In an open letter to the Dublin community, ConVal School Board Vice Chair Alan Edelkind stated that he had originally advocated for the ConVal reconfiguration vote to be held after a year of study with involvement from the district’s communities, but was overruled by the rest of the School Board. 

Edelkind met with the Dublin Select Board Monday and submitted the letter to them. In it, he addressed what he referred to an unfair perception from certain residents that he is not representing Dublin’s best interest through his work on the board, particularly regarding the failed March vote to consolidate the school district through the potential closure of elementary schools in Dublin, Temple, Bennington and Francestown, a process that he led as chair of the board’s Strategic Organization Committee.

His letter states that he advocated for a year-long “intense, community-involved analysis,” in order to better answer questions and address concerns from residents before asking for their vote, but that “the board decided otherwise.” Instead, had the article passed, the School Board and administration would have studied the issue for a year before deciding what schools to close. 

“Putting this article in front of the public now [...], prior to doing the needed analysis, ‘would be putting the cart before the horse,’” the letter states. “But the majority rules. If we had waited until the year of community-involved analysis was completed, I am convinced the vote results would have been different.”

Edelkind also emphasized his loyalty to the town of Dublin and its interests, “which are not mutually exclusive of [...] what is best for the school district.”

Edelkind told the Select Board that he felt they had not been supportive of the reconfiguration effort, and wanted to clarify his position that the vote shouldn’t have happened until after a year’s worth of study with involvement from the community.

“I think it’s fair to say that the [reconfiguration] process didn’t appear to be transparent,” said Select Board member Carole Monroe, noting that many Dublin residents who participated in the survey from consulting firm Prismatic, which the school board hired to determine the best method of consolidation, felt that the questions were leading toward a specific outcome – namely, the closure of elementary schools in the four towns. 

“A lack of trust has developed as a result of the study,” she said.

Edelkind expressed his opinion that the study was transparent, noting the several public forums that were held with residents prior to the vote. The Select Board pushed back, highlighting the difference in perception between the town’s residents and the School Board when it came to the transparency of the survey – adding that many residents felt that their voices weren’t heard at the public forums. 

Edelkind also noted that the School Board didn’t want to commit resources to the potential consolidation until after the vote, and reiterated his opinion that the vote occurred too early. He said he hoped that his letter might help clear the air going forward. 

Select Board member Chris Raymond told Edelkind that he felt the letter was “opening the door for more criticism,” and suggested that Edelkind instead spend time listening to residents’ opinions instead of sharing his own. Raymond added that he had tried to express his thoughts to Edelkind numerous times leading up to the Article 10 vote, but felt that his words had fallen on deaf ears, a view that many residents shared. 

Edelkind and the Select Board  also briefly discussed the ongoing feasibility study into the potential withdrawal of Dublin from the ConVaL School District. Monroe told Edelkind that the town felt that the feasibility study, which it pursued and approved at Town Meeting in response to the proposed consolidation plan, was the only way for them to exert some control over the direction of education in their town. Monroe, a member of the committee conducting the feasibility study for Dublin and Francestown, said under the current Articles of Agreement, a small town like Dublin held very little weight. 

Raymond told Edelkind that the board should see the feasibility study vote as a vote of no confidence in the School Board, and suggested he try to better represent the voters of Dublin. 

Edelkind said that he was supportive of and open to the feasibility study.