage in the game, look forward and protect the interests of our children and our towns. We’re doing the same thing.”
Baldasarro recalled for the committee when he went to Boston to speak at the State House on the issues being faced by rural communities of western Mass.
“When we went down and testified in front of the legislature. One of the things I said about the Town of Chester is, financially, we are very strapped and this could put us into bankruptcy,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of things that have happened that are going to allow us to afford this for probably the next one or two years before it really becomes an issue, but it just pushes it back – it doesn’t take care of the problem.”
“What we’d like to see is this contract upheld that we’ve had for the past 50 years, but it doesn’t appear thats going to happen,” Baldasarro said. “So we really need to start looking at what we’re going to do. Is it financially responsible for us to start looking at withdrawing from the district? Going forward, is this going to be a bankruptcy type of action that we need to do? We don’t know those answers yet, but we’re doing the same thing.”
School Committee member Sue Levreualt of Worthington responded to the statements of McVeigh and Baldasarro with one of her own, saying that the situation that is now boiling over in Worthington has been simmering for quite some time, since the closing of R.H. Conwell Elementary School several years ago.
“For all of you, this feels like it is just happening. For me, this has been five years that this has been going on,” she said. “If you ignore the engine light on your car and you don’t do anything with it, you end up buying a new engine. Back when this conversation first started (in 2009), the townsfolks that were coming to the school committee meetings said what their goal was and they were in the process of acheiving that goal.”
“I think it’s very important for everyone to always remember that, if theres a problem and you don’t address it, the problem may not stay small. It may spiral out of control in a direction that you initially thought it wouldn’t go,” she said. “It would behoove us all to remember that, if there are people who aren’t happy, we should try to find out why and we should try to figure out how we can figure out a solution.”
Following the meeting, McVeigh spoke of what he hoped the residents of the other member towns would take away from his statement.
“It shows a strong message that we’re willing to pull our own town, where the school is actually located, and take our own kids somewhere else,” he said. “We’re setting up a committee to explore these options and see if it’s within the scope of the town to see if it’s something we’re possibly interested in.”
