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Date: 7/19/2023
WILBRAHAM — Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Superintendent John Provost met with 12 people at Rice Fruit Farm in Wilbraham on July 17 in the first of six one-hour community conversations regarding the reconfigurations of the district’s school buildings. Among the people who came out were parents, community members and representatives from the Class of 1973. Provost said he received comments about the historical configurations for the district.
Overcrowding in some schools, underutilization of others and equity between schools in both towns are some of the issues that have made reconfiguration a priority in the Strategic Plan.
Shortly after the district created its Strategic Plan in late 2022, a Planning Committee was formed to address the plan’s goal of reconfiguring the usage of buildings in the district. Provost said that more than 100 possibilities were considered at the beginning of the planning process, including some schools that would only have housed a single grade. Once some of the illogical plans were eliminated and a more manageable number found, the Planning Committee began hosting meetings with stakeholders including staff, parent-teacher organizations, school councils and elected officials from both towns. The four remaining configurations received the most positive reception from stakeholders.
Provost said the options would provide “wider or narrower grade bands,” rather than neighborhood schools, which he said are not feasible in the district. Options 2, 3 and 4 would enlarge grade bands.
All four options would make Mile Tree Elementary School a K-1 school and move the preschool program to Green Meadows. The school would run through grade 5. None of the configurations would include middle school grades at Green Meadows School. Minnechaug Regional High School would absorb grade 8 in all options. Option one would close Thornton W. Burgess School while housing grades 6 and 7 at Wilbraham Middle School. Grades 2 and 3 would run at Stony Hill School, while Soule Road School would house grades 4 and 5. Option two would be the same, except Stony Hill and Soule Road schools would house grades 2-5, eliminating a transition between schools as students age, which Provost said is preferable.
Option 3 would close Wilbraham Middle School and move grades 6 and 7 to Thornton W. Burgess School. Like option 2, grades 2-5 would be housed at Stony Hill and Soule Road schools and Green Meadows School. The final option would make both Wilbraham Middle and Soule Road schools into grades 1-5, while closing Stony Hill School.
A now-settled lawsuit between Hampden and the school district ended with an understanding that students at all grade levels would have the option to be educated in their town. While Provost said no one had mentioned the lawsuit in the stakeholder meetings, he acknowledged that some of the reconfiguration options would make schooling in Hampden impossible.
In the current configuration, there will be just six students in grades 5 and 8 in Hampden and no seventh-grade students. Provost said the main reason that numbers in Green Meadows middle school grades had dwindled was that families had taken the opportunity to transfer their students to Wilbraham Middle School.
Provost noted that one goal was to “make sure we are using our resources wisely. We are assessing the costs, including the lost cost of closing schools with recent repairs.” Wilbraham Middle School underwent a major roof project within the past five years, while during that same period, Soule Road School had its doors and windows repaired.
For a new configuration to take effect, the regional agreement would have to be changed. This would mean four distinct parties — both towns, the School Committee, and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education — would need to agree on a single configuration. The planning committee has met with DESE’s Christine Lynch and provided a checklist of requirements for regional agreements and noted that some of the requirements may have changed since the last regional agreement was created. Some of these requirements include grade configurations, rules regarding the apportionment of budgetary costs, and how officers are appointed.
Without all parties in agreement, the existing regional agreement would remain in place.
Provost emphasized that no decision on a configuration has yet been made.
In addition to the community conversations, a survey was sent out to staff and families at the beginning of July and more than 200 responses have been received. When the 2023-24 school year begins in the fall, middle school and high school students will take the survey, too.
The remaining meetings are scheduled for July 20, 1:30 p.m. at Mountain View Restaurant, July 25, 6 p.m. via Zoom, Aug. 7 at 10 a.m. at the Hampden Library, Aug. 8 at 9 a.m. at Rice Fruit Farm and on Zoom Aug. 15 at 6 p.m.