Consolidation talks at Merrimack Valley have resurfaced in light of new state legislation that changes the process for school closures in a cooperative school district.
House Bill 1374, which took effect in October, allows a petition with at least 20 signatures to force a district-wide vote on a school closure. Previously, towns voted individually on whether or not to close their local schools. In a district-wide decision, fewer voters have personal ties to the school, and closure becomes more likely.
As a result, the Merrimack Valley School Board will form a committee on elementary school consolidation to assess, in advance, potential closures within its web of schools and what they might mean for students, their communities and district finances.
“I don’t like the idea of moving forward, however, I also think that this particular new law that has been put into place has the potential to absolutely rip the rug out from under these kids,” Board Member Jessica Wheeler Russell said. “And that would be entirely unfair.”
The committee will include one board member from each of the district’s five towns, administrators, staff, community members and parents. At the center of consolidation discussions are the district’s two smallest elementary schools: Webster and Salisbury.
This year, Webster’s enrollment was 86 students and Salisbury’s was 63 for grades K-5, according to Oct. 1 enrollment numbers provided by the district.
School board members expressed wanting to get ahead of the game when it came to making decisions on school consolidation at their meeting on Nov. 2.
Marcia Murphy, of Salisbury, pointed during public comment to the Kearsarge Regional School District, which has already received a petition to close one of its elementary schools. Murphy said the same thing could happen in Merrimack Valley, forcing residents to vote on a school closure before the district’s annual meeting in the spring.
“I think it’s good that you’ve decided to look at school consolidation now,” Murphy said. “It might be a little late getting into that… So I think the best thing is to move forward as quickly as we can.”
Bill Heinz, of Boscawen, urged board members to take resident input seriously as the committee gets to work.
“Try to bring in as many different viewpoints as you can from the community,” Heinz said. “Let the community come in and let people say what they think.”
Superintendent Catherine Masterson presented potential paths to consolidation at the board meeting, underscoring the presentation was purely informational and that no school is being recommended for closure.
The first option would be to reassign grade levels, consolidating ages under one roof. For example, it could mean making Salisbury K-2 and Webster 3-5 for both towns. It wouldn’t require significant construction. In this scenario, Masterson said, teaching staff would be reassigned to existing vacancies and that no staff would lose their jobs.
The second path would consolidate both schools into one building. This could mean sending Webster students to Salisbury, sending Salisbury students to Webster or sending both schools’ students to Boscawen. Any of those would take a building addition, the superintendent said.
“None of our current buildings have the capacity to accommodate this as configured, so construction is necessary and further study would be needed to determine: Which site? What would the cost be?” Masterson said. “There’s a number of implications that would have to be explored in great depth.”
Consolidation has been a recurring topic of discussion in Merrimack Valley. Last school year, a Boscawen resident initiated a petition to eliminate the mandate for each town to have its own elementary school, outlined in the district’s articles of agreement. This decision would have paved the way for one of the schools to be eliminated.
The district had considered consolidating Salisbury’s and Webster’s schools in 2021, but opted against doing so in the face of opposition from residents of the two towns. The district also studied consolidation in 2011.
The committee will closer look at the district’s articles of agreement as it weighs consolidation options. The document will have to be adjusted regardless to comply with the state law’s new voting procedure.
The board has not yet set a meeting date for the committee and plans to send information out on communication channels like ParentSquare about how residents can get involved.