Hampden voters support exploration of HWRSD split

May 11, 2017 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com



HAMPDEN  – The majority of Hampden voters attending the Town Meeting on May 8 affirmed their desire to keep the Thornton Burgess Middle and the Green Meadows schools open and to explore how to remove the town from the regional school district for its middle school.

The votes were non-binding.

Voters also approved the creation of a call Fire Department with the hiring of three firefighters who would provide the town coverage during the workweek when Fire Chief Michael Gorski said the town is the most vulnerable.

The schools were clearly the focus of the standing room only meeting as seen when after those votes about half of the citizens filed out.

The first vote was on urging the Board of Selectmen to heed the will of the people who voted last October on the issue. The article read, “To see if the Town will vote to direct the Selectmen to use all available means, including but not limited to legal action, to ensure (a) the implementation of and adherence to the vote of the October 2016 Town Meeting against the closing of Thornton W. Burgess and the merging of Hampden and Wilbraham middle school, (b) that Thornton W Burgess and Green Meadows Schools remain open and provide comparable education between Hampden and Wilbraham students and (c) that the Region adhere to all sections of the Regional Agreement under which the District was formed or take any other action relative thereto.”

Maryellen Glover spoke in favor of the article and asserted a merger of the middle schools would not be in the Hampden student’s best interest.

School Superintendent Albert Ganem Jr. spoke to the voters about how the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which has been considering options such as helping to fund a renovation of the Burgess school or the construction of a new middle school to serve both towns is very interested in seeing Hampden and Wilbraham work together, the same message he delivered last October when the issue arose.

Lisa Morace, one of the two Hampden members on the seven-members regional School Committee, said voters turned down a very specific plan last fall and opposition groups have created misconceptions. With the decline in enrollment at Burgess and a possible closing of the school, the School Committee is considering a K-eight school at Green Meadows, she said.

Hampden might have to use module classrooms during a time of renovation at Green Meadows, if that option is taken and Glover declared that students attending classes in module classrooms have been shown to do worse academically. When asked what was her source for the information, she said she had researched it on the Internet, but she couldn’t recall her sources.

 The second question on the schools was “To see if the Town will vote to direct the Selectmen to investigate the procedure and ramifications for the town to withdraw from K-8 portion of the Agreement Between The Towns of Wilbraham and Hampden With Respect to the Formation of a Regional School District As Amended, and to develop a plan and time line for such withdrawal for presentation to Hampden residents at the Fall 2017 Town Meeting or take any other actions relative thereto.”

This vote was too close to call without counting and the vote was 184 to 124 in favor of the article.

Douglas Boyd, a member of the Advisory Committee, asked voters to consider the article would antagonize the town’s educational partners. He noted there have been a regional high school since 1956 and a regional approach to the middle schools since 1993.

“We should be working with them,” he said.

A Burgess School teacher asked voters to understand their children are benefitting from the regional district as it funds programs vital to their education.

“I implore you not to cut off our hands,” she asked and added, “Look beyond your initial irritation with others.”

Randy Bianchi who spoke in favor of the article said looking into the possibility of having an independent middle school was “the intelligent thing to do.”

In the discussion about the three call firefighters, Gorski gave a brief presentation about lack of staffing during workdays. He said response times for the department now are between 12 and 14 minutes with longer response times during the week. With call fire fighters the town can guarantee better coverage, although he called the proposed staff of the three call firefighters as a “skeleton crew.”

Joseph M. Hickson Jr., whose home was destroyed by a fire last December, praised the efforts of the Hampden Department and said if it had been properly staffed his home might have been saved. He challenged the logic of not expanding the department and the added safety it could bring to prevent a death.

“Are we going to let this happen?” he asked his fellow residents.

There was relatively little discussion on budget issues and the Hampden Lions Club used the occasion of the Town Meeting to honor Rick Green, former selectman, with its “Citizen of the Year” award.

Share this: