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Stephen Hemman of the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools speaks to School Committee members, faculty and town officials on Wednesday.
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Hemman presented four different options that included completely dissolving the district and partially dissolving it.

Dissolving Adams-Cheshire May Not Be Financially Effective

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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Hemman said making any changes to the district agreement would likely be a lengthy process.

CHESHIRE, Mass. — The potential closure of an elementary school has had officials in Adams and Cheshire mulling the possibility of breaking up the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District.

But the options for changing the 50-year-old agreement or dissolving it all appear cumbersome and financially ineffective.

"Whenever you make changes, you need to look at all of the aspects of it and people need to sit down with calm heads and figure out what they want to do and what they want to accomplish," Stephen Hemman, assistant executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools, said Wednesday night.

"They need to think about what things will look like 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now ... because once you make certain decisions it is awfully hard to revisit those."

Hemman addressed a forum with School Committee members, town and school officials and a handful of parents Wednesday at Hoosac Valley High School to discuss different ways the communities could alter their longstanding agreement.

Superintendent Robert Putnam set the presentation up after Adams Selectman and former School Committee member John Duval spoke last week about possibly dissolving the regional school district so both communities could keep their elementary schools. Cheshire officials have also discussed the possibility of maintaining their own school.

Hemman said the district could dissolve completely and both communities could create their own K-12 districts but noted it would probably only complicate things for the towns and be more expensive.

"I can tell you it would be next to impossible, and if you think you have money problems now, try to create your own district on a K-12," he said. "It is difficult."

He said any lingering responsibilities such as debt would have to be negotiated between the two communities. Also, each community would have to prove to the state Department of Education that it could properly fund a separate district and provide a satisfactory education.

Hemman said the towns could enter into a tuition agreement with another school district but this would mean the communities would not have any say in how much they pay to send children to the new district.

A second option would partially dissolve the district: Cheshire and Adams would be responsible for their respective elementary schools and both communities would share a regional agreement with Hoosac Valley High School.

Although there would be the option to share certain services such as the central office administration, they would need to create three separate school committees - one for each elementary district and a third for the regional high and middle school.

Hemmen said it would become cumbersome when negotiating with the unions. Currently, the district has six bargaining units. Splitting the district would multiply this to 18. It would also generate three sets of insurance systems and three sets of state reportings.   

"It becomes very awkward to operate," he said. "You have three school committees, three of everything. It does work, maybe not the best but it does work."

Hemman said the process itself would be lengthy and the communities would have to submit an educational plan to the Department of Education by Dec. 31.



If approved, these changes likely wouldn't take place for another two to three years.

"It's an enormous amount of work but the Department of Education needs to be guaranteed where those kids are going to go to school and what kinds of programs you are going to have," Hemman said. "It's not easy but it's not impossible."

A third option that would come through an agreement amendment would keep the district together but set aside three separate budgets – one for Hoosac Valley, one for Cheshire Elementary and one for C.T. Plunkett.

This option would likely be more expensive because both the communities would have to maintain their own buildings. Also, three separate budgets could overcomplicate things.

Hemman said there are benefits to being a regional district because it allows for a larger student body that makes it possible to fill more extensive programming and fund it.

At the high school level, it is exceptionally useful because it allows the opportunity for more sporting programs, extracurricular activities and classes.

As for the elementary level, he said sometimes smaller enrollment numbers allow for more manageable classroom sizes but there is still a balance between keeping a building open because a community wants it open and providing a better education.

"A lot of towns feel like their elementary schools are part of the identity of their town and I understand that but when the numbers get so small ... it becomes prohibitive," he said. "You are taking money away from other areas where you could put it to create programming and hire more staff."  

Hemman said any changes the district wants to make would likely have to go through an agreement amendment which must be approved by DOE.

Any changes would have to go to both Cheshire and Adams town meetings and if either town votes down the change, things continue as they are.

Two member districts need a unanimous vote between members to make any change and if Adams-Cheshire was more than a two-member district, this would not be the case.

The University of Massachusetts' Collins Center, which provided a report containing educational and financial alternatives for the district, did say splitting the district was an option but did not recommend it. According to the report,  said to maintain the same level of service Cheshire would likely see a nearly $800,000 increase in its education allocation to maintain the same level of service while Adams may see a nearly $200,000 cut just to meet the state minimum.

None of the options consider building needs and both structures require capital repairs.

The School Committee plans to vote in March to close either Plunkett or Cheshire, reconfigure the grades or do nothing.


Tags: ACRSD,   school closures,   

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Adams Sees No Races So Far

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
 
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election. 
 
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
 
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office,  as the future of our town lies within the younger  generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
 
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
 
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
 
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
 
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