Voters in Montague, Gill, Bernardston, Leyden, Northfield and Warwick will get their chance to vote in a special election this fall on whether to approve a five-town or six-town regional agreement to form the proposed Great River Regional School District now that Gov. Maura Healey has signed special legislation.
The governor’s Aug. 25, signature on S.3181, “An Act Providing Equal Opportunity for Residents to Vote on Establishment of the Great River Regional School District,” opens all six communities to participate in a special election that the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board has recommended coincide with Franklin County Technical School’s district-wide vote on a new school building on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
With the legislation now law, the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board met on Wednesday to recommend the creation of the Great River Regional School District with the five-town and six-town regional agreements, and to recommend that the town selectboards schedule a special election for voters to weigh in on one of the agreements.
“This motion really is kind of historic because it reflects not only our work over the last seven years, but all of the work and the people that were involved on the District Regional Subcommittee, that were appointed by selectboards or recommended by selectboards to serve on this,” Six Town Regionalization Planning Board Chair Alan Genovese said during Wednesday’s meeting.
According to an Aug. 27 communication from the six-town board to the selectboards of the six communities, the goal is to have this special election coincide with the Franklin Tech new school building vote for “efficiency, minimizing the burden on each town’s resources, and maximizing the opportunity for voters in all towns.”
This means that voters in the six communities would vote between noon and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, in separate special elections.
The Great River Regional School District special election will ask voters whether they approve a six-town regional agreement to encompass the member towns within the Gill-Montague Regional School District, the Pioneer Valley Regional School District and Warwick Community School, or a five-town regional agreement that excludes Warwick.
In April, members of the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board testified in a joint House and Senate hearing, advocating for this legislation to be passed. State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Rep. Susannah Whipps, I-Athol, have been working with the board to push for the legislation.
According to the executive summary of the Great River Regional District Long Range Plan, the decision to create the five-town regional agreement stemmed from the Warwick School Committee voting 4-1 last fall not to recommend regionalization, along with concern for representation on the new district’s school committee, and how Warwick’s school district formed after leaving the Pioneer Valley Regional School District, while only Gill-Montague and Pioneer were being looked at for regionalization.
The proposed “super-regional” district would have high school students from the towns educated at Turners Falls High School and Great Falls Middle School. Middle schoolers would occupy Pioneer Valley Regional School and elementary students would remain in their current buildings. The plan calls for no reduction in staff, but consolidation of the central office. The estimated enrollment for the new district would be just under 1,400 students from across all grade levels.
At Wednesday’s meeting, kudos were given to Jane Dutcher of Bernardston, a member of the board and chair of the Finance Committee, for her role in getting this idea for a special election from the hilltowns to the governor’s desk, as Genovese framed it.
The reason for getting the special legislation passed was to create greater equity among the member towns whose schools are part of the proposed regionalization. Montague is required under Massachusetts General Law to vote on the new district at a town-wide election, rather than at Town Meeting. This is because Montague has a representative Town Meeting, as opposed to an open one where all residents can attend, which is the case in the other five communities.
“Jane, for asking that question, kudos to you, because it was remarkable,” Genovese said, with board members applauding on the Zoom meeting.
“Yeah, I like to cause trouble,” Dutcher said with a smile.
The Montague, Gill, Bernardston, Leyden and Northfield selectboards are all scheduled on Monday, Aug. 31, to vote on the date, times and locations for the regionalization vote, according to their town websites.
On Thursday, Sept. 3, at 6 p.m., a public information session about the vote will take place at Gill Town Hall at 325 Main Road. Genovese said that he and Six Town Regionalization Planning Board Vice Chair Greg Snedeker will be working to set up informational forums in each of the six towns ahead of the vote.
