As The Valley Reporter goes to press on June 26, Moretown residents are lobbying the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board to keep their school open.
The Friends of Moretown group asked community members via an online flyer to show support for Moretown Elementary School by attending this week’s HUUSD meeting on June 26.
Friends of Moretown posted on their website that the community needs to protect its young students.
“The Friends of Moretown is a community group dedicated to keeping our beloved Moretown School open for generations to come. We know the HUUSD Board is engaged in a good faith effort to improve the quality of our children’s education, while at the same time streamlining our district to create much needed cost savings. However, we feel very strongly that closing the Moretown School will not achieve either of these goals,” said Brian Mohr via the Friends of Moretown Facebook page.
Community members are concerned that the school board will close Moretown Elementary School during its reconfiguration period as board members look to review assets in the district.
Moretown Elementary has a growing populous and has had to turn away students trying to change schools in the intradistrict choice program, according to the Friends of Moretown website.
In the board's attempt to review district assets with different school reconfiguration scenarios, Moretown is under consideration to remain open as a pre-K through sixth-grade school, become the district’s central office's new location, and/or become a center for a pre-K and early education center.
“Closing our beloved school will not improve the quality of our children’s education, nor will it lead to any significant cost savings to our district taxpayers. Our school has served our community since 1888 and we believe it should continue to serve our community for decades to come,” wrote Mohr.
Board members at their June 12, meeting moved to adopt three scenarios for further modeling. All of these options still have the Moretown building being used by pre-K through sixth-grade students or staff together. One option does not specify what three Valley schools will remain open.
The three scenarios are as follows:
Scenario D: Pre-K to grade four at Thatcher Brook, pre-K to grade six at Moretown, Waitsfield and Warren, grades five to eight at Crossett Brook, grades nine to 12 at Harwood Union.
Scenario B: Pre-K to grade four at Thatcher Brook, pre-K to grade four at three Valley schools, grades five to eight at Crossett Brook, and grades nine to 12 at Harwood Union.
Scenario A: Pre-K/Early Ed Center/central office at Moretown Elementary, pre-K to grade four at Thatcher Brook, Waitsfield and Warren, grades five to eight Crossett Brook, and grades nine to 12 at Harwood Union.
