To the editor:
“Reckless” is a loaded word. Its use by the authors of the recent letter to the editor to describe the detailed and methodical work of the Eight Town Regional School District Planning Board over the last three and a half years is strikingly misplaced.
Since its formation in March 2020, our Eight Town Planning Board has held over 180 open meetings (full board and subcommittees). As chair of the board, I have attended every one of them. Thousands of hours have been devoted to studying every aspect of the proposed merger by independent educational consultants, legal counsel, representatives of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and the 24 community leaders who have volunteered their time to this critically important work. Detailed financial models and projections have been run and debated. All views expressed have been considered and all questions addressed.
The draft regional agreement approved by an overwhelming majority of our board on July 18 has similarly resulted from sustained and methodical review over the last 10 months. The letter’s contention that the content of the only two substantive changes made to the prior draft of the regional agreement (distributed June 28) received only minutes of review just before the end of the meeting is incorrect. The first of those changes—a change to the vote necessary to approve district debt from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority of the school committee—was discussed early in the meeting. As explained during the meeting, that change was necessary because a provision of law required it. No board member had any objection or even comment on that revision.
The second substantive change—moving back the date the new district would become operational from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 2026—had been raised three weeks earlier at our June 29 meeting, and it was the subject of extensive additional discussion on July 18. The vote on that change—together with a related six-month adjustment to the “debt approval contingency” date—was again close to unanimous.
Finally, there could be no surprise that the vote to approve the regional agreement for a merged district (subject to further review by DESE and legal counsel) included a vote to recommend the merger. At its prior meeting on June 29, the Board voted to approve the recommendation of its educational quality subcommittee to merge the two districts based on the enhanced educational opportunities the proposed merger would offer students and teachers. In its June Update (distributed to all Board members, the press, and prominently posted on the Eight Town Regional District Planning Board website), the Board announced a targeted late June/early July date for a vote on the proposed merger, including the proposed regional agreement. And the agenda for our July 18 board meeting specifically included “vote on regional agreement.” A vote to recommend an Eight Town regional agreement necessarily includes a vote to recommend the merged district that the agreement creates.
Are there challenges associated with the recommended merger? Of course. But a strong majority of our Board agrees with the conclusion of our research team that the risks associated with not merging are even higher in the face of staggering enrollment declines, increasing operating costs, and the limited ability of our eight towns to shoulder the increasing tax burden that lies ahead if we are to provide our students with the education they need and deserve.
Our Eight Town Planning Board can only make a recommendation. The voters of the eight towns will decide whether to merge the two districts at special meetings to be held in the fall. Let’s debate this merger on the merits with accurate facts. That’s the debate our children and community deserve.
Lucy Prashker, Chair of the Eight Town Board
Alford
