REGION – The legislature and the governor have acted to require larger class sizes and significant reductions in spending at Ludlow-Mount Holly schools starting next year, with further reductions in the following years. If these reductions are not made, residents will pay much higher taxes and penalties.
The Ludlow-Mount Holly School Board created a restructuring committee to gather information and make recommendations. It identified the following options: (1) continue the current school structure and pay the increased taxes that will result; (2) close one school and bring all students to the other; (3) keep students at their current schools and combine grades into multi-age classrooms; (4) bring grades seven and eight back to one of the elementary schools and make it a middle school, perhaps with grades five to eight, while the other school becomes a primary school. Currently, tuition for these students is more than $1 million; (5) eliminate one of the principal positions and give one person responsibility for both schools.
By the end of the year, the school board will have to decide how to deal with the problem. Before it decides, it wants to hear from residents about their opinions. The board poses three questions to the community: (1) What do you value most about our schools? (2) What concerns you about possible changes? (3) What would you like the school board to investigate before making decisions?
The board hopes residents will share their ideas and preferences, either by completing the survey (see the link at www.trsu.org) or by emailing the superintendent, Layne Millington, at layne.millington@trsu.org. It will also be holding listening sessions in Mount Holly on Nov. 2, and in Ludlow on Nov. 4. The board welcomes residents to express their opinions at school board meetings on the second Wednesday of each month.
The board stressed that no decisions have been made, but that the state is forcing difficult changes, and it wants to hear from residents.