[O]ne of three elementary schools that serve Underhill and Jericho elementary students won’t reopen next year.
The Mount Mansfield Modified Union school board voted 8-5 on Monday to redistribute Underhill I.D.’s kindergarten through fourth grade students between Jericho Elementary and the Underhill Central School, both of which are about 3 miles away.
The plan is to repurpose the building to house the Chittenden East Supervisory Union’s central offices alongside a pre-kindergarten program. Officials say the leftover space could eventually create new opportunities for children birth to age 3, seniors and recreation programming.
School officials estimate the move could save over $400,000 between personnel cuts and rental fees the district would no longer need to pay. But they also insist the main driver for the decision wasn’t financial.
“We really tried to focus on students. And, are there opportunities for students that would increase educational quality and supports for kids K to 4 by doing some repurposing?” said CESU Superintendent John Alberghini.
Enrollment has declined by nearly 40 percent since 1990 across the three schools, according to a report prepared by the superintendent at the board’s request. Administrators say the buildings are all operating well below capacity, and that sending the fewer than 100 students still attending Underhill I.D. to neighboring schools will ultimately mean expanded guidance, nursing and library services for all kids.
“There’s no cuts to teachers or unified arts. And there will be no cuts to direct services to students – in fact, it will increase services for students,” Alberghini said. He added that a larger cohort of students within one building will make it easier to rebalance classes according to learning needs, gender or class size.
“I think we’re excited about the possibilities in these two new schools,” said board Chair Andrew Pond.
Not all board members agreed with moving forward. Several, including newly appointed board member Angelike Contis, argued the proposal hadn’t yet been fully vetted and that too few people had been aware the board had been considering closing the school.
“Let’s take our time and get in some voices that we haven’t heard yet,” Contis said during Monday’s board meeting.
Mount Mansfield’s communities have been talking, on and off, for about 20 years about consolidating schools. In 2017, the board requested Alberghini conduct a report about the capacity at Underhill Central, Underhill I.D., and Jericho and in May he formally recommended the board close Underhill I.D. next fall. The district held a series of community forums this fall.
Still, some felt like the forums weren’t adequately advertised, and that the board’s decision felt abrupt.
“I know there are some people that have been saying this has been discussed for 20 years, but for me this was brand spanking new,” said Underhill I.D. parent Cara Clopton.
The Mount Mansfield unified district, which serves Bolton, Jericho, Underhill and Richmond, was created in the years just preceding Act 46, the school district consolidation law currently in the final – and most controversial – phase of its implementation. At the time, the MMMUSD was touted as an example of the benefits of consolidation, and Gov. Peter Shumlin signed Act 46 in a public ceremony at the tiny Smilie School in Bolton in June 2015.
Mount Mansfield can serve as an example of what merged districts were intended to achieve – expanded services, at the same (or lower) price point. But Underhill I.D.’s closure also represents what merger skeptics have been warning about all along – consolidated boards closing schools over community objections.
Clopton said she moved to Vermont from Texas for the schools, and her third-grade daughter is “absolutely thriving” where she is.
“I’d hate to see that broken up for $400,000,” Clopton said.
“Small schools matter,” she said. “Small rural communities matter. We know one another. There’s a warmth and nurturing nature that goes with that.”
Correction: Underhill I.D. School is in the town of Jericho. The Underhill Incorporated District includes sections of Jericho and Underhill.
