WORCESTER, Vt. (WCAX) – In the wake of contentious school budget votes since Town Meeting Day, many Vermont communities are grappling with how to lower costs and property taxes, including potentially shutting down schools. A series of public forums for schools in the Washington Central Unified Union School District kicked off Wednesday night in Worcester, where two of the district’s tiny elementary schools are among those in the crosshairs.
Doty Elementary School has enrolled around 80 pre-K through sixth-grade students for a few years now without seeing any significant growth. Numbers from the WCUUSD show a projected decline for nearly every elementary school in the district.
Officials said the meeting on Wednesday would center around the potential closures of Doty and Calais elementary schools. WCUUSD School Board Chair Flor Diaz Smith says she knows conversations about school closures are difficult, but that they’re necessary.
“The lines are arbitrary and I think at the end of the day we all believe in public education across our district. And at the end of the day, we want to make sure we continue to have that thriving public education in the future,” she said.
During Wednesday night’s meeting, community members reckoned with the thought of closures.
“It’s the centerpiece of the town, this land was given to them for the purpose of the school, and it would be a shame to have it go somewhere else besides teaching kids here,” said Worcester resident Harold Richardson.
Richardson worked at Doty Memorial School for 26 years and says the school is synonymous with the community.
“The school is what makes the town. I would hate to see it go, it brings tears to my eyes,” said Richardson.
The school board held public forums at each of its elementary schools Wednesday night to hear from people like Richardson about how they should best move forward.
The district faces a convergence of issues, including an ongoing decline in school-age kids on top of increased costs of operating schools.
Smith says for public education to remain sustainable, something needs to change.
“How can we organize our district in a way that we can provide the best education in a sustainable way, but also in a way that we provide those opportunities,” said Smith.
Community members in Worcester like Chani Waterhouse organized a meeting before the public forum to provide a space for residents to share their thoughts.
“Our community really needs to have a voice and a role in helping to figure out what’s next for our school,” said Waterhouse.
Waterhouse says Worcester is a tight-knit community that would greatly be affected by a school closure and hopes the decision is not made lightly.
“People care about affordability and tax burden and just believe that this school is at the center of our community and that this is a really important decision. We really need to understand the decision that we’re making and what the impacts will be, positive and negative, so that we can make a good decision for our kids and for our community,” said Waterhouse.
The board says they want to make a decision about reconfiguration by September if possible.