Editor’s note: This article is by Matt Hongoltz-Hetling of the Valley News, in which it was first published Oct. 7, 2014.
WOODSTOCK — Residents at a public discussion Monday night about a major restructuring of the Windsor Central Supervisory Union said they needed more details before they could back a consolidation proposal.
About 30 people showed up at Woodstock Elementary School to talk with members of the Joint Elementary Study Committee, which weighed various consolidation scenarios before submitting a plan that would involve closing the Bridgewater Village School.
Under the plan, all K-4 students in the district would go to Woodstock, while all fifth- and sixth-graders would go to The Pomfret School.
Seth Shaw, a Bridgewater representative on the study committee, said the proposal is not a criticism of the school.
“The challenge we have in Bridgewater is not a lackluster staff …” he said. “Our challenge is the building.”
The cost to bring the building into compliance with state regulations and to make it energy efficient is near $1 million, he said. “It’s staggering.”
The expenses would come against a backdrop of an increasingly bleak financial picture for the district.
Enrollment is declining while the amount spent per student, already above the state average, is expected to climb, committee members said.
“Sadly, there is no prediction of this dilemma getting better,” district Superintendent Alice Worth told the crowd.
The earliest possible implementation would be at the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year; the plan would have to first be presented to the boards of Bridgewater, Woodstock and The Pomfret School, and then to the voters in each town.
“It’s not a school board decision,” said David Steele, who represents Woodstock on the committee. “It’s something that will be voted on by all of our communities.”
The cost savings, Steele said, would be modest.
“It will lower our tax bills by a little bit, but not by as much as some people were hoping,” Steele said.
Steele cited about $435,000 in savings, although he said some of that would be offset by the loss of state funding that is specific to small schools.
Of the savings, about $200,000 would come from the reduction of about 3.5 teaching positions, $95,000 in administration savings, $80,000 in facilities and $55,000 from the elimination of penalties the district currently pays because of its high per-pupil spending rate.
While committee members downplayed the cost savings, they highlighted the educational benefits.
The plan would maintain an average of 15 students per classroom and eliminate existing disparities among schools in access to programs such as the arts.
“In my mind, we’re doing this to create equity in the whole campus,” said Greg Jenne, one of the Bridgewater representatives on the committee.
Students would get more physical education classes, more foreign language classes and more access to musical instruments, according to Worth.
The observatory, sugar house and walking trails at Pomfret would be available to every student in the district, allowing for richer lessons in the sciences.
The proposal would also merge administrative functions, with Pomfret and Woodstock becoming two campuses of the same school, run by a single principal. All three town boards would enter into a joint contract for elementary education, governed by a single board with constituent members, and budget votes would be dependent on a majority vote from the combined populations of the three towns.
The committee originally focused on a plan to close both Bridgewater and Barnard Academy, but last month, Barnard withdrew from the process.
“Obviously, it’s a very difficult topic for all of our schools,” Steele said, “because it involves change.”
