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Date: 3/30/2022
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) voted to pass the fiscal year 2023 (FY23) budget, but not without changes to the planned expansion of school choice.
Director of Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne told the committee that there were further changes to the proposed number of school choice students invited into the district. In the current year, Green Meadows School has two existing classes each for kindergarten and grade two and added a third “bubble class” had been added to each grade. The FY23 budget had proposed 15 additional school choice students for each of the rising grade levels. The three grade one and three grade three classes would be balanced out to 20 students each and the $150,000 in revenue would pay for a teacher in each of the bubble classrooms.
After further conversations with Green Meadows Principal Sharon Moberg, Osborne said, the decision was made to cut the 15 positions from first grade and split the bubble class students among the other two grade level classes. The school choice positions for grade three at Green Meadows were left in the budget.
When discussing the issue, School Committee member Sherrill Caruana said the district has been working to lower class sizes. Osborne said most classrooms will only have two additional students and they were all kept to a maximum of 20 students.
“This is not about the district’s desire but about the towns not being able to fund the district,” Osborne told the committee. He said if the district cuts teachers and programs to make ends meet, it will make HWRSD less attractive to prospective students and may lead to its own students leaving.
School Committee member Sean Kennedy sought to dispel the notion that adding school choice was about diversity. He noted the largest portion of school choice students last year were from Monson. The district has no choice in the towns from which students come.
“It’s a misconception that school choice negatively impacts school community and culture,” said School Committee member Patrick Kiernan. “It couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Osborne reminded the committee that the district would take on no additional overhead, nor would it pay for transportation for school choice students.
When it came time to vote on accepting the school choice positions on a school-by-school basis, however, the School Committee voted against adding school choice to grade three at Green Meadows.
School Committee Chair Michal Boudreau said Green Meadows is already “packed” and felt the district could support the students in other ways. Vice Chair Maura Ryan said it does a “disservice” to the students to “take away space” that could be used for a related art.
The vote was originally three to three, but when committee member Bill Bontempi arrived, the issue was revoted 4-3 against.
Additional school choice positions were approved at the following grades and schools: Green Meadows grade two will receive up to three seats and grade four will receive up to five seats. Mile Tree Elementary grade one will receive up to five seats, Stony Hill grade two will receive up to 10 seats and Minnechaug Regional High School (MRHS) grade nine will receive up to 20 additional seats. The 43 additional seats will bring in $215,000. Among the things it will fund is an assistant principal at the high school to focus on social-emotional needs.
Budget
Despite the change in school choice numbers, the budget remained steady at $50.98 million because the 30 school choice students eliminated from Green Meadows would have provided just enough money to pay the teachers for the bubble classes.
Before the vote on the final budget, Bontempi told the School Committee that the Wilbraham Finance Committee had decided not to fund $89,000 because it wanted the district to close Thornton W. Burgess School (TWB).
Bontempi said that, without TWB or a change to the regional agreement, the district was facing a space crisis. The Wilbraham schools, except MRHS, were close to capacity. He proposed moving seventh and eighth grade from Wilbraham Middle School to the high school, at which point, the additional school choice would not be a possibility.
Kiernan suggested the transitional program of a dozen 18- to 22-year-olds with various disabilities could move to MRHS. Director of Student Services Gina Roy said it would be better for the students to be in a building outside of the high school to reinforce their transition to adult life.
Bontempi said the move of grades seven and eight was not popular, but the district was “backed into a corner.” Wilbraham Middle School could serve the students at Soule Road School and Stony Hill School, allowing the district to save money by closing at least one of them.
Ryan said it would put Hampden seventh- and eighth-grade students at a disadvantage because Wilbraham students would be used to the building and block scheduling before entering ninth grade.
Caruana asked if the Finance Committee’s decision could be overridden at the Annual Town Meeting in May. It would be possible to force a vote on the floor.
Kiernan said the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative (LPVEC) had been interested in renting 10 classrooms at TWB for $8,000 per room. Osborne said there was a preliminary conversation earlier this year and LPVEC had been given a tour of the building. With the committee’s permission, he said he would actively pursue a deal.
When the vote on the budget was taken, the committee passed the operating budget; $150,000 to the capital stabilization fund; $300,000 for network switches at MRHS; $50,000 for a reserve contingency fund; $50,000 for other post-employment benefits and $50,000 to the MRHS stabilization fund.