Why on EARTH would we want to remain in this district?
On Wednesday, September 11, 2019 Lawrence Pruyne <WarwickList@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Dear Warwickians;I hate to see the worst in people, but yes, it's here.
This move to vote (yet again) to close our school is politics at its worst. The
deficit borrowing this year allows the district to continue to function. The
borrowing was made necessary because the School Committee and School
administration failed to aptly steer the fiscal ship. Now those same
individuals (it's the greenhorn superintendent, business manager, and just two
members of the School Committee) are moving to close us down.
The retarded fox is guarding the hen house.
Do we control our own future? Do we allow them to damage the vitality of our
community? I hope not. They close our school and that's what happens, our town
is damaged.
On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 3:00 PM Tom Wyatt <tomwyattphoto@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yesterday David Young posted the Thursday Pioneer Valley School Committee (SC)
agenda, which includes an effort by some SC members to reconsider previous
votes to close Warwick Community School (WCS) at the end of this school year.
He urged people to attend the meeting. WCS survived 2 closure votes this past
spring but now it is back. Meantime, the Warwick Selectboard appointed the
Warwick Education Committee to research options for keeping WCS open. The
committee has developed an approach that will keep WCS open & still in the
district. This involves converting the school into a Horace Mann II public
chartered school. Warwick Selectboard Chair, Doc Pruyne described this approach
in an opinion article that was just published in the Recorder. The text is
below.
I urge all Warwick residents to come (and bring others) to the PVRS Library
tomorrow at 7pm to tell the School Committee why WCS should remain open. There
is a time at the beginning of the meeting for citizen comments, where you can
speak. Or just show up. They need to get the message that Warwick isn't willing
to let something as important as our youngest children's education be
compromised. There are so many benefits to the town to keeping the school open.
And let's not waste the hundreds of hours that the committee has put into
developing a model that will benefit the town and the district. Thank you,Tom
Wyatt, Vice-Chair Warwick Education Committee
Retool your thinking on charter schools. A completely different animal — a
public charter school — is coming to Warwick.
Earlier this year the Pioneer Valley Regional School District closed a budget
gap with money borrowed from the Commonwealth. Leyden’s elementary school was
closed as a cost-cutting measure. Warwick’s school needs to slash costs or may
close too. The solution? A new school structure: a Horace Mann conversion
public charter school.
Warwick is buzzing. Parents, residents, teachers, consultant Susan Hollins, the
Selectboard and Superintendent Jon Scagel, are together designing a new type of
charter school that will remain part of the Pioneer Valley School District. Our
school will stay small, within the district, but go through a redesign and
conversion. Converting a public school to a public charter school has never
been done in the Bay State, so we’re excited to break new ground.
Most charter schools steal students from public schools. A Horace Mann
conversion public charter school remains part of the public school system. No
public funds are siphoned out of the district. It will attract Chapter 70
monies, draw students through School Choice (with the approval of the
superintendent) and its students take the MCAS tests.
The differences: flexibility, innovation and cost.
The commonwealth offers $500,000 for start-up expenses. The grant will cover
technology upgrades, custom-designed learning modules, and cultivation of an
environmental learning lab. Every town has unique teaching opportunities. Our
school’s place-based learning will take advantage of Warwick’s small town
culture, state and town forests, and its broadband system, which is now nine
years old. Warwick Broadband will enable our children to learn in a global
classroom led by teachers in Alaska, or shared with children in India.
The Warwick Education Committee introduced its public charter school conversion
plan to the School Committee on Aug. 8. A converted public charter school has
more autonomy than a typical public school. A Board of Trustees interfaces with
the town and the district. The financial relationship with the district will be
governed by a Memorandum of Understanding. That document requires a majority
‘yes’ vote of the School Committee before the application proceeds to the state
Department of Education.
The upside for the district is per pupil costs in Warwick will drop. A lot. The
goal is to match the district-wide norm. Fiscal sustainability is a challenge,
but the numbers show it is an achievable goal.
This conversion of a public school to a public charter school is a chance to
design an innovative school that other small towns may replicate. Many rural
educators, present and future, may be forced to evolve their school into a
place-based and blended learning model such as this, or something similar, if
they are to keep a school alive in their community. We hope Warwick will offer
some valuable lessons learned.
Warwick’s children have been educated in our community for over 250 years. The
Selectboard is firmly committed to seeing that tradition continue, and welcomes
the chance to develop a model that others may emulate.
Doc Pruyne chairs the Warwick Selectboard.
