WILBRAHAM — The Hampden Selectboard and Wilbraham Select Board met with the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School Committee to iron out proposed changes to the regional agreement. The document, created in 1956 and amended in 1994 and 2015, is the guiding framework under which the district operates.
Superintendent John Provost read the proposed changes. While many of them are relatively minor issues that bring the agreement into alignment with existing practices, there are a handful of substantive changes. Among these was a change in the language that clarified grades 6-12 as regional.
With a regional middle school came the primary discussion of the evening: which party would be responsible for the school’s upkeep. All students in grades 6-8 from both towns, except those in an out-of-district placement, attend Wilbraham Middle School. The school is owned by Wilbraham but leased to the district. As a regional school, the capital costs would be split in accordance with district enrollment, which is about 81% students from Wilbraham and 19% Hampden students.
Hampden Selectboard Chair Donald Davenport, who said he was concerned Hampden residents would vote down the changes, posed the question from the voters’ point of view: “Why would we pay for capital costs for a building we don’t own?”
Wilbraham Select Board member Marc Ducey countered, “You don’t own Minnechaug [Regional High School], either.”
From Hampden residents’ standpoint, Davenport said, it was not their decision to send their children to Wilbraham Middle School. After Thornton W. Burgess Middle School closed, students attended Green Meadows School until there were too few students to support the middle school program of studies. Davenport added that Hampden’s takeover of Thornton W. Burgess saves the district money, but Provost said the towns are saving the money through their assessments.
Ducey said, “For the past seven years, I think Wilbraham’s been really generous” in paying the capital costs for a school where Hampden students have had “a free ride.” Similarly, Wilbraham Select Board member Michael Squindo said that if the towns want a “unified” district, they need to share the costs. Wilbraham Select Board Chair Susan Bunnell said the school’s name should be changed to reflect its regional nature.
Bunnell said, “We have maintained the building.” She cited a new roof and boilers that have been replaced. She said it was “perfectly reasonable” for Hampden to share in the costs with their students attending the school.
School Committee member Michael Tirabassi wondered about the possibility of building a new middle school in the future. Davenport asked what Hampden would “get for its money” if they shared capital costs, only for the school to close. However, Ducey pointed out that if the school were going to be shuttered, Wilbraham would be no more eager to put money into it than Hampden would be.
Davenport said that he agreed but was searching for an argument that would convince voters. He said that among some residents, there was a “strong, vocal opposition” to “anything” the district does. He wanted to bring questions up in open session so people could see the deliberative process.
Wilbraham Town Administrator Nick Breault suggested Davenport make the argument to his constituents that they already pay about 20% of the operating costs for the school. He also noted that Wilbraham residents might equally ask why they are shouldering all the costs of a building for which they are only 80% responsible. Ducey said that both towns would need to approve capital costs, just as they do with Minnechaug.
School Committee member Tim Collins noted the capital costs are often related to the health and safety of students, including the Hampden ones. That point could be “helpful,” Davenport said.
With the capital costs as a sticking point, Provost asked if there was an alternative solution that would be acceptable to both towns. Hampden Town Administrator Brian Domina asked why the district did not buy the building from Wilbraham. Bunnell said it would have been “messy.”
School Committee member Sean Kennedy asked if it would help to phase in the capital cost sharing. Squindo pointed out that it could become problematic if the whole of some costs were on Wilbraham’s shoulders, and it was voted down at Town Meeting.
Ducey noted that the definition of capital costs was those over $5,000 in the regional agreement, but the lease stated it was $25,000.
Provost said $5,000 was the preferred definition of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Ducey suggested tweaking the language to read “at least $5,000.” Regardless, Bunnell said that the leases for all schools would need to be updated to reflect the same capital cost threshold as the Regional Agreement.
For his part, Tirabassi was against including a figure in the Regional Agreement because of the speed with which inflation can dramatically change prices.
“If we can’t find a solution that works for both towns, we’re stuck.”
Kennedy said he had heard from some parents in the district who were concerned that the language that states students in grades 6-12 will attend a school “as designated by the [School] Committee” could be used to move eighth graders into the high school without having to get the approval of the towns.
Tirabassi said that the School Committee is elected to make decisions based on their constituents. “It’s our responsibility to be listening” to what people want, he said. Provost later said that the district could move the eighth grade to Minnechaug at any time, but over the years, the school committees have down a “sensitivity” to the “will of the people.”
Provost said the School Committee will likely vote on the regional agreement at its next meeting and it would be on track to appear on the spring Town Meeting warrants in both towns.
