By Katy Savage
WOODSTOCK—The school board voted to make significant changes to the elementary schools on Monday, Nov. 19.
The board voted to temporarily integrate Prosper Valley School with Woodstock Elementary starting next fall and it voted to move half of Reading students to Woodstock next year.
Reading will serve grades K-3, while grades 4-6 will go to the Woodstock Elementary School campus in the fall of 2019.
While the integration of Prosper Valley with Woodstock was unanimous, the Reading move came down to a 12-1 vote. Reading school board member Adam Ameele was the only person who voted against it.
“The rationale isn’t there, the cost savings aren’t there,” Ameele said.
The audience of several Reading parents and community members applauded Ameele for his vote.
Ameele, who sat with his head down for most of the meeting, declined to comment, explaining that he was too distraught.
Some said that losing half of the students at Reading felt like a precursor to closing the school. Several audience members from Reading said the move seemed hastened. They said the move was irreversible.
“Why make these kinds of changes early ?” asked Reading resident Marie Anderson.
Reading Elementary currently has 55 students. Next year, it will have an estimated 25 students in grades K-3.
Superintendent Mary Beth Banios said about six teacher positions, as well as one principal position, one support staff and a part time nursing position will be cut.
Windsor Central Supervisory Union is one of the most expensive districts in the state.
Woodstock spends about $13,889 per student a year while the Prosper Valley School spends $19,923—a 29 percent difference, School Board member Matt Stover of Woodstock said at the meeting on Monday.
The student to teacher ratio also varies from campus to campus, from eight students in some classes to as many as 26 students.
Board member Jennifer Iannantuoni , who sits on the finance committee, said the combination of elementary grades with Reading and Woodstock would make learning opportunities more equitable.
Board members said they did not intend to close Reading.
“There’ a lot of education value to it, there’s mental value, there’s social value,” said Bainos, who explained there’s opportunity to create a sustainable model at Reading.
The board also emphasized that the integration of Prosper Valley and Woodstock students was only temporary as Prosper Valley continues to struggle with how to combat a $500,000 mold issue at which discovered early this year.
Iannantuoni said it would likely take two years before Prosper Valley is ready to reopen. In the meantime, a short-term committee will be set up with board members, community members, parents and staff to look at solutions for the campus.
“There’re a lot of potential for it,” she said.
Finance Director Richard Seamen said he is speaking with engineers to complete a study of the Prosper Valley School,, which served Bridgewater and Pomfret schools until it closed.
Seamen said it would cost around $10,000 to complete the study.
The integration of schools will save $600,000, but the budget is still expected to increase at least $77,000– mostly due to increases in salaries and the costs of health insurance.
Seth Westbrook, a former Prosper Valley School board member, was anticipating more budget challenges in the future. He urged the board to consider the impact that would have on children.
“Let’s figure out a way to do this that works that isn’t sending kids around from one school to the next to the next, next bouncing them around like a ping-pong ball,” he said.
