By ZACK DeLUCA

Staff Writer

Published: 2/11/2020 8:58:55 PM

WARWICK — Residents will consider leaving the Pioneer Valley Regional School District and appropriating money to assume the operating costs for Warwick Community School during an upcoming Special Town Meeting.

Town Coordinator David Young said the Selectboard has approved two articles to send to Special Town Meeting. A meeting date has not yet been scheduled, but the plan is to hold it before Warwick officials meet with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley on March 9 to discuss options for keeping the school open.

One article, if approved, would ask whether Warwick wants to keep the local elementary school program going. A “no” vote would mean the town is “OK bussing children to Northfield,” Young said. A second article would seek to exit the Pioneer school district, either at the elementary level or fully from kindergarten through 12th grade. This article would be conditional, based on the commissioner’s pending decision to close the school.

The town will also ask voters to appropriate $40,000 to $80,000 to cover operating costs for Warwick Community School, for which the town hopes to assume responsibility. Supplemental funding would be used to offset per pupil costs instead of closing the school, or provide funding needed to support the building if it is closed.

“Some see this as a contingency, based upon the DESE commissioner electing to close our Community School, which is funded next year in the Pioneer budget,” Young said. “Others are so tired of the tone, unfair process, shortsightedness and underhanded dealing that they want to depart (the school district). Some feel we should stay in for grades seven to 12 and quit on (kindergarten to sixth grade). This might be a multiple-choice question.”

The interest in exploring options outside of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District comes following the recent 7-5 School Committee vote to recommend DESE close the Warwick Community School at the end of this school year. Young said a large percentage of enrolled elementary school parents from Warwick say they will not send their young children out of town to Northfield, which would be the district’s plan should Warwick Community School close.

Young also said members of the Selectboard and Education Advisory Committee will discuss the school’s situation with Riley on March 9. He said Riley expressed interest in moving the meeting to an earlier date, but Warwick town officials wanted to keep the original date.

“The Selectboard wants to keep to the plan, as residents have been preparing, and the board wants the STM (Special Town Meeting) results to be available to inform the DESE meeting about the future of WCS,” Young said.

In addition to the scheduled meeting with Riley, Warwick Selectboard and Education Advisory Committee members have met with officials from Petersham and Orange, and will meet with Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School and Ralph C. Mahar School District representatives this week

By ZACK DeLUCA

Staff Writer

Published: 2/21/2020 5:26:32 PM

Modified: 2/21/2020 5:26:19 PM

WARWICK — As the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s decision on whether to close Warwick Community School looms, parents and town officials are continuing to explore options for educating their children, including having them attend school online.

Instructor Greg Runyan with the Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School outlined his school’s curriculum during the Warwick Education Committee’s Tuesday meeting.

Scoping out possibilities

Education Committee Chair Adam Holloway said Warwick is exploring educational options outside of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s suggestion to merge with Northfield Elementary School, mainly because many parents, including himself, view bussing children to Northfield as a safety issue.

“That’s the big thing,” he said.

Holloway said parents had a lot of questions, and the meeting with Runyan helped provide information.

“We need to digest it and then see if it would work,” Holloway said of the online schooling model.

He added that if the school were to be closed following the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley’s decision, the town can “use the building to do whatever they want.” Holloway said townspeople could even set up a home-school collaborative, and use the building as a base learning location.

With the virtual school’s curriculum, there wouldn’t be a need for an actual school location, as nearly all work is designed to be done at home. However, Runyan acknowledged that Warwick’s position is unique. Warwick is interested in using its elementary school building as an on-site learning location for students to login on computers at the elementary school building while being supervised by learning coaches.

For the virtual school to accept the entire Warwick elementary population of 45 students, Runyan said it would need to enter a memorandum of understanding with the district. However, Warwick officials and residents expressed concern with the Pioneer school district’s cooperation.

As of now, to attend the Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School, students need to sign up for a wait list and lottery system. The School Choice cost to attend the virtual school is roughly $8,500 per student. Once accepted, Runyan noted there is a preference given to siblings. The virtual school has a cap of 750 students, which it reached for the first time this year.

“That shows there is a need and demand for this kind of model out there,” he said.

