Officials see no need to revise regional agreement
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Elected town and school officials say they don't think that even after 50 years the regional school agreement, which binds Ashburnham and Westminster together as a school district, needs to be substantially revised.

The decision was made 50 years ago to divide the committee equally and the funding of the cost of the district proportional on student enrollment.

School Committee Chairman David Christianson said he is glad to represent the voters in both communities. He said having grown up in the area, he knows a number of the residents and receives a lot of calls from people in each town.

"I think it eliminates a lot of the potential issues between the towns," he said.

Ashburnham Selectman Jonathan Dennehy agreed.

"A 50-year-old document that is still largely unchanged is a testament to those that created it," he said.

There are other districts where the relationship is significantly tenser politically, socially and financially, he said.

"In 10 years only, I only remember one or two times of any real friction. The two towns have worked well together," he said.

One of the more recent controversies was after failed overrides in Ashburnham and passed overrides in Westminster lead to a joint town meeting in the fall of 2003, there were discussions about opening up the agreement. But those calls have stopped in recent years.

"I think both towns got frustrated enough that the mantra became, 'Let's change the regional agreement,'" Christianson said. "I think a lot of that was born of frustration."

Christianson said there are probably language issues that need to be cleaned up, dates that should be reviewed, and other minor changes, but he said there is no reason to open the Pandora's Box that could be associated with opening the agreement.

One of the major issues that may arise may not come from the residents or the officials in either town, but instead from questions raised by the state. Officials at the Massachusetts School Building Authority want to make sure there is reason, beyond the regional agreement says, that there isn't a reason that the students from each town only attend elementary school in their town. This doesn't make much sense.

"I think they are asking a common-sense financial question," Christianson said. "You need to be prepared to answer the question of why you can't transport children from one school."

Christianson said geography, space and programming will have to be considered and taken into account for the answer.

"I guess that would be a reason to reopen the regional agreement," he said. "I suspect it will be a non-issue, though."

Each town is responsible for the physical structure and land of the respective elementary schools, although the operating budget and school administration are part of the regional system. Before 1984, the district had a district school committee overseeing the middle and high school and operating budgets and a school committee in each Ashburnham and Westminster, who oversaw the budgets and the schools at the elementary level.

Ashburnham Selectman Christopher Gagnon said in theory he has no problem with sharing the elementary schools. He would like to see a plan before fully committing, because he would be concerned about busing elementary school students long distances with the sharing of the elementary schools, but said some students would have shorter rides by crossing town lines.

"Briggs is located in the southern part of town, closer to parts of Westminster," he said.

Westminster Selectmen are less supportive of the idea of sharing the elementary schools. Selectman Nick Hay said he isn't sure there is a reason to do that, especially with the busing issue.

"A famous quote is, 'If it isn't broken, why fix it,'" he said, and which he thinks is a good model to apply to the school district.

He understands that financial issues may arise in the future, especially with Ashburnham lacking an industrial or commercial base.

Selectman Tom O'Toole said he thinks the individual elementary schools give the towns and the residents a sense of control.

"It gives us the feeling that we own something," O'Toole said.

Gagnon said he is an advocate of any regionalization that makes fiscal sense. He created the regional public access television channel, and said that regional sharing for group buying power is probably a financial benefit, especially with the pavement for the roads. There is already shared purchasing for health insurance, and sometimes heating oil.

"It all comes down to dollars and cents. We have to get things that are mandated. We have to get things done that are just civic," he said. "I think that so long as things are split equability.

"I've always enjoyed that relationship," Gagnon said. "I think we are so bound together, I think we should enjoy it more."