Adams-Cheshire Hiring Facilitator for Regional Agreement Review
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee will hire a representative to facilitate the school district agreement amendment process.
Although the committee did not have a quorum Monday night, Superintendent Robert Putnam told the members present that the district will hire Stephen Hemman, assistant director of Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools.
"He said he would be very much interested in working with the district and the two towns," Putnam said. "He will help us bring the agreement up to date."
The School Committee will form a 10-member committee with members from the district and both towns to make changes to the district agreement.
The amendment process was sparked earlier this year when the committee voted to close Cheshire Elementary School over that town's objections. Cheshire, the smaller of the two towns in the regional school district, feels it has little control because of its size and representation on the School Committee. The agreement also has not been reviewed or updated in years.
Putnam said Hemman will go through each line of the agreement with the committee and update what needs to be updated while implementing what changes the committee would like to see.
He added that whenever a proposed change is made it will be sent off to the state Department of Education.
"Everything will be submitted to the Department of Education so by the time we get to the end of the process we know what they are going to accept what the committee has arrived at," Putnam said. "There is a lot to be done because the last time it was looked at I think was 1992."
Putnam said he hopes that the committee will have amendments ready for the towns to vote in at their town meetings.
The School Committee also heard from Hoosac Valley Elementary School teachers who aired their concerns about the building.
Among their grievances was a dilapidated chimney that they believed could fall through the physical Education office ceiling.
"I have been touch with the Adams building inspector and masons and I am getting different stories," Putnam said. "So I went to an engineer."
He said the engineer had few concerns about the safety of the chimney but the town building inspector did, so currently the chimney is going through a more thorough survey.
"We are going to see what the report says and when we get the report we will deal with the report," acting Chairman Stephen Vigna said.
Putnam said, either way, the office will be relocated.
Teachers also said they were upset they could not hang student artwork on the walls of their classrooms unless they were laminated.
Putnam said there is little the district can do about this because the Adams fire chief sets these rules.
"The fire chiefs are the ones who set our rules ... and they have been very consistent over the years," Putnam said. "All of the issues they bring up can be cited in state fire regulations."
Putnam said he has seen the regulations in other schools and flammable objects cannot be hung from the ceiling, in the hallway or within 5 feet of an egress. Many schools have glass wall cabinets within which to hang paper materials.
Before closing, the teachers also shared their displeasure of the high temperatures on the upper levels of the building.
School Committee member Darlene Rodowicz said she thought the town of Adams was going to fix this issue.
"We knew this was an issue and the town of Adams said they could address it and they could fund it," she said. "The town administrator felt there were options."
Tags: ACRSD, HVES, regional agreement, regionalization,
