2 DISTRICTS, 8 TOWNS
SUSTAINABILITY STUDY

WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK!

The 2D8T Steering Committee invites you to attend one of six upcoming community meetings to learn more about five options that are under consideration for sustainability of the districts.

Over the past several months, our project’s consulting team, BERK12, has completed in-depth financial and educational modeling of each option. We now want to share the results of this work with the communities that make up our districts (Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, Plainfield, and Shelburne) and get your feedback! 

MEETING DATES:

Tuesday, 2/25, Buckland-Shelburne Elementary, 6:30-8 pm, in person with Zoom option

Thursday, 3/6, Virtual Meeting, 6:30-8:00 pm, Zoom link

Tuesday, 3/11, Sanderson Academy, 5:30-7:00 pm, in person with Zoom option

Wednesday, 3/19, Hawlemont Regional School, 6:30-8 pm, in person with Zoom option

Thursday, 3/20, Mohawk Trail Regional School, 6:30-8 pm, in person with Zoom option

Wednesday, 3/26, Colrain Central School, 6:30-8 pm, in person with Zoom option

Monday, 3/31, Plainfield Town Hall, 5:00-6:30pm, in person with Zoom option

REGISTER HERE to attend a meeting

LINK TO STAKEHOLDER SURVEY, HERE. For those who attend the community meetings, please fill out this survey after the meeting to offer your feedback. If you do not plan to attend one of the meetings, please review the slides first prior to completing the survey.

The Community Sessions Slide Deck can be found HERE.

A recording of the Buckland-Shelburne community session can be found HERE.

A recording of the All Virtual community session on March 6 can be found HERE. (recording starts about 10 minutes into session)

A recording of the Hawlemont Regional School community session on March 19 can be found HERE.

A recording of the Mohawk Trail Regional School community session on March 20 can be found HERE.

Additionally, meetings with Town Select Boards and Finance Subcommittees are being planned. These meetings will also provide an overview of the options and are open to the public. Additional information will be added as dates/times/locations are confirmed.

Slide decks for each town meeting can be found on the RESOURCES tab, under PRESENTATIONS.

March 3, 6:30 pm, Charlemont/Hawley (at Hawlemont Regional School)

March 10, 6:00 pm, Shelburne (remote only) - Zoom Link

March 17, 7:00 pm, Ashfield/Plainfield (at Ashfield Town Hall with Zoom option) - the first hour of the meeting is dedicated to a presentation and discussion of the Sustainability Study - Zoom Link

March 18, 5:00 pm, Heath/Colrain (at Jacob’s Road Municipal Center)

March 25, 5:30 pm, Buckland (at Buckland Town Hall)

OUR CHARGE.

To support ongoing study and analysis of the operating and organizational structures of the two Regional School Districts: Mohawk Trail & Hawlemont

OUR GOALS.

Our goals for the study are:

• To ensure that the communities that comprise our Districts are fully informed about the issues we face; 

• To gather input from our constituents; and 

• To create potential operating models that offer a more sustainable future for our schools and our member towns. These models will then be presented for community consideration and discussion.

OUR APPROACH.

We will partner with BERK12, a group with extensive experience in collaboratively developing short- and long-term solutions for rural schools and communities with the aim of ensuring the highest quality educational experiences for our children. With their expertise and assistance, this study will involve:

• Collecting (and/or updating) and analyzing data on current conditions within the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Regional School Districts in the critical areas of enrollment, fiscal conditions, educational programming, and building infrastructure, and project future conditions in each area.

• Developing, studying and evaluating potential future operating alternatives – including maintaining the current operating structure (i.e., two districts educating students in four separate buildings) – and assess the advantages and disadvantages of each.

• Proposing a long-term plan for providing a high-quality education for the Districts’ students in a way that is financially sustainable for the Districts’ taxpayers.

  Throughout, we will set as a priority a communications/engagement plan that ensures a consistent stream of information and encourages broad public involvement.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Our region, like many rural areas across the northeast, faces educational and fiscal challenges associated with:

• declining enrollment,

• rising operational costs,

• relatively flat state aid, and

• increasing needs of our student body.

We must continue to explore options and opportunities - in light of these challenges - to ensure our students receive a high quality set of educational experiences (academics, co-curricular, services and supports) they need to ensure success in college, career and life.

OUR VISION.

To be a region known for great schools that deliver high quality experiences for all our students in a rural setting where connected and caring residents have created a great place to live, educate and raise kids.

OUR PLAN.

We are partnering with BERK12 (Berkshire Educational Resources K12) to support this study over the next 16 months. The study will be broken into three stages with the following broad aims:

Stage 1. Organize work plan & Steering Committee, establish context of existing conditions, initial community engagement (Jan - May 2024)

Stage 2. Dive deeply into data and analysis across several functional domains (finance, educational quality, enrollment, buildings), generate a range of possible options and opportunities (May - Aug 2024)

Stage 3. Develop preferred (high potential) options that will be modeled and evaluated, additional community input and feedback, refine options and plan for next steps (Aug - Feb 2025)

Final report and plan for next steps (Feb - Jun 2025)

A draft BERK12 work plan can be found HERE.

OUR FUNDERS AND PARTNERS