Future of three-student Rockwood school unsettled

ROCKWOOD – Garbed in a bright pink dress, Danielle Mills, 10, stood up in an audience of adults Thursday and made a passionate plea to Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.

“I don’t think the school should close,” the Pittston Farm girl remarked during a public hearing to address the future of the Rockwood Elementary School. The fifth-grader told Gendron she didn’t want to travel more than 1 1/2 hours each way every weekday to attend school in Greenville.

Mills, one of only three students attending the school, was among about 30 people who attended a public hearing to learn of the school’s future in the wake of declining enrollment.

The Rockwood school is one of six remaining schools in the Unorganized Territory, Shelley Lane, superintendent of the UT schools, said in an interview prior to the public hearing. In addition to Rockwood, the UTs have the Kingman Elementary School, Connor Consolidated School, Patrick Therriault School, Benedicta Elementary School and Edmunds Consolidated School. The latter school has an enrollment of 87, the highest of any UT school, she pointed out.

While the education department of the UTs has been in discussions with districts regarding regionalization efforts, no financial formula has been established to make it equitable for districts and UT taxpayers, according to Lane. “The financial end is very complex and people are working on that end,” she said.

Unlike public schools, education costs in the UTs are funded solely by landowners in those territories, most of whom are paper companies.

Lane said Commissioner Gendron’s focus is not on school closures, either public or in the UT, but is on the efficiency of operation. It was that reason that prompted Gendron’s and Lane’s visit Thursday.

“I’m here tonight because the law requires several things, that as our enrollment declines, that I convene a public meeting to gather input from citizens about potential action,” Gendron said. She said state law requires her department to look at a school’s future when enrollment declines and in Rockwood’s case the school now has three children and the potential for one additional student next fall.

Since residents must have a year’s notice of a school closing, Gendron said the Rockwood school would reopen next fall but its fate beyond that would hinge on enrollment. She said she was hesitant about closing the school in view of Plum Creek’s planned development in the region. Some of the company’s land proposed for development is behind the school.

Gendron offered an option to help the local school remain open. She said the possibility exists that a prekindergarten session could be offered if parents embrace the idea. That program would require the services of a certified teacher in early childhood.

“We know how important to the community this school is,” Gendron said.

The fact that some parents have enrolled their children in the Greenville school rather than in Rockwood shocked Barbara Vincent of Greenville. Vincent, an art teacher who has worked in the Rockwood school, said Thursday she found the school “a most marvelous place for children” and teaching principal William Folsom a “master teacher.”

Resident Mike Favreau, who home-schools his children, expressed his concern about the E. coli detected in the school’s water supply. The water also is tainted in the community building and fire department that are adjacent to the school. Although the water is being treated on a daily basis by school officials and bottled water is available, Gendron was told the children still wash their hands in the water.

Gendron said the water does test “drinkable” and the testing is meeting all of the state requirements. She said an independent test is done on the water on a monthly basis. “We are in full compliance,” she assured residents.

Others said that aside from one plowed road and a place to put their trash, the school is the only service residents receive for their property taxes. “I think it would be a shame to lose this building,” one resident noted.

Jen Mills of Pittston Farm said she actually lost employees because there was no prekindergarten program for their children in the region.

Any savings from the closure of a school in the UT would reduce the tax obligation for all the UTs but closing the Rockwood school would “probably not” change the tax rate, according to Gendron. She said the Benedicta school which is about eight miles from another elementary school will be closed this year for a savings of about $300,000. In these cases, the savings will likely be offset by tuition and transportation, she explained.

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