Fred Dupere, on the far left, outlined the series of legal responsibilities the town has to the agreement.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. —— It would take at least two town meeting votes to change school affiliations, according to attorney Fred Dupere.

 

Dupere, who represents the School Committee, on Tuesday outlined the series of steps needed if the town should opt out of the current regional agreement.

 

The opinion is just the latest in a saga of dispute over school affiliation.

 

School Committee Chairwoman Regina DiLego, a vocal supporter of not only continuing the current agreement but expanding it to full regionalization, peppered Dupere with questions, showing just how difficult the change could be, who is responsible for decisions, and what the hidden liabilities may be.

 

"At a minimum it requires one of the towns, the one seeking withdrawal, to have at least two town meetings," Dupere said.

 

The first step would be that a town meeting vote would have to authorize the School Committee to draft terms of withdrawal with the district. The second vote would be to implement the amendment. The amendment for withdrawal would then have to be approved by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

 

"It can't be done by school committees. It can't be done by selectmen. It has to be done by town meeting," Dupere said.

 

Further, because the town has more than 500 families, it is required to provide a high school. Right now, the town is in a regional agreement that satisfies the law but otherwise it can't operate without a high school and only tuition students elsewhere without approval from the state, Dupere said.

 

That adds yet another step toward any consideration with tuitioning the students to Adams-Cheshire Regional School District and ending the agreement with Mount Greylock, which has been kicked around by Adams officials. Should that route be taken, Dupere said the town will still need to hire a superintendent, principal and special education director for the elementary school.

 

"Right now, it is part of a school union you have a shared-cost agreement," the attorney said.

 

Dupere went on to add that an ongoing costs and debt association with the regional agreement would still be the town's responsibility. 

 

"All of the liabilities that exist at the point in time of the withdrawn, you'd still be obligated to pay."

 

As would transportation.

 

"You would have to provide the transportation to the other schools," Dupere said. "Typically transportation isn't provided and if it was provided, it would come at a cost."

 

DiLego also pressed on the responsibility of control over educational decisions. She and Dupere said the host town, in the case of Adams-Cheshire it would be that district, would make the decisions, which includes tuition agreements and rates. Lanesborough would not sit on the School Committee, which with the tri-district agreement and the Supervisory Union 71 agreement gives voice to town officials on both committees.

 

"The receiving school district has their school committee and the committee is elected. They are the ones who have a voice on education for their time including school choice and tuition students," Dupere said.

 

Coupled with DiLego's questioning, she also presented a letter addressed to Adams officials voicing opposition to their advances. However, the letter does ask for a specific proposal so as to some merits could be measured. The letter was signed by both the Mount Greylock Regