[A] merger plan that would have closed Black River High School in Ludlow has been shot down.
Ludlow residents overwhelming rejected the proposal to close the high school in town and send students to Mill River Union High School in North Clarendon. Mount Holly voters strongly supported the measure.
Ludlow residents voted 527 to 245 against the merger proposal, Town Clerk Ulla Cook said Tuesday night. In Mount Holly, Susan C. Covalla said Tuesday night that 391 supported the merger plan, with 153 against it.
Each of the two towns that sends students to Black River had to approve the merger plan for it to advance.
A local Act 46 student committee helped push the plan forward for a vote in the towns of Ludlow and Mount Holly. The proposal was created in response to Act 46, the statewide law that has led to the consolidations of dozens of school districts around Vermont.
If the measure had passed in both Mount Holly and Ludlow it would still have needed to clear another step before going into effect. Voters in the Mill River district, which include Shrewsbury, Tinmouth, Clarendon and Wallingford, would also have to vote to endorse the merger plan.
Votes in those towns would have taken place in August, if the proposal had the gained the support Tuesday in both Mount Holly and Ludlow.
School officials at recent forums on the proposal have said they would have to go back to the drawing board if the plan was rejected by voters.
Other options that had been explored by the local Act 46 study committee before moving forward on the Mill River plan included:
- Joining the Quarry Valley district with the towns of West Rutland, Proctor and Poultney.
- Becoming a district that tuitions out secondary students.
- Merging with the Green Mountain Unified District.
The merger proposal voted on Tuesday stirred up strong emotions in Ludlow and Mount Holly.
Supporters of consolidation said closing Black River would have reduced property taxes. They also said students would have had more opportunities at a larger high school, like Mill River.
Opponents feared that closing Black River would result in students losing the close-knit community and individual attention that a smaller school of about 150 students can provide. They also contended that the drive to Clarendon from Ludlow would make for a long commute and, in the winter, a dangerous one on Route 103.
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