JAMAICA-A 85–56 vote on Jan. 14 to keep Jamaica Village School open will affect the town's property tax rate, the Windham Central Supervisory Union (WCSU) budget for the 2025–26 school year, and the proposal to consolidate the education of Windham Central elementary school students in Newfane.
While voters approved the purchase of the school building from the West River Modified Union Education District for $1, the article was nullified by the vote to keep the school open.
Jamaica Village School is the site of a pre–K program but has otherwise been closed this year due to staffing issues, with most of the students in kindergarten through grade 5 going to Townshend Elementary.
On Jan. 16, Windham Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Bob Thibault said that scenario will continue into the next school year.
"The staffing challenges that prompted the school to move out the K–5 students would still be real; the board made the decision last spring to only run pre–K, and we had existing staff already to cover that (there were two classrooms in Townshend, and one was moved to JVS)," Thibault said in an email. "The board in preparing a budget for this year didn't consider reinstating the K–5 classrooms."
Vote has many impacts
The decision to keep the school open will have an impact on the WCSU's budget for the 2025–26 fiscal year in a couple of ways.
On Jan. 16, Thibault estimated that the budget would need to be cut by $1.026 million to stay under the excessive spending threshold set by the state. In addition, the supervisory union will have to spend $100,000 to $150,000 to continue to operate the building, which he said includes heat, electricity, and an administrative assistant for the pre–K classroom.
The decision has tax implications for Jamaica residents as well.
Selectboard Chair Jessica Pollack said the vote to keep the school open with the pre–K program will result in a tax rate increase of 22.67%, compared to 20.41% if the school were to be closed.
The proposal to consolidate Jamaica Village School and Townshend Elementary with Newbrook Elementary at the Newbrook site has also become more of a question mark as a result of the vote.
"It certainly makes that endeavor significantly challenging," Thibault said. "I would suspect that the board would go back to their Long-Term Planning Committee to talk about what's next."
The looming question is what's next.
The West River Modified Union Education District will meet on Jan. 28, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Leland & Gray Union High School. Thibault said it will be discussed further that night.
Pollack said that the issue had been percolating since the fall and there has been a lot of debate about closing the school.
Pollack acknowledged in an interview on Jan. 16 that despite the outcome of the vote the school will not be open in the traditional sense.
"It just means the school district can't close it and, under the articles of agreement the school district, does have to use the building for some educational purpose," she said.
"The school district does have broad latitude," she added. "The town doesn't have a lot in the way of options."
As for what's next, Pollack said that is still unclear, but she said there is the possibility that the town could be asked to revote.
In the meantime, some residents have started circulating a petition, calling on the town to form a committee to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of leaving the school district and giving the town school choice.
"It's not an official action of the town. It's an action of some town members," said Pollack, who signed the petition "to start the very long and complicated process."
This News item by Brandon Canevari was written for The Commons.