ADAMS, Mass. — The Cheshire resident pounded his fist on the table in frustration as he spoke about the potential loss of his school. The playground. The ball field. How his wife and daughters had had the same teacher.

 

"I was hoping to see my grandkids go to Cheshire Elementary," the resident said, but added reluctantly that the reasons for closure "make a lot of sense."

 

Cheshire and Adams have long been tied together by history and familial bonds. For the last 50 years, that's been strengthened through a shared educational system. But dropping enrollment and the school district's struggle in the last years with ballooning budgets, has the two towns at odds over whose elementary school will close.

 

"A lot of this has been centered around the possibility of closing a school. And I would say it's probably more a likelihood than a possibility," School Committee Chairman Paul Butler told the Maple Grove Civic Club on Sunday. "There's a possibility it won't get voted that way but if it doesn't, that means that budget that will be presented to the towns will be significantly higher than the towns can afford to do this year."

 

Butler, like many in the school district, has bonds with both towns. A Cheshire native, he went to school there and graduated from Hoosac Valley High School. After a stint in the Coast Guard, he returned to the county, settling in Adams and has represented the town on the regional School Committee for 17 years.

 

"I'm a little bit on both sides of the fence with this issue you've been hearing about," he told the dozen or so club members at the PNA Hall. His three children were educated in the school system, graduated from Hoosac Valley and gone on to college. "I feel like my kids have been very successful in these schools."

 

Officials in the two towns have been advocating to keep their schools open. Cheshire is worried the loss of the elementary school will devastate its community. Adams, grappling with repairs at the vacant memorial school, doesn't want another empty building. As the county's third largest community after the Berkshires' two cities, it also feels the need to have a school within its borders. 

 

Rumblings about a possible closure surfaced nearly two years ago and began to take on more urgency in the past year as the school district cut nearly $1 million from its budget — and already faces a $500,000 budget shortfall going into the next fiscal year.  

 

Those discussions have picked up speed in the last weeks after a presentation of options by the University of Massachusetts' Collins Center, tours of the buildings and public sessions all this week — all building up to a vote by the committee on March 2.

 

A last resort for the towns is to break up the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District at the elementary level to hang on to their schools and, for some, their community identities. The cost would likely be higher for both towns and both would have to deal with significant repairs or renovations. And while some have pointed to the Williamstown-Lanesborough schools as a model, the three districts involved are moving forward with talks to completely regionalize because of problems they've encountered. 

 

The school district will review the process of separation on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 5:30 p.m. at Hoosac Valley with Stephen Hemman of the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools. 

 

On Thursday, Feb. 23, the School Committee will hold an open forum on school configurations at 6:30 p.m. at C.T. Plunkett School in the auditorium. Another open forum on configuration options will be held on Monday, Feb. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at in the Cheshire Elementary School auditorium. The School Committee will meet at 5 p.m. on Monday in Cheshire to discuss the budget. 

 

Butler described the break up of the regional district as outline by the Collins Center as "the most expensive and least attractive. ... you would still have two elementary buildings that as population declines will continue to be a burden on the towns."

 

He also answered questions about per-pupil spending (low in Adams-Cheshire); foundation budgets (barely increasing to cover real costs); regional transportation (about 50-60 percent what the state promised); state funding (flat); sharing administration with North Adams (talks may be more fruitful in five years or so); and the loss of students to school choice and the public charter school. 

 

"We've seen more kids going out and than in, and the charter school siphons off about 75 kids and a $1 million out of our budget," Butler said. "If we still had these kids, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation."

 

The final decision will come down to the regional school committee. Butler said he hasn't totally decided which way he will vote. 

 

"I'm leaning, but I don't want to say until March 2," he said, but added that "I haven't received one phone call, one email, or text from anyone other than the select boards."