School District Weighs Choices

Meetings in West Tisbury, Chilmark Explore Future of Up-Island
Public Education; Costs in Chilmark Are Central

By CHRIS BURRELL

Last night, more than 80 people - parents, teachers, alumni,
selectmen and community members - rallied around the Chilmark
School. Despite declining enrollment and pressure to cut costs in the
Up-Island Regional School District, they vowed they would not close
their school down.

The groundswell of support for the little school came less than an
hour after a bare-knuckled meeting in West Tisbury where town finance
committee members talked about the Chilmark School as a huge financial
burden.

In back-to-back meetings, two distinct visions emerged: Chilmark
wants its school but West Tisbury fiscal leaders can't stomach the
cost and are calling for their town to withdraw from the regional school
district, made up of Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury.

"I think Chilmark should keep their school. I just don't
want West Tisbury to pay for it," said Peter Costas, an outspoken
member of the West Tisbury finance committee.

His comments came during a joint meeting of the finance committee
and up-Island school committee in the West Tisbury School library. Some
30 people attended.

A defiant Chilmark selectman, Warren Doty, told Mr. Costas:
"If you tell us you don't want us, we'll withdraw. If
you want to kick us out, we'll go run our own school. We've
had a Chilmark School for 200 years. We're going to have a
Chilmark School next year and the year after that."

Last night's finance committee meeting in West Tisbury was
dominated by complicated financial scenarios that seemed to polarize two
towns.

The finance committee had asked school leaders to see what the
savings would be if West Tisbury left the school region, if school
choice were abandoned and if the Chilmark School were shut down.

What shocked finance committee members was the news that pulling out
of the region - a decision West Tisbury voters will consider next
month at their annual town meeting - would actually end up costing
their town more than $600,000 in one year alone.

Mr. Costas seemed incredulous, asking: "If we withdrew and had
nothing to do with the Chilmark School, isn't it a saving for
us?"

The answer was no, but the explanation was complex. Chilmark School
principal Carlos Colley, the former business manager in the Vineyard
public schools who helped prepare the fiscal scenarios, explained that
leaving the school district would not rid the West Tisbury School of
students from Aquinnah and Chilmark, but it would lower the
reimbursement rate for their education to $5,000 per pupil, the going
rate set by the state for school choice students.

That's a third of the actual per-pupil cost in the West
Tisbury School, which is currently $15,182 a year.

"Instead of getting the true cost, you're only getting
$5,000," said Kathy Logue, chairman of the Up-Island school
committee and the town treasurer in West Tisbury.

There was considerable skepticism about the financial scenarios and
their assumptions. Whether leaving the region, scuttling school choice
or both, none offered West Tisbury any hope of saving money.

Not surprisingly, finance committee members zeroed in on a fifth
scenario that showed a $415,000 savings to West Tisbury if the Chilmark
School were closed and the students all sent to the West Tisbury School.
In this financial prediction, the three towns in the district would save
a total of $768,216, according to the figures.

The per pupil cost in Chilmark is $19,820, said Vineyard schools
superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash.

Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, a West Tisbury selectman who heads up the
finance committee and also sits on the regional school committee, saw
the numbers and said he couldn't justify the expense for one
school.

Finance committee members seized on the idea that Chilmark must
shoulder this cost to remain in the region.

"Are they willing to pay that [money] to keep the Chilmark
School open and not balance it on the backs of West Tisbury
taxpayers?" asked Mr. Costas, who hammered away at the notion.

School committee member Diane Wall of West Tisbury attacked his
logic. "To say that's what Chilmark owes West Tisbury is
erroneous," she said.

Ms. Logue also urged a different line of thinking. "Leaving
the district would cost us upwards of a half million dollars. It would
cost us money to end school choice," she said. "Hard times
are times when you pool resources."

No more than a half hour later in Chilmark, the mood was much
different. Chilmark town moderator Everett Poole presided over a public
hearing aimed at identifying the strengths, weaknesses and possible
remedies for the Chilmark School. Another goal was forming a task force.

Turnout was strong as people filled benches and seats and then lined
the walls and even sat on the floor, many of them rising to their feet
to praise the school's unique qualities - a family-like
atmosphere and a long history.

As for shortcomings, the building and the enrollment were clearly
focal points. Selectman Frank Fenner assured people that problems with
the floors, roof and plumbing were not unusual in a new building and are
being fixed.

Alicia Knight, a member of the Chilmark School advisory council,
championed the idea of opening a preschool on the campus as a way to
feed enrollment. "It would bring people in the door," she
said.

Ms. Smith suggested leasing one of the school classrooms for a
preschool.

There was also the question of why some parents in Aquinnah and
Chilmark are choosing not to send their children to the Chilmark School.
Some suggested surveying parents to understand the reasons behind those
decisions.

Mary Murphy-Boyd said affordable housing initiatives need support in
order to boost enrollment. Others urged the school to improve its public
relations and outreach work to spread the word about the advantages of a
small school with multi-aged classrooms.

The outpouring of support behind the Chilmark School leaves little
question about what Chilmark wants. The question now is what the West
Tisbury finance committee and voters in that town will decide. It will
take more than one vote to leave the regional school district.

But at least one West Tisbury selectman, Glenn Hearn, drove up to
Chilmark School last night and told people there, "West Tisbury is
paying big numbers to finance this thing.

"You've got to think about sucking up those
costs," he added.