Starting next fall, approximately 200 children will have to travel a bit farther to go to school, thanks to a 13-3 vote by the Gateway Regional School Committee whose primary effect will be the closing of three rural elementary schools. Russell Elementary, Blandford Elementary and the R. H. Conwell Elementary School will all be closed in the approved consolidation, and currently enrolled children will henceforth be bused to Chester and Littleville (Huntington) schools in an effort to close budget gaps resulting from drastically reduced state funding.
Most students, parents and committee members weren't happy with the measure, but the cost-cutting proposal had been on the table since March of 2009 and few viable alternatives had presented themselves in the interim. Superintendent David B. Hopson expressed his disappointment with the state for its failure to adequately fund rural regional districts such as Gateway's, but conceded that little else could be done to offset the budget shortfalls.
In addition, the district will now have to pay back a nine-year-old grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority which was used to build the two schools that will remain open as well as for repairs on the ones which are closing, due to a stipulation that the grant must be paid back if schools for which the money was used do not stay open for 50 years. Gateway will have to budget roughly $330,000 a year for the next 14 years to pay back what was initially an approximately $4.5 million grant but must now be treated as a loan. Still, even with the additional debt burden, Hopson foresees a considerable net savings when the $812,000 annual cost of running the three closing schools is factored into the equation. The superintendent also expressed his hope that a speedy transition can be facilitated by all relocating staff, and that students of the new "host" schools prepare to welcome their incoming schoolmates with open arms and smiles.
