May 14, 2012

There have been a number of questions raised about the recent vote by the Town of Worthington at its annual town meeting to “formally request that the Gateway Regional School District begin any necessary deliberations for drawing up an amendment to the Regional Agreement setting forth the terms by which Worthington may withdraw from the District”. This vote essentially begins the formal process that could enable the district to allow Worthington to disassociate itself from the Gateway Regional School District.

As was stated at Worthington’s annual town meeting, this is just a first step in many and will not occur overnight. The essentials of the process are that the school committee, once they receive formal notification from Worthington, will initiate a process to determine the impact of this withdrawal on the district, establish the cost to Worthington to withdraw, and direct the district’s attorney to draft up an amendment to the Regional Agreement. Once the school committee finalizes and approves the amendment, it will be sent to our seven towns for inclusion on a special, or annual, town meeting warrant. Each town must pass the warrant article with a simple majority vote but, under the Regional Agreement, all seven towns must approve the amendment in order to move the process forward. When, and if, all seven towns approve the amendment, it would then be reviewed for approval by the Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education who must approve all changes to regional agreements in Massachusetts.

I also believe, based upon conversations with legal counsel, that the district must have previously approved, or approve contemporaneously, an amendment to the District Agreement resolving School Committee representation under M.G.L.71, Section 14E, or the “One Man, One Vote” issue. As many will recall, amendments to resolve this have not been unanimously accepted by our seven towns despite repeated efforts.

Part of this process will be determining how the withdrawal of Worthington will impact the educational costs, and town assessments, for the remaining six towns. I do believe that the process of getting this information together, and then determining what will happen if Worthington were to withdraw, is a worthwhile endeavor for everyone. Worthington needs to determine if it is possible to establish a new, one-town school district and then determine if they’re also willing to pay for it. The other towns, and the district, also need to determine what impact losing Worthington would have on both funding and educational services in order to make a decision on approving a withdrawal amendment or potentially looking at other options. I don’t see the towns working together as a district and strongly moving forward until this process plays out. I also do not know what other options Worthington may consider should they not be allowed out of the district via this method, yet still wish to leave the district despite whatever obstacles and costs they may face. I anticipate that this will be an interesting process to explore and discuss and hope that everyone is able to concentrate on the facts as we move forward rather than focusing on any potential conflicts. 

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