A School District Still in Flux

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CROYDON- In a scheduled meeting on June 7, 2022, the Croydon School Board once again discussed the option of micro schools.

In a recent survey available to Croydon residents, the school board hoped to glean more information regarding the types of schools parents may want to send their children. By adding more school format options, members of the board hoped to provide more diversity of curriculum and delivery, provide a more “Montessori-like” option in grades 9-12, among other objectives based on parent feedback received as listed on their notice board announcements.

The Croydon school district currently offers K-4 classes at their one room schoolhouse, Village School and for students in grades 5-12 they offer an innovative school choice option. The school choice option allows for families to decide which local school they would like to go to based on tuition requirements.

The results of the survey saw 36 responses from residents with school-aged children and an interest in alternative education. Of the 36 responses, roughly seven people said they would like to see a Montessori type of school, another seven would like to see a project based micro school, around three people said they would like a traditional micro-school, five said online schooling, around six said Mount Royal Academy, and five vouched for a voluntary learning pod.

It was noted in the school board meeting that Montessori does not offer high school options. According to the Croydon School District website, SAU 99 currently serves 65 children grades K-12. Based on the data they received, school board member Aaron McKeon said that he believes this was enough interest to pursue the idea further.

McKeon has suggested micro schools as an option to Croydon residents in the past few months. During an annual school district meeting on March 12, a group of voters voted to cut the Croydon School District budget down from $1.7 million to $800,000. As a result of that budget cut, McKeon, along with other school board members, began looking at microschools as a viable option for their budget, as the $800,000 would not cover Croydon students’ public school tuition costs.

The town of Croydon petitioned to have a revote of the budget and in a historic turn, the original budget of $1.7 million was reinstated. While Croydon parents overwhelmingly did not want learning pods as their only option for educating their children, some have said they would be interested in the idea as an alternative.

The school board announced at the meeting that they will be holding a School Choice Open House. The open house will take place Saturday June 11, from 9 AM to 11 AM at the Town Hall. Representatives from KaiPod, Sora project-based, virtual high school, Bridgeway, an accredited homeschool program, and Mount Royal Academy, a private Roman Catholic school in Sunapee.

At the meeting, Board Member Jody Underwood said that a representative from Sunapee would be there in some capacity and that people in Claremont and Newport were contacted, but at that time, had not confirmed if they would attend. McKeon also claimed that he had reached out to the Virtual Learning Academy but had not heard back.

The intention for the meeting is to be casual with each school having their own table so that parents can walk from section to section rather than each school giving a presentation to everyone at one time.