By JAMES RINKER
The Keene Sentinel
WALPOLE, N.H. — Town residents want more local control within the Fall Mountain Regional School District, and they’re deeply unsatisfied with it.
And soon they’ll learn if it’s possible for the town to leave the district. Voters approved a measure by secret ballot, 134-21, at Walpole’s annual town meeting Saturday to direct Fall Mountain to study the feasibility of Walpole withdrawing from the district. This vote will also trigger a similar study for Langdon, after residents at that town’s annual meeting this past Tuesday approved a similar measure that was contingent on Walpole’s vote. Fall Mountain will be responsible for funding both studies.
In addition to Walpole and Langdon, the Fall Mountain district covers Acworth, Alstead and Charlestown. Alstead voters rejected a study of their town leaving the district at the polls last Tuesday.
Saturday’s meeting in Walpole drew 157 people to the gymnasium of the town elementary school.
At last year’s town meeting, voters overwhelmingly approved forming an informal Walpole school withdrawal study committee, citing concerns with the costs of being in the regional school district. Consisting of seven residents, the advisory group met weekly and explored the feasibility of withdrawing from the district and reorganizing to form a Walpole school district. In September, the committee recommended that the town pull its students from Fall Mountain.
Jamie Teague, an at-large school board member for Fall Mountain who was re-elected last week, was the only person to speak Saturday in opposition to Walpole’s article on formally studying withdrawal.
“The board has committed to investigate different structures to allow more autonomy for the towns that want it,” Teague told the audience.
The school board announced in late January plans to study the feasibility of changing its articles of agreement. The announcement came roughly two months after the board said it was considering possible changes to the articles to give member towns more local control.
However, school board Chair Alissa Bascom, of Charlestown, said at the time that if any towns in the district vote to study withdrawal from the district, the board will not be doing the study.
Walpole resident Craig Vickers, who formerly served as chair of the school board, said the board has known about the town’s dissatisfaction with the district for several years. He said this dates back to 2019, when a committee was formed to look at the district’s articles of agreement amid an attempt in Charlestown to withdraw from the district.
“I love Fall Mountain. … But it’s broken,” Vickers said. “If we do this, it’s just so we can get honest and accurate numbers and make a decision from there. There’s no agenda. It’s just that this isn’t working right now.”
Residents who spoke in favor of the measure to study withdrawal say the move would give the town more control over finances and curriculum decisions.
Tom Ronning, the former principal of Fall Mountain Regional Middle/High School and a member of the informal withdrawal study committee, said Walpole school staff are required to adopt curriculum that serves the Fall Mountain district’s needs.
“Curriculum and teacher innovation has been restricted, and that’s so all of the district schools do the same thing,” he said. “We believe we can provide a better educational program and lower the per-pupil cost by managing our own schools. … We believe we can do a better job managing our own tax dollars to provide our own opportunities for our students.”
Withdrawing from a school district is a lengthy process. It involves forming a district-wide committee to study the withdrawal, the State Board of Education’s approval of a withdrawal plan, and a district-wide vote.
Walpole voters passed the rest of the town warrant Saturday with little discussion and no amendments.
Voters approved a total budget of $5,521,228. This figure includes the town operating budget of $4,737,098, as well as $219,681 for the water operating budget and $564,449 for the sewer operating budget. The measure passed by a voice vote.
Residents also approved establishing a police building capital reserve fund for money to build a new police station, and to put $55,000 into that fund. Selectboard member Steve Dalessio said Saturday that the town officially closed on the purchase of land on Upper Walpole Road near Shaw’s grocery store for the site of a new police station.
Voters approved a measure to purchase a new police vehicle for $80,000, with half of the funds coming from the town’s police capital reserve fund. The other half will come from the town’s unassigned fund balance, according to Selectboard Chair Cheryl Mayberry.
Walpole voters also approved raising $280,000 to purchase a six-wheel truck. The majority of the funds, $200,000, will come from unspent highway block grant money from previous years, and the remaining $80,000 will come from the town’s highway capital reserve fund.
“This year has been particularly difficult on the road department,” Dalessio said. “We’ve only had two working trucks to plow the town during storms, lots of repairs and lots of breakdowns. … This will give us another truck, which will take roughly a year to get, and help get our fleet back up.”
Voters greenlit a measure to add $400,000 to the municipal building capital reserve fund. Mayberry said funds had to be withdrawn this year to repair the north side of the town hall.
Residents also approved funding for a few more capital reserve funds, including $25,000 for the highway capital reserve, $15,000 for the police department and $26,000 for the town-wide assessment capital reserve.
Also at the meeting, Moderator Jack Wozmak swore in new town officers, including Jean Kobeski, Jana Sellarole and Gail LaHaise, who each won a three-year library-trustee seat.
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