HAMPDEN –  At the annual town meeting on May 8, Hampden residents voiced their concern regarding the non-biding school agreement to either merge middle schools between Wilbraham and Hampden or to keep the schools separate.

 With only one middle school in Hampden, Thornton W. Burgess Middle School (TWB), the Hampden Board of Selectmen are left with the decision to choose between combining TWB with Wilbraham Middle School, or to leave them apart.

Chair of Hampden’s Board of Selectmen John Flynn said a decision can’t be made until July due to funding, but there is a group looking into it. Though most Hampden citizens at the town meeting were vocal about not wanting to combine the middle schools, Flynn claims that the selectmen have to take other factors into consideration.

“The town can’t tell the selectmen what to do.  There are so many opinions about it concerning family and home values.  We want to make sure whatever decision we make it’s for the benefit of the vast majority,” Flynn said.  

In recent years enrollment has been down for TWB, which sparked the idea of merging the town’s middle schools.  Flynn argues that Hamden’s low middle school enrollment is not unusual.

“What Hampden is going through is not atypical, Cheshire and Adams are a two-town district, and they’re consolidating,” Flynn added, “It’s challenging with one town being three times smaller than the other.”

The Board of Selectmen is planning to continue to review information that they receive in the upcoming months so a consensus can be made.