HAMPEN — During the Sept. 19 Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee meeting, Superintendent John Provost provided an update on the district’s coordination with the Hampden Board of Selectmen to return Thornton W. Burgess School to town ownership.
After the School Committee voted to waive the group’s attorney-client privilege, Provost stated that the district had received a proposed lease modification from the town of Hampden and intended to send a follow-up proposal back to the town.
The follow-up would include an additional request that the school district could utilize the building for students if there was a request by Hampden parents to have their child educated in the town but there was no availability at Green Meadows School, which is currently the only active school of the district located in Hampden, Provost explained.
In accordance with Hampden and Wilbraham’s regional agreement, HWRSD students must have the option to attend school in their hometown up to the high school level, Provost said. The follow-up request would ensure this is still a possibility if Green Meadows School reached capacity.
During discussion, School Committee members voiced support in the follow-up request’s ability to create available options for the district, although multiple stated that the likelihood of the district utilizing Thornton W. Burgess School was low. Member Sean Kennedy noted that there was “no viable interest for the district” in the school while member Richard Rediker agreed, highlighting the significant cost that would be required to restore Thornton W. Burgess School to a school standard.
Alternatively, member Timothy Collins remarked that he was “uncomfortable” with the decision, stating that giving up Thornton W. Burgess School was “changing the [regional] agreement without the permission from the Town Meeting” because it would take away certain students’ opportunity to be educated in Hampden.
In response, Provost estimated that it would require three years of all middle school students attending Green Meadows in order to meet the building’s capacity; a bar which the district has “not been close” to over the previous few years.
He highlighted that the follow-up request allowed an opportunity to fulfill this need if it was met without having the district continue to pay expenses to maintain the mostly unused building and preventing Hampden, which has a use for the building, from utilizing the space.
Moving forward, the next step is to send the follow-up request to Hampden Town Administrator Brian Domina and the Board of Selectmen to review and further discuss the transfer, Provost stated.
According to Domina, the tentative schedule of transferring the building would have the HWRSD moving out of the building in January 2025 and the Hampden Town Hall would officially open in Thornton W. Burgess School on Monday, July 7, 2025, he stated at the Sept. 9 Board of Selectmen meeting.
Bus route delays
Provost also shared an update on bus route delays at the Sept. 19 meeting, explaining that the district was working to address the increase bus route times due to the six unfilled routes. He stated that the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, which controls busing for the district, has hired additional drivers but that none had bid to take on the unfilled six routes in Hampden and Wilbraham.
“Currently we have six routes that are open on a daily basis. They are combined so the routes have been put together which is creating longer runs,” Provost said. “Also, no matter how many you combine if you have zero drivers to begin with, [drivers] have to be coming from somewhere so those routes are being covered by subs from other towns not necessarily familiar with our routes.” Subs include school administrators and mechanics.
“That is creating a vicious cycle. Our pickup lines are longer this year because transportation is so unreliable and this is creating traffic problems which further delays buses thereby motivating more people to drive their students, which just makes the traffic problem worse,” he said.
To address this issue, the district began a new traffic pattern at Stony Hill School on Sept. 25, relocating pickup to the cafeteria instead of the front of school in order to increase the potential number of cars in the queue, Provost said. He emphasized that filling the open six routes was necessary in order to create a more predictable bus route schedule.
Provost noted that the issue was scheduled to be discussed at the next meeting of LPVEC superintendents, as the issue is occurring in other towns as well, and that he was in conversation with the bus company “usually” twice a day. He stated that the delay impacts both morning and afternoon routes, leading students to arrive late to school and at home after the day.
“I would also point out that what you have in all of the member districts is a unique situation because the LPVEC is a corporation that’s owned by the seven member districts. It’s not something that’s bid competitively. Essentially, the seven districts created the company for a number of reasons; one to provide vocational education, another to provide special education and third to provide transportation services,” Provost said, stating that the problem was “we have a corporation that we are a part owner of that is not being responsive to our needs.”
In addition to delayed routes, the district is also experiencing an increase in personnel costs due to the additional time that staff are needed on site to accommodate the late buses, Provost said. He stated that he was going to meet with the LPVEC executive director about this issue “coming up.”
Concerning finding drivers to fill the six routes, Provost highlighted that drivers are more likely to work in the town that they live due to familiarity with the area. Yet, the split schedule of morning and afternoon routes could make the position less ideal for residents, he said.
Residents emphasized the need for action on this issue during public comment with one parent stating that his child’s bus has come up to 60 minutes late after school and that his wife was previously late to work after his child’s bus came 20 minutes early in the morning and every student at the stop missed the bus.
Likewise, another parent asked the committee to reach out to the state or legislative representatives for help in addressing the delays. He described a situation when his wife was “hysterical” after his child’s school and the bus company did not know where the 4-year-old child was located; emphasizing that the situation was “unacceptable.”
In response, Kennedy motioned to instruct Provost to contact the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or the state about the issue. However, because the issue was not listed as a voting item on the agenda, the committee was unable to make a formal vote, School Committee Chair Michal Boudreau said. She encouraged individual committee members and residents to reach out to the towns’ state representatives.
Moving forward, Provost noted that he would continue to provide updates on the issue.
