Greetings
This note is intended to provide parents and all members of the community with some basic information about a project that will be completed during the course of next year.
This past summer, the Board of Selectmen in Granville expressed an interest in studying the possibility of joining the Southwick Tolland Regional School District. This past fall, there were a series of meetings to discuss how to proceed. The Granville town officials and the Granville School Committee, as well as the Southwick-Tolland School Committee agreed to work toward securing funding for an outside, objective feasibility study. We received favorable response from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to complete the study, with the help of an educational consultant.
It is important to keep in mind that this study will focus on programs, finance, facilities and governance. The Regional District and the Town of Granville have no interest in jumping to conclusions about changing day to day practices. Children who currently attend the schools in the Regional District will continue to do so, and children who attend the Granville Village School will continue to attend school there.
We anticipate that the study will be completed by December of 2010 and at that time the respective parties will analyze the report and determine if additional action is mutually beneficial. One key part of the study will be how the addition of another town in the region will impact school funding, state aid and whether there are long or short term cost savings for all stakeholders. The second key part of the study will be whether enlarging the regional district helps us provide a quality education for all of our children.
We will post additional notes on this web site as the project unfolds. If you have questions or comments feel free to email me at the address on our home page. Also, the meetings of the planning committee will be posted and are open to the public.
Update: April 25, 2011
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission completed their report on expanded regionalization in December. A copy of that report is available upon request. It has been distributed to the Southwick Select Board and Finance Committee members. Informational meetings were held in Granville and the Southwick-Tolland Regional School Committee was also updated and received a copy of the report. Both the Regional School Committee and the Granville Select Board saw potential in continuing the process of exploring expanded regionalization.
Representatives from both the Town of Granville and the Southwick-Tolland Regional School Committee were appointed to a Regionalization Planning Committee. The members from the Regional District are: Jeff Houle, Jean McGivney-Burelle, Ted Locke (Tolland) and Ken Haar. The members from the Town of Granville are Pamela Petchke, Ted Sussman and Tracie Drenen. This group was charged with the responsibility of drafting amendments to the Southwick-Tolland Regional Agreement. These amendments define how a three town region would function and also represent the document that voters in the three towns need to either approve or reject for a third town to enter the Region. The Regional District was also successful in securing a Regional Planning Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education. This grant has allowed us to support the Planning committee with consultant services, especially around financial and legal matters. The work on this project has only involved grant funding. No funds from operational budgets have been used.
Meetings have occurred regularly since January and have been focused on discussion of major issues and writing amendments to Agreement. We have also consulted with a member of the Department of Education as any structural change to the district also needs to be approved by the Commissioner of Education. This revised agreement describes how the member towns are represented on the school committee, how budgets are approved and how operational and capital expenses are apportioned (among other provisions.)
There is interest in Granville in regionalization given the changes in enrollment and the potential for funding public education in a more expedient manner and the potential for Tolland students to attend the Granville School. There is interest on the part of the Regional School Committee largely due to the fact that the Massachusetts School Building Authority is encouraging district consolidation. The MSBA has committed to an additional six percentage reimbursement points on the proposal for facility improvement that is being developed concurrently with this initiative. While it is not unusual for a consolidation initiative to happen in the context of a capital project, the Planning Committee has also tried to focus on the educational issues. The consultants on this project also believe that there are long term
efficiencies and opportunities that can be realized in a three town region with four schools.
As we near the end of April, the Planning Committee’s work on the Regional Agreement Amendments is drawing to a close. Informational meetings will be scheduled in all three communities to explain the amendments. Another step in this process is to ensure that the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is aware of the consolidation efforts and that the agreement is compliant with state law. The amended Regional Agreement will be posted on this website for public review and further updates will be posted as this initiative nears the point of a public vote.
Update: September 14, 2011
The work on the draft of a new Regional Agreement was completed in mid-August. A final round of revisions were added after town boards had a chance to review the document. The Regional Agreement is posted on the district web site. At this point in time, both the Southwick-Tolland Regional School Committee and the Granville School Committee have endorsed the agreement. Select boards in all three towns have also expressed their support.
This support is founded on the fact that a three town region provides more financial stability and also provides additional opportunities to serve children and families in the three town area. This support is also founded on the financial incentives associated with the building project. Additional reimbursement is provided for the renovation/addition work to convert the high school to a 7-12 middle school/high school. In addition, we were notified this past July that the Massachusetts School Building Authority would allow us to develop a “campus-wide” solution to our facilities if we expand the region and include Granville. This would allow us complete urgently needed infrastructure repairs at Powder Mill and Woodland. This is an unprecedented opportunity in that the MSBA does not allow districts to
address needs at more than one facility at a time. No other district in the state is being allowed to utilize this campus-wide solution. District consolidation is the rationale for this exception. Regionalization has the potential to bring a very high value proposal to the voters regarding the upgrades our buildings need.
There will be another round of informational meetings in all three towns. The schedule is as follows:
Granville: Thursday, September 15, 2011, 7 PM at the Granville Village School
Southwick Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 6:30 PM at the STRHS Auditorium
Tolland Thursday, September 29, 2011, 7 PM at the Tolland Town Hall
All three towns will need to approve regionalization with a majority vote at town meetings this fall. If any community fails to approve regionalization, then the initiative comes to an end. In terms of the building project we will only be able to develop a proposal for the high school and urgently needed repairs at the other schools will not be addressed.
The schedule for the Town Meetings is as follows:
Granville Monday, September 19, 2011, 7 PM at the Granville School
Tolland Monday, October 3, 2011, 7 Pm at the Tolland Town Hall
Southwick Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 7 PM at the STRHS Auditorium
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