The Russell H. Conwell School was one of three elementary schools that closed in June 2010 as part of the Gateway Regional School District regionalization. The small Worthington school reopened in September 2010 with the help of Staind frontman Aaron Lewis and his wife Vanessa, who spearheaded the now privately funded school. The other two schools that closed in 2010 were the Blandford Elementary School and the Russell Elementary School. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
HUNTINGTON – As the Town of Worthington pursues the process to withdraw from the Gateway Regional School District, residents of the other six Gateway communities came to Huntington’s Stanton Hall last night to discuss next steps.
Over 50 residents from Blandford, Chester, Middlefield, Montgomery, and Russell and Huntington attend the meeting to voice their frustrations and concerns over Worthington’s attempt to break away, and to bring forth ideas of how to potentially resolve the situation.
“The purpose of this meeting is not to debate Worthington’s proposal to withdraw, nor is it a forum to speak against the residents of Worthington,” cautioned Huntington town moderator Peter Jacques at the start of the meeting. “(The purpose) is to discuss actions that other Gateway communities and towns can take in order to try to prevent or try to mitigate the impact of that withdrawal.”
The Chair of Huntington’s Selectboard, Amy Burnham, said that while she doubted a consensus would be reached by the communities at the end of the night, that wasn’t the purpose for the meeting.
“Together, with open dialogue, perhaps we can come up with how to layer a defense to go forward to protect our towns collaboratively,” she said.
After Burnham opened the floor to comment, residents unleashed their personal opinions with vigor.
“If the legislature lets them (Worthington) withdraw, does that render the contract they entered into when they formed the regional school null and void?” asked one Huntington man. “And if it does, then what prevents other communities who have the same problems Worthington does from withdrawing and going through the same process?”
The biggest wedges driven between Worthington and the district were the closing of the R.H. Conwell Elementary School, which has since reopened as an alternative education center, and an alleged disparity between the number of Worthington pupils and their portion of the district’s bill, were touched upon by members of the assembly.
“I recall very well in the early years (of the district), there were people who felt badly about losing their local schools,” said former Gateway Superintendent Richard Holdsman. “Now we have a community that’s trying to return to that small, local, independent school that has proven to be non-effective in terms of economy, efficiency, and education of the children.”
Holdsman slammed Worthington’s attempt to leave the district, calling it “wrong minded” and “reactionary”.
“One of their (Worthington) concerns was that they were being assessed far more than their share,” another man said. “But my understanding is that it’s set by the Massachusetts government. I don’t think it’s done by a town to town basis. I’m just worried, if this is allowed to go through, what’s to prevent Russell or Blandford or Huntington even from withdrawing?”
The idea of precedent was a sentiment echoed often in Stanton Hall last night.
“It’s not just Gateway that is going to be affected by this decision — it’s other regional school systems,” said Pandora Hague, a member of Russell’s Selectboard. “The state wants districts to regionalize, and by allowing Worthington to leave Gateway… it could happen in any other system if it’s allowed to happen here.”
Hague added that the town would obviously be depriving the district of students, which would adversely affect the types of classes the district can offer.
“It’s going to have more than a financial impact. It’s going to have an impact on the remaining kids’ educations,” she said.
While residents of Worthington were sparse at the meeting, town Selectman Dick Wagner was on hand to provide the masses with the facts and rationale behind his town’s attempt to say goodbye to Gateway.
“Worthington would remain responsible for its full share of all capital debt obligations relative to the district,” he said. “And it’s important to realize that we are not seeking to de-regionalize – we’re seeking to re-regionalize.”
Wagner also reiterated that, though the home rule legislation allowing Worthington to slip out of Gateway passed the House in an informal session, it must still be approved by the other legislative bodies and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
He also said that there have been only two other instances statewide in which home rule legislation has broken up a district.
“Our primary issue has been with our ability to offer a particular type of education, and in that respect, our issue has been with the district, and not the other towns,” he said regarding any slight felt by the other hilltowns. “We don’t perceive this as an inter-town disagreement.”
The issue of the possible illegality of the town’s move to withdraw was also brought to light, as several hilltowners spoke of how the other six towns in the district voted against Worthington’s request to leave.
“The contract signed 50 years ago requires the six towns to vote unanimously for the one petitioning,” a Chester man said. “They (Worthington) did not lose one town against five — they lost by six. It wasn’t even close. If all of us remember the votes in our town halls, the votes for each individual town were not even close. It was 80 or 90 percent opposed.”
Hague added that the town of Russell and others would like to “work with” and “talk to” Worthington about trying to smooth out disagreements and keep the district intact.
“I think that we should’ve been talking and working together more to give our children the best education we can, and I don’t think it’s too late for that,” she said.
Other residents directed their vitriol at Worthington’s State Representative Stephen Kulik for allowing the vote on Worthington’s home rule to pass in an informal session with only five votes, but Burnham and Gateway Regional School Committee Member Ruth Kennedy informed them that legislation passes informally in Boston with regularity.
“Because he (Kulik) is their representative, he can legally file their home rule,” Kennedy said, adding that the bill has been sitting with the Education Committee for some time now. “It was approved… Legally they only need two people to vote in one of those sessions. It’s absurd, but that is the rule of the house. The Senate is going to be different.”
By the meeting’s end, the residents of the six communities brainstormed a vast array of ideas for fixing the situation, including writing and calling elected officials, and potentially organizing a march on the State House steps for more state education funds for western Hampden County. Huntington already has meetings scheduled later this month with Rep. Kulik and State Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield),
“Our goal was to make sure people were better informed, not to try to convince them it’s a good idea,” Wagner said of his being the lone Worthington presence after the meeting. “We recognize the other towns will disagree with us, but we want to give the facts, and we wanted the discussion to be phrased in terms of long-term needs for the hilltowns, not just short-term orientations.
“It was a great forum,” added State Representative Peter Kocot (D-Northampton) who represents the town of Montgomery in the first Hampshire district. “You had people from all the towns. It was a wide-ranging talk. People were polite and respectful and I got a sense that people want to work toward a solution.”
Kocot said he is committed to working with Kulik, whom he calls the House’s “champion for regional schools”, and all of the hilltowns, trying to find additional resources to solve the problem.
“The real problem is that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts doesn’t spend enough money on regional schools,” he added. “It puts (the district) into a pressure-packed situation where they have only difficult choices to make… and now we have a situation with a town that wants to leave, so we have to back this up and find resources that will make all parties happy.”
