Dublin’s representative to thblin Cone ConVal School Board told the town’s Select Board Monday that he opposes the town’s initiative to withdraw from the district.

Alan Edelkind said that the local effort to separate from ConVal – which Dublin and Francestown residents will vote on for their towns in March -- is based on considerations that are financial rather than educational. 

“This is a horrible idea,” he said Tuesday. “Dublin has a lot of property in town, and pays a lot, but we send very very few students to the schools. I agree; it’s not fair. They’re just looking at the financial aspect.”

Select Board member Carole Monroe said that educational outcomes at ConVal have also factored in the decision to withdraw.

“Try to change the Articles of Agreement instead,” said Edelkind Tuesday.

The articles bind the towns of Antrim, Bennington, Dublin, Francestown, Greenfield, Hancock, Peterborough, Sharon and Temple into the ConVal School District and determine school board representation and fund allocation by town. 

Dublin, Francestown, Bennington and Temple could have lost their elementary schools had a proposal to change the district’s Articles of Agreement passed last year.

“I prefer trying to change the articles,” said Edelkind. “If that fails, then you could look at with withdrawal.”

Edelkind noted that tuitioning students back into the district following a separation would present challenges.

“A tuition agreement will be a hard negotiation,” he said.

Withdrawal can pass either by majority vote in a town looking to withdraw and a majority vote across the district as a whole, or by three-fifths vote in a town seeking to withdraw and more than two-fifths approval across the district.

Edelkind said Tuesday that changing the allocation of funding among towns would not appeal to some towns.

“The other towns will say it’s not fair, but there’s a difference between liking something, and fairness,” he said. 

“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said Edelkind Tuesday about the possibility of the town withdrawing from the district. “I think the people o f Dublin  are too smart for that.”