[T]he raw feelings that accompanied last year’s debate over merging the Elmore and Morristown school districts were chafed again recently, and the superintendent finds herself repeating her assurances that the one-room Elmore School isn’t in danger of closing.
The catalyst for the latest concerns came in the form of headlines some news outlets attached to an Associated Press story examining last year’s debate over merging. Some headlines said the merger, which went into effect July 1, could lead to closure of the school.
Nothing could be farther from the truth, according to Lamoille South Superintendent Tracy Wrend.
“We have a full class of 18 students already signed up for next year,” Wrend said. “We expect to continue to have stable levels of enrollment, and the new unification plan will allow for students of Morristown to attend Elmore School if there is space available. So enrollment should not be a factor into the future for the Elmore School.”
In fact, the merger has made and will continue to make Elmore School more stable, according to Wrend. She said collaboration with Morristown will allow Elmore School to continue to exist and thrive.
Wrend said she saw the AP story and thought, “Oh, boy, that is an unfortunate headline.”
“It mischaracterized the future of the school and intimated that perhaps an imminent closing of Elmore School was a possibility,” she said of the headline some news outlets used. Since the story ran, some online publications have changed the headline.
The decision to merge was difficult in Elmore. It took two votes to get the whole community on board with the idea, partly due to concern over what would become of their one-room schoolhouse, which serves up to 20 students in first through third grades. Opponents of the proposal initiated an online campaign claiming the merger would force the Elmore School to close within four years.
The merger agreement says all schools currently operating will stay open at least four years, unless town voters decide otherwise.
The question of whether to merge caused divisions in the community, and the headlines on the recent news story pricked old wounds, according to Wrend.
“The story itself was really talking about the lingering perceptions of the conversations” that were had leading up to the votes, said Wrend. The story “resurfaced some of the key points people were concerned about as we considered unification.”
On July 1 the new Elmore Morristown Unified Union began operating. The governance transition has been going on for several months as the new school board gears up to assume management and the individual Morristown and Elmore school boards wind down.
The new seven-member board is made up of members from the individual town boards. At least two members are from Elmore, two are from Morristown, and three are from either community. Residents in both communities vote for every seat on the board.
“So regardless of where you live, you will still be representing the entire organization,” said Wrend. She added that Morristown and Elmore are very closely intertwined communities. She predicted that the angst over how the schools would be governed will be short-lived.
“When you meet up with a friend in the grocery store, you don’t always know if they are from Elmore or Morristown. They are just a member of the community, and I think that will begin to return. The trust and respect and sense of community in this region will override town borders again,” she said.
