Press Report For April 18, 2007

News Times Live The News-Times Region 12 referendum faces new obstacle



Local NEWS

Apr 19 2007 4:15 AM

Region 12 referendum faces new obstacle

Officials want educational plan amended before vote

By Lynda Wellman STAFF WRITER

Bridgewater and Roxbury officials say before any referendum on a consolidated elementary school takes place, the educational plan that formed the three-town Region 12, which also includes Washington, needs to be amended.

The Region 12 Board of Education had called for a June 19 referendum on a consolidated elementary school to be built in Roxbury.

At a news conference Wednesday in Bridgewater, Barbara Henry, the first selectwoman of Roxbury, and Bill Stuart, the first selectman of Bridgewater, released an open letter that said the two towns want to amend the educational plan on file with the state that the region has been operating under for 40 years.

They also said they "will respectfully refuse to notice a referendum on your (the school board's) consolidation of elementary schools proposal" unless -- as state law requires -- the majority of voters in each town approve an amendment that would replace existing town elementary schools with a consolidated elementary school.

School board chairman Irene Allan could not be reached for comment.
Shepaug Valley Middle/High School in Washington is a regional consolidated school for grades six through 12, but younger students attend elementary schools in their hometowns.

Henry said without the amended educational plan, the June 19 referendum "might be an illegal vote." She believes there is a valid argument that can't be ignored for requiring an amended plan.

She said town officials took an oath to obey state and local laws, and in Roxbury "that oath is taken seriously."

At a special meeting Wednesday morning, the Roxbury Board of Selectmen approved the letter. Bridgewater selectmen also approved the letter.

When the district was formed 40 years ago, the regional school study committee report said "the lower elementary grades K through 5 will remain in their respective hometown schools."
The committee's findings were approved by the state and became part of the educational plan ultimately adopted by majority votes in each of the three Region 12 towns in August 1967.
Henry said the vote in Roxbury was 263-39 to approve the region.

Last year a nonbinding vote on consolidation of elementary schools in the region failed, as have two referenda to renovate existing schools.

Henry and Stuart said in their joint letter that retaining elementary schools in each town "was a real, substantive, essential and fundamental element of the committee's report and findings" supporting regionalization in 1967.

Voters, they said, "relied on that fundamental condition in approving the creation" of Region 12.
The first selectmen said the change to having a consolidated elementary school in just one town is "such a material, substantial, profound and fundamental change to the original approved educational plan" that the plan must be amended before any other funds are expended on the concept of consolidation.

They said four attorneys, including the town attorneys of Bridgewater and Roxbury, have said they are on solid ground with their amendment request.

"The June 19 vote can not happen until they fulfill this section" of the law, Stuart said.
He thinks the drafters of the relevant state statute "protected small towns from being bullied into doing what they don't want to do" by requiring majority votes in each town in the district.
Stuart and Henry said state statutes require the school board to submit a proposed amendment to the educational plan to the state board of education, including a question that would go to voters in each town.

After hearings, each town would vote on the amendment, which would have to pass by a majority vote in each to be approved.

"Good conscience, fairness and the law requires no less," the letter said. "Such a profound change screams out for the approval of each and every town member of the school district."

The two first selectmen said they are "protecting the rights of the citizens of the three towns by imploring" the board to follow the law and amend the plan.

That the board has spent tens of thousand of tax dollars on consolidation before following the requirements of state statutes and amending the plan, they said, is a subject for future debate.
Stuart said Dick Sears, the first selectman of Washington, who favors consolidation, had not been given a copy of the letter, which was sent to state officials and all school board members Wednesday.

Bridgewater resident Bud Wright hailed the efforts of the selectmen.
"It's time for the board of education to be held accountable to the taxpayers," Wright said. "We know what's good for us."

Stuart credited Jen Iannucci of Bridgewater with discovering the applicable state statute, which he alleged had been withheld from the towns by the school board and its attorneys.
Iannucci in turn credited correspondence from Erica Barber of Woodbury in Region 14 for shedding light on the statute requiring an amended plan.

Iannucci has spearheaded Save Our Schools, an PAC formed in an effort "to retain small children in schools in their hometowns" in Region 12.