Newfound school board declines cooperation with departing towns

BRISTOL — The Newfound Area School Board has denied a request from the Bridgewater-Hebron-Groton Steering Committee to continue providing the administrative services the district currently offers if the three towns vote to withdraw from the school district next spring.

The school board also decided that, while it agrees in principle with the idea of “tailing out” — ensuring students currently enrolled in Newfound schools are able to complete their educations there — it would not hold a formal vote because of the uncertainties of what that commitment would cost.

Vice Chair Kimberly Bliss of Alexandria supported the idea of allowing students to remain in their schools, saying, “My primary focus was and always will be what’s in the best interest of the children. Why would we disrupt children that have already been involved in a community for half of their educational career?”

Thomas Edwards of Hebron said, “Just in principle, I think that we as a school board are going to do the right thing by the kids, like Kim was just saying,” but he had reservations. Believing that cooperating with the steering committee would help the towns succeed in their withdrawal effort, he said, “If people vote 'yes' in the three towns and this goes through, there’s going to be significant disruption to kids. That’s a fact.”

The steering committee has provided assurances that it wants to avoid disruption by allowing students to choose where they want to attend school, including remaining at the middle and high school, and also has offered to allow Newfound students currently attending the Bridgewater-Hebron Village School to continue attending classes there even if a new school district operates the school. The committee wants memoranda of understanding on tuition and the use of administrative services, saying it aims to keep the teachers and educational curricula in place.

The school board has not looked at possible tuition agreements or fees for service, with Edwards and other members saying that would aid the withdrawal effort. The school board also has avoided looking into the financial implications for the four remaining towns in the Newfound Area School District if the withdrawal takes place.

Britta Matthews of Groton used the resulting absence of cost estimates as a reason to reject the steering committee’s requests. She noted the committee has discussed the tax impact of a change in the apportionment formula — proposed by some Newfound towns and one of the reasons for the withdrawal effort — but that there are many things “that I as a taxpayer and as a community member don’t have a ballpark range of what these increases would be: sports and coaches, equipment, field uniforms, food services, busing, bargaining agreements, insurance and benefits, curriculum, technology, tuition, nurses, administration, para specialists, furniture, utilities, out-of-district placements, special ed services, and bringing the building up to housing those kids.”

Apart from the building costs, those are all areas that depend on the school board’s willingness to set prices. The Bridgewater-Hebron Village District built and maintains the elementary school in Bridgewater.

Both Edwards and Matthews, along with Dominic Halle of Bridgewater, might lose their school board positions if the three towns were to establish their own school district. Currently, voters of all seven towns elect each school board member, so other towns have the ability to shoot down the candidate preferred by a particular town. That would not be the case in a smaller school district.

Terry Murphy of the Bridgewater Selectboard, who serves on the steering committee, said he was not surprised at the school board’s decision to withhold administrative services, even though the proposed new school district would be willing to cover any costs for additional staffing in the superintendent’s office.

“It’s their attempt to make our life more difficult,” he said. “We keep saying that we’re still paying for those services [under the proposed agreement] but they don’t seem to get that.”

During the school board’s discussion on Oct. 23, Bliss said, “I don’t think we have the capacity to provide the number of services, or the space, without more people.

"I think even if we added even two more people to that office, it’s just not feasible.”

Edwards agreed: “We will have to hire more people to do the same job that we currently do, which isn’t really in our benefit as a school board, unless we got compensated well over the top.” He went on to make the motion to not provide the services.

The decision was unanimous.

School board member Nathan Saler of New Hampton said, “Our sole job is to do what we think is in the best interest of the students, and that’s what’s really important. ... That’s the only thing we care about.”

Yet when discussing the tailing out of students, Edwards said, “Our intent is clear: doing the best things for the kids. But I don’t feel comfortable to vote on something that doesn’t have — the devil’s in the details — it’s money, it’s logistics, space. What if all the kids from Alexandria [who are attending the Bridgewater-Hebron Village School] want to not stay in that school, for example? They come back. That’s just one little example of many.”

Asked about the decisions the next day, Chair Melissa Suckling replied by email, “Unfortunately you are asking for a board decision/opinion and I am not able to provide that to you because I do not speak for the board’s opinions. I am one member of a 7 member board and I am not able to speak on behalf of the board without a decision of the board.”

During a community meeting that attracted about 70 residents in Bridgewater on Oct. 24, Murphy said the Department of Education told him the creation of a separate school district for the three towns is “doable” and there are experts able to assist with administrative services if the Newfound district does not provide them.

Steering committee member Erick Piper, who also serves on the Newfound Area School District Budget Committee, noted that the three towns considering withdrawal are paying 40% of the district budget, but testing results have shown that “the only school that’s really performing in a top-tier category is our elementary school.” The local school also is performing better than most schools in the state, he said.

“We have an opportunity here to expand that school and vote for expanded opportunities for high school,” Piper said, noting students may want to attend high school in Plymouth or Inter-Lakes through tuition agreements. “This is an opportunity to protect our taxes, but at the same time, to actually improve the educational component. We want to keep the things that are working well, and improve the things that maybe aren’t going well.”