A typical day with GCVS

The school’s typical schedule begins with a morning meeting, where the teacher video chats with students about the plans for the day. Runyan said, for privacy purposes, students have a choice of using their camera to be seen by the teacher or not. Classes are a combination of “live” activities and work that can be completed online at the students’ leisure. Some classes, such as art, music or physical education, require “live” instruction time.

Students sign up for a Blackboard Collaborate Ultra or Canvas student account to access various resources or class activities and to submit assignments. The service can be used to schedule one-on-one sessions with a class instructor, and a learning coach is assigned to work with two or three students. With a Canvas account, students also have access to Storia, an online library. Lexia is another literacy resource available.

“As an online school, we don’t have a library, so this is what we’ve got,” Runyan said.

While students are generally in standard grade levels, he said the model makes it easy to adjust classes depending on the personal needs of a student to move up or down in class levels. For example, Runyan said his son is in third-grade morning meetings and literacy courses, but takes part in higher levels of math.

“With just a couple of clicks he’s switched into the middle school class,” Runyan said. “In just a couple of clicks I can have a kid from one part of the state collaborating with a student on the other end of the state.”

According to Runyan, many students who attend the Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School go on to attend two- or four-year colleges. He said most of these students have found the online program to benefit their college preparedness.

“More than 90 percent of the work is online,” Runyan said. “It helps a lot with their independence.”

According to Warwick Education Committee Vice Chair Tom Wyatt, the committee has not yet met to discuss Tuesday’s presentation as a group. He said he suspects there will need to be discussions within the community about whether the model meets the needs of students. The role the person at the school has, whether it’s as a coach or a teacher, makes a big difference, Wyatt noted. He also said aspects of the virtual school model could be incorporated into a new model that is specific to Warwick.

Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.

By GREG VINE

For Athol Daily News

Published: 2/20/2020 10:34:28 PM

Modified: 2/20/2020 10:34:17 PM

ATHOL – At its meeting Tuesday, the Selectboard took a series of votes necessary to move ahead with a Community Development Block Grant application for funds to improve Walnut Street between Church and Union streets. The town is seeking the maximum $800,000 available through the block grant program, which is administered by the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

“The project we’re proposing is Phase One for Walnut Street,” said grant consultant Linda Overing of Breezeway Farm Consulting, based in New Salem. “The public hearing ad also mentions doing improvements to Union Street and that pre-dated when we got our final budget numbers. So, I want to be clear that the project we’re proposing only is going from Church Street to the intersection with Union, but we’re not proposing any improvements to Union Street itself.”

“Much in the same manner as what you saw on Marble Street,” said Assistant Public Works Superintendent Dick Kilart, “you’ll see subsurface work for water and sewer replacement, some drainage replacement. We did (look at) the drainage structure that’s there, so some of that can be saved.

“You will see that section of road be resurfaced, similar to what you see out here at Marble Street, as part of that first phase. Subsequently, in the following year — it will actually be two construction seasons down the road — Phase Two will be the lower end of Walnut Street, that will turn onto Canal and, depending upon funding, may include part of Union Street.”

“One of the things, when we were looking at the design,” Overing continued, “we wanted to address the fact that the town is now a Complete Streets Community with the goal of making bicycle-safe passageways connecting the different parks. Fish Park is a prominent destination. So, we looked at the possibility of creating a separate bike lane.

“But, looking at the practicality, we’re recommending that we do not do that. Listening to the residents, there is a lot of on-street parking, especially on the north side of Walnut Street. We still want to encourage safe bike use. We would do that through signage and ‘share’ symbols, which remind you to watch out for bicyclists.”

Overing added that to make Walnut Street safer for pedestrian and bicycle traffic the road will be widened slightly. To accommodate the widening, she said, an existing green strip between the street and the sidewalk on the north side of the street will be eliminated.

The board ultimately voted unanimously to apply for the block grant and to allow Town Manager Shaun Suhoski to sign the application on the town’s behalf.

Members also voted without dissent to commit nearly $46,000 in so-called program income to the project. Other town funds which will be used include just under $31,000 to help cover construction costs, and $16,200 from the grant match account to help pay for engineering fees.

The town’s Shade Tree Commission is also recommending funding for trees that can be planted the private property of homeowners on the north side of the street.