WARWICK — The state commissioner of education has upheld the Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee’s January vote to close the Warwick Community School.
After more than a year of back and forth discussions, School Committee members voted 7-5 during a Jan. 16 special School Committee meeting in favor of recommending the state commissioner close the Warwick Elementary school. Patricia Shearer of Northfield, Abigail Pratt of Leyden and all three Warwick members opposed the recommendation.
Special legislation enacted two years ago places the district under state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey Riley’s fiscal oversight and permits the closing of local elementary schools within the district, subject to Riley’s approval. In a letter to Superintendent Jonathan Scagel, Riley explained his decision to uphold the January vote.
Scagel said Warwick students and faculty are expected to be reassigned to the Northfield Elementary School in the fall. This decision comes just over a year after the closure of the Pearl Rhodes Elementary School in Leyden, which saw students relocated to the Bernardston Elementary School. Scagel said the district’s fiscal 2021 budget was required to assume the continued operation of the Warwick Community School, but the district has been prepared to adjust the budget according to Riley’s approval.
“I have reviewed the arguments you and your staff have presented in support of this action,” Riley wrote to Scagel. “I have also reviewed the extensive material provided by the Town of Warwick in opposition to the proposed action, as well as a number of comments received from individual citizens.”
Riley referenced declining enrollment, and the desire of the district administration, the School Committee and the other three district town Selectboards to close the Warwick Community School. Riley said enrollment in the Pioneer Valley Regional School District has declined by 40 percent over the past decade. There were 700 students enrolled across the Pioneer Valley Regional School District this year.
“There is no evidence that this trend will reverse itself anytime soon,” Riley wrote. “At the same time, rising costs, including the need to fund deficit note payments and supplemental reserve required by the 2018 special legislation, have outpaced revenue increases, making it difficult to maintain and expand educational programs.”
According to Riley, discussions of closing small elementary schools in the face of declining enrollment are not unique to Pioneer, and many rural school districts are facing similar scenarios. Given limited fiscal resources, Riley said consolidation can provide richer instructional programs and broader support services for students. He acknowledge this comes “at the cost of extended travel time for young children, as well as the loss of buildings that are important to a town’s identity.”
“I’m disappointed,” Warwick Selectboard Chair Lawrence “Doc” Pruyne said Thursday. “I didn’t know how the commissioner would decide.”
Pruyne said he thought the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s decision showed “a lack of concern for small schools in small towns.” The Warwick Selectboard and Warwick Education Committee will continue investigating options to maintain the school and keep elementary education active at within the town.
“We’re still figuring out what we’re going to do next, but there is no reason to think that this is the final word,” Pruyne said. “Regionalization doesn’t improve education. Small classrooms achieve better academic results.”
He said there are “many reasons” to keep the school open. Among these reasons, the community school encourages remote and placed-based learning, which Pruyne said is the direction schools may need to take to continue education amid the lasting COVID-19 pandemic.
Riley acknowledged the concerns of Warwick elementary student parents and the need to bus students along the narrow, winding 8½ miles of Northfield-Warwick Road. He recognized the poor conditions and lack of cellphone service along the road, but said “regrettably, that is not an uncommon condition in rural areas of the commonwealth.” He said the district will need to discuss need for repairs with municipal officials, or whether buses should take a longer, 13-mile route via state highways.
“Kids don’t learn well riding on buses, and regionalization inevitably leads to long bus rides,” Pruyne said.
A previous effort to convert the Warwick Community School to a Horace Mann II charter school failed when the School Committee withheld its legally required support. In the letter, Riley mentioned Warwick had proposed withdrawing from the district for grades K-6 to establish a new operating district for these grades, and possibly joining a superintendency union with other districts to share administrative costs.
“Although the regional agreement allows any member town to unilaterally withdraw from the region, in my opinion that applies only to complete withdrawal,” Riley said.
A proposal to remain in the region for just grades 7-12 would require amendments to the regional agreement, which in turn would required approval by a majority of the towns in the district. Riley said he would also require Warwick to provide a “realistic pro forma” operating budget to ensure voters understand the financial commitment this would be.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.