PHILLIPSTON – An article on the July 31 special town meeting warrant calls for changes in the Narragansett Regional School District agreement between the towns of Phillipston and Templeton. The most significant change would require that all children in kindergarten through grade five attend school in the community in which they reside. The district school committee would be able, by a simple majority vote, to assign students from one community to a school in the other member town in the event of an emergency that leads to the complete or partial shutdown of their home school. Students could also be reassigned if they require specialized educational services or physical accommodations unavailable in their community.
In addition, parents could ask that their child be sent to an out-of-town school, but such a move would require the approval of the superintendent.
Dr. Maureen Marshall, acting Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association Regional Schools, met with parents and members of the Selectboard at their meeting Wednesday night.
Marshall said she was told by board Chair Kim Pratt that some parents were actually hoping to pull Phillipston Memorial Elementary School out of the district agreement.
“Withdrawing pre-K to five is one option,” she said, “which would leave you regionalized – grades six through 12 – in the Narragansett School District, but functioning on your own as the school district which would be known, I guess, as Phillipston Public Schools.”
“Now, this sounds simple on its face,” she continued. “No big deal. Well, it is a big deal, because then all of the administrative functions – special ed, all the management of all the programming, all the forms you need to fill out, reports you need to fill out – that’s all stuff the central office does. All the management of payroll, of your retirement benefits – all that is done at the regional level. You would have responsibility in your local community to do all of that.”
Marshall said the town would also be responsible for filling positions such as special education director and school nurses. In addition to picking up a number of employees, she said, the town would also have to provide their health insurance. At the same time, the town would have to navigate a course for changes in working conditions and benefits for people whose pay and benefits have already been collectively bargained.
“You would see resistance to leaving their bargaining unit and the protections they have,” she added.
“Withdrawing pre-K to five not only would require state intervention – working with the state on a huge change in your regional agreement – but it would also create a lot of additional cost for the community; including lawyers as you withdrew, and lawyers to negotiate new contracts with the collective bargaining unit.”
“If you were to even contemplate withdrawing completely and being a pre-K to 12 district,” Marshall cautioned, “I would say take all of what I said times two. That would be a huge responsibility for you. You don’t even have the buildings to house the population.”
“You could also seek to withdraw,” she said, “and seek to become involved with another regional school district or, say, with the Gardner public schools, or whatever.”
Marshall said, in her experience, most towns don’t pull completely out of a district agreement.
She also pointed out that, with declining population and, therefore, declining enrollment in public schools, the state is keen to see more – not less – regionalization.
“The smaller schools are getting smaller, and the state is pressuring us to do more regionalization,” she explained. “They would love to see Quabbin and Narragansett combine, I’m sure. There’s so much that could be saved by doing that. It would be a massive region, but it would be much more cost-effective, no doubt about it.”
Ultimately, said Marshall, any changes in a district agreement must be approved by the state Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education.
If Phillipston voters approve the proposed change in the district agreement on July 31, the question will have to then go before a town meeting in Templeton. It’s not known at the moment when Templeton would possibly take up the matter. In the meantime, the proposal will be sent to DESE in hopes of determining the state’s likely reaction to the change, should both communities approve the measure.
