MVU Re-vote No. 3

HARDWICK – In my last post I talked about the elephant in the room. I’m dismayed to say that the elephant is alive and well.

I attended the MVU School Board meeting, April 16, at Lake View School.

The question about consolidation for this year has finally been answered. Due to the articles of agreement signed when we formed the MVU, closing any one of the schools requires public hearings and a vote in each town. Now that we are down to crunch time if you will, there is not enough time to consider consolidation for the ‘26-’27 school year following the Articles of Agreement.

Clarity was brought forward at the meeting on April 16 by Superintendent Dr. David Baker in regards to how many schools were to be operational for the ‘26-’27 school year. The board decided at the beginning of budget process to operate all three campuses. The decision was not unanimous.

I have also heard that there was discussion of money to be saved by consolidating the Woodbury school with Hardwick. However, the board decided to keep all three campuses operating for the ‘26-’27 school year.

The other important piece of information that Dr. Baker presented to the group at the meeting was that if the board were to consider consolidation for the ‘27-’28 school year those discussions and consolidation would need to start soon, and need to be completed by October 1. The school district starts their budgeting process in October to meet the deadlines of getting budgets ready for town meeting day. Therefore if we are going to consolidate Woodbury with Hardwick the issue needs immediate attention. In my opinion, the board is not there yet in agreeing to start those talks and presenting the voters with an opportunity to vote by October 1.

 “The People for Common Cents”, the voters-taxpayers, have voted down the ‘26-’27 budget twice.  We have overwhelmingly said to the board we don’t want to spend tax payer money on repairs to a building we don’t own (Woodbury school building) and that we want the K-6 program under one roof at HES.

At the April 16 MVU meeting the board did, after an executive session,  move a new budget removing $113,000 from the original budget, of which $15,000 was cut from the account for PCB testing, the remainder they said would come from retirement of staff. They wouldn’t share with us where the cuts were coming from, another example of the board’s lack of transparency. Voters will decide if the cut of $113,000 is enough.

I suggest that the board comes to the May 14 informational meeting fully prepared to give us a complete and accurate update on the repairs needed at the Woodbury School. At the April 16 meeting, the board briefly discussed the bid to hire a structural engineer to assess the issues with the fire escape mandated by the fire marshal. Maybe, and this is only a maybe, the engineer’s results will show an acceptable, inexpensive short term repair to the fire escape that will insure safety of our students and a repair that would be approved by the fire marshal for the remainder of the current year and the ‘26-’27 school year.

I asked Dr Baker what would happen if the fire marshal closed the school. He said we would bring the students to Hardwick. What happens if we pass the budget as it stands now, and the engineering study comes back after the budget passes, with demands for a new fire escape? The projected cost using the board’s numbers is around $395,000. The projected elevator issue is another $133,600. However, there is a band-aid approach underway to get another year out of the elevator.

I believe the current board will go ahead with the expenditure if their hand is forced by the structural engineer and fire marshal. They will use the $290,000 in the capital fund and probably find the rest of the money in the ‘26-’27 school budget. They showed us the way they do things at the meeting on April 16. They voted to take $38,800 out of the current year’s ‘25-’26 budget, under the salary line item, and move it to the maintenance line to fix the steps at Lakeview School.  It is  important for all of us to remember that we are giving our school board and administration a budget of over nine million dollars; they tell us how they think they are going to spend the money, but they really can do whatever they deem necessary. We need to know what the board will do given the possible scenarios for the fire escape before we vote on the budget.

I believe the board at the May 14  meeting needs to commit to instructing the administration to start working on consolidation of Woodbury and HES  for the 27/28 school year. They need to guarantee the voters will have the opportunity to vote on consolidation by October 1.

We  don’t need to have a study committee for a year or two.  We have enough information about the condition of all our school buildings.

We have a capable staff in our central office to map out a plan of the efficiencies that could be accomplished by consolidation. We  have enough administration to make educating 260 to 270 students pre-K through 6 work without hiring an outside  financial consultant.

The first step is bringing all the students K-6 to HES for the ‘27-’28 school year. After listening to educational concerns the past month and half, there is an argument to be made to keep Lakeview School Pre-K open for the ‘27-’28 school year. Evaluating the space available for the pre-K program at HES after a year with a consolidated K-6 might be the best plan. I believe the Pre-K program  has a different student to teacher/support staff ratio than K-6. If we project ahead to the ‘27-’28 school year using the latest published numbers, it looks as though we will be at a total of around 210 to 215 students K-6. That would make approximately 30 students per grade level with 15 students per class.  Plus the specialists we have, or may need. There is more than enough room for them at HES. Once K-6 is in place, the board and administration could work toward a plan of the Pre-K program moving to HES as well.  

In conclusion, no big expenditure on the building in Woodbury for ‘26-’27 school year and a commitment from the board to initiate a vote on consolidation for ‘27-’28 will get my vote on May 20.  Short of that, I suggest “The People for Common Cents”  vote “no” again. There still would be time for one more vote before June 30, if more time is needed  to hammer out  agreements and a budget that is reflective of what voters/taxpayers want and can afford. I support public education, however there needs to be educational and financial common sense in the budgets being presented.

Harold McCoy