As one effort to withdraw from the ConVal School District continues, another could be ending.
At the May 22 meeting of the ConVal Withdrawal Committee, George Willard of the Temple Select Board reported that of the 32 Temple voters who had signed a petition warrant article requesting the district undertake a feasibility study for withdrawal from the ConVal School District, only three attended a recent meeting seeking volunteers for the town’s feasibility committee, which is required by law.
“Of those 32 people, only three showed up, and none of them were willing to volunteer to serve on a committee and create a plan,” Willard said. “So we are taking this back to Town Meeting.”
The town will vote on whether to rescind the warrant article at special Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 27. If Temple rescinds the warrant article requesting a feasibility study, the town will drop its request to explore withdrawing from ConVal.
In 2024, ConVal convened a feasibility study committee to assess the impacts of Dublin and Francestown, or both, withdrawing from the nine-town district. The towns requested feasibility studies after a failed March 2024 ConVal warrant article that would have altered ConVal’s Articles of Agreement, paving the way for the possible closure of elementary schools in Temple, Dublin, Francestown and Bennington
Francestown’s second request to withdraw is going forward, and Greenfield School Board representative Curtis Hamilton of the Withdrawal Committee (previously called the Feasibility Committee) said the board has no plans to close Francestown Elementary School.
“I just want to make that very clear as we start this process again, the board has no plans to close FES, and we are looking at all other options on the table for reconfiguration,” he said.
Charlie Pyle, Select Board member from Francestown, said town residents are squarely behind the effort to withdraw to ensure their elementary school will stay open.
“After the election, I was kindly assaulted by town residents who demanded to know what the town was going restart this process,” Pyle said.
Francestown’s voters also approved a warrant article to explore withdrawing from the SAU, but according to a recent letter from ConVal’s attorney, Dean Eggert, that process cannot take place until after Francestown’s withdrawal process is completed and the town appoints the new, independent Francestown School Board.
Pyle said Francestown’s legal counsel has a different opinion.
“Our lawyer disagrees, but this is not a legal fight we want to have, because we do not want to put that cost in the taxpayers,” Pyle said. “Our legal counsel believes the two withdrawals can happen simultaneously.”
Hamilton said a primary goal of the Withdrawal Committee will be to clearly define the responsibilities of the SAU.
After Pyle requested the committee “leave SAU costs out of their calculations” when determining the financial impact of Francestown’s withdrawal, the board agreed to create financial models around several possibilities, including Francestown’s simultaneous withdrawal from the SAU and the district, withdrawal from the SAU after creation of the new district and the possibility of the Francestown School District staying in SAU 1.
“The problem of is disregarding the SAU situation is you might take on that study and find out that cost ends up being a lot more than you figured it would be, and the results of that might be that you decide not to withdraw from the SAU,” said School Board Chair Mike Hoyt.
The committee approved convening a financial subcommittee to assess the financial implications of Francestown’s departure from the district, including determining the balance of the town’s bond payments since 1999.