By Patrick Adrian Staff Writer
LANGDON — The unexpected resignation of the Fall Mountain Regional School Board’s chair reawakens longstanding concerns about equitable town representation in the district’s governing structure.
In a special meeting on Monday, the Fall Mountain Regional School Board announced and “regretfully” accepted the resignation of Chair Michael Herrington, of Charlestown, a two-term board member who played a key leadership role during the Charlestown withdrawal debates between 2018 and 2020.
The board, who received an email from Herrington, did not disclose a reason for Herrington’s resignation.
“This was a surprise to everybody,” said Charlestown resident Jamie Shand. “And it would not hurt my feelings to see extra [time] and more deliberation given to allow Charlestown residents to find a candidate they maybe can support.”
Yet Herrington’s seat is an at-large, which can be held by a resident from any of Fall Mountain’s cooperating towns: Charlestown, Walpole, Acworth, Alstead and Langdon.
Therein lies the concern, some board members and residents said.
The distribution of seats on the Fall Mountain Regional School Board are not proportional to town enrollment size. Each town receives one seat that only one of its residents may hold. The remaining two seats are at-large, whose candidates may reside in any of the towns.
To some, particularly in Charlestown, this system seems unfair. Charlestown, whose students make up nearly half the district’s total enrollment, pays approximately 46 percent of the shared operating cost. It’s percentage of the board seats held, however, falls short of that.
With Herrington’s departure, only one Charlestown resident, Shelly Andrus, serves on the Fall Mountain Regional School Board.
While the vacant seat is open to all district residents, some board members said preference should go to a Charlestown resident.
“I really think this is a slippery slope,” Andrus said. “This has the potential to put one town [in Walpole] with three seats on here with Charlestown paying 46 percent.”
Rebecca Sethi, an at-large board member from Walpole, said that she would prefer to fill the seat with another Charlestown resident.
Walpole resident Alejandra Pallais concurred.
“I want to be sensitive to that . . . knowing how I would feel if it was the other way around, where Walpole lost one of its at-large positions and there was overrepresentation from another town,” Pallais said.
But this town-specific way of thinking runs contrary to the school board’s intended design, other board members said.
Every Fall Mountain Regional School Board member is supposed to represent all the towns, not just their own, said Vice-Chair Sarah Vogel, of Acworth. All seats, including those with town-specific eligibility, are voted upon district-wide.
“I am from Acworth but I do not [specifically] represent Acworth,” Vogel explained. “I am voted for by the entire district and I am supposed to represent the entire district.”
But district residents still worry about the potential optics, given the already strained relationship between the district and Charlestown. Fall Mountain is barely removed from a strenuous and divisive battle over Charlestown’s proposal to leave the Fall Mountain Regional School District and form an independent district. Though voters ultimately rejected the proposal, the historic disputes over Charlestown’s tax burden and a lack of control over district spending remain.
“We went through a year of strife,” Shand said. “I argued for withdrawal [initially] but voted against it. But if we have to go through another period where we are fighting against the school system, I don’t know how to support the school.”
Further concern arose upon learning that Walpole resident William Stahl, a former board member, had already submitted a letter of interest to fill Herrington’s seat, before the board had even announced who was resigning.
The board denied having any contact with Stahl regarding the seat.
Sethi said she had posted the meeting notice on The Walpolean, the town listserv, which likely drew Stahl’s attention.
Shand made the initial suggestion to extend the filing process from two weeks to three. The board supported the idea.
Board member Craig Vickers, Walpole, said it is premature to discuss candidate preferences before knowing the applicants, though the board may have that conversation when beginning the selection process.
Vickers said he is willing to consider residency as a selection factor but stressed there are many important candidate qualities besides residency to weigh.
District residents interested in filling the position should send a letter of interest to Misty Bushee, school board clerk, at [email protected]. Emails should also be addressed to the attention of Superintendent Lori Landry and Vogel, the acting board chair.
The deadline to submit a letter of interest is Friday, July 16. The school board will interview the applicants on Monday, July 19.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.