WARWICK — The Selectboard has asked the state education commissioner to review the Pioneer Valley Regional School District School Committee’s decision not to support a plan to change Warwick Community School into a Horace Mann II Conversion School.
The proposed redesign spearheaded by town officials and residents comes after the School Committee considered closing Warwick Community School in the spring as a cost-saving measure. The committee opted to close Pearl Rhodes Elementary School in Leyden but did not approve closing the Warwick school.
However, after months of discussion, the School Committee voted 7-to-5 on Oct. 22 not to move forward with supporting turning Warwick’s elementary school into a Horace Mann II. If approved, the school would be the first of its kind in the state.
Now, in a letter sent to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley, dated Oct. 28, the Selectboard asks for a meeting with Riley and Town Coordinator David Young.
“Warwick’s Selectboard requests an audience to share concerns for educating Warwick students in Warwick, and not forcing parents to bus children long distances to a different town,” reads the letter, signed by all three Selectboard members. “Warwick never would have agreed to this regional arrangement and does not agree now.”
Under current agreements between the Pioneer Valley Regional School District and the state, however, Riley has authority to take actions following a study, including reconfiguration. Following the discovery of a financial deficit in 2018, an act relative to the financial condition of the district was put in place between DESE and the Pioneer school district, giving Riley more oversight control. In the letter, the Selectboard called for a “fair and data-based review” from DESE.
“We assume it is unusual that a town Selectboard proposes their town school convert to charter school status; however, our proposal follows several years of tension among member towns here in our regional district and hundreds of hours of thinking about a solution for our children and parents that causes no harm to other towns,” the letter reads.
The Selectboard states that, as written, the regulations create a system where all applications for a Horace Mann II must receive School Committee approval before a full application can be developed. The board asks to share recommendations for regulation review.
The Selectboard also expressed disappointment that stimulus funding for innovative charter school models is almost never awarded to small, rural towns.
“Our experience is that current DESE charter school regulations actually inhibit rural town proposals from reaching your office and so seem to inhibit the intent of the law, instead of advancing it,” the letter reads.
In a different letter published in the Warwick Newsletter, written Oct. 23, regarding the School Committee’s vote not to support the school redesign, Young cited a concern from the committee about needing more time to complete the town’s school conversion application. He noted that the bulk of the proposal is completed and that it is realistic and financially sustainable.
Young said the district had received a tentative budget for the 2020 to 2021 school year, and that Warwick would work to assure the Warwick Community School will not be closed next year.
“The Selectboard is committed to keeping the Warwick school open and we hope you will learn about our proposal,” Young said in the newsletter sent to Warwick residents. “We have a great rural school now — and we have a terrific plan to give our children an even richer education.”
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 264.