As the deadline to make a decision on the feasibility of Dublin and Francestown withdrawing from the ConVal School district draws closer, the ConVal Feasibility Study Committee is honing in on questions that still need to be answered before the group can make a decision. The committee will decide by September whether or not to recommend that it is feasible for Dublin or Francestown, or both, to leave the ConVal district. 

Both towns began exploring the possibility of leaving the ConVal district after a proposal  to change the district’s original Articles of Agreement failed at the polls in March.  The proposed changes to the would have paved the way to potentially consolidating the district’s eight elementary schools into four schools, which could have meant the closure of the elementary schools in Dublin, Temple, Francestown and Bennington. 

“What I need from people is to tell me what additional information they need before they can make a decision,” Feasibility Study Committee Mike Hoyt said at Thursday’s meeting.

Hoyt reminded the group that ConVal Business Administrator Brian Cisneros and Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders are both departing the district before the September committee deadline.

“After that, we are on our own for finding some of this information,” Hoyt said. 

Hoyt reiterated that if the study committee decides it is feasible for either town to withdraw from ConVal, the committee must then create an education plan for the students in those towns in order to demonstrate to the state Department of Education that the towns will be able to provide an adequate education for every student.  

Carole Monroe, the Dublin Select Board chair, raised the issue of the towns withdrawing from the School Administrative Unit as well as from the school district. In New Hampshire, SAUs provide administrative services for school districts, including human resources, transportation, curriculum, special education and food services. Monroe said that in the process of researching the feasibility of withdrawal, she had received conflicting information on the SAU issue.

“In our research, we heard from Keene that a ‘single district SAU’ means that if you leave the district,  you also leave the SAU. Yesterday at the the Department of Education, the attorney said he didn’t think that was true. Whether or not it is true will affect what happens on Aug. 8. We need that answer and now, I am equally confused.  We need the option in writing,” Monroe said. 

Dublin and Francestown’s independent school committees are scheduled to present the findings of their research to the Feasibility Study Committee on Aug. 8. Hoyt said he would get the opinion on the SAU question in writing from ConVal’s attorney, Dean Eggert, or receive written clarification from the NH Department of Education.

The committee also discussed whether the original reasons for the creation of the ConVal School District still apply 60 years later. 

“The question is, is it suitable for these small towns to educate their students K-12?” Hoyt asked the group. “When ConVal was created, towns got together to pool financial resources. It helped the small towns out, as far as getting the services and resources they need to educate their children.”

Monroe said she felt the finances of the district had changed.

“One issue that is new is the (Tax Increment Financing) districts. Peterborough has three or four of these, and now Antrim is getting one, and the other towns need to pick up the difference from  the towns with TIF districts, because the properties in the TIF districts don’t pay taxes to the schools. There were very valid reasons for the schools to come together in 1967, but those reasons have change dramatically. Something written 50 years ago is not necessarily still valid; the world around it has changed,” Monroe said. 

Janine Lesser, a School Board member from Peterborough, urged the representatives of Dublin and Francestown to take into account what would happen if their school populations continue to shrink.

“What will happen when your schools have 25 students, or 20 students? Both these towns have a significant number of families using vouchers, and a significant homeschool population. You will want to consider, what is the quality of education you will be able to offer your students?” Lesser said.

Monroe stated that according to the recent survey completed by Dublin residents, “people want the small schools.”

“They feel the small classes are better,” Monroe said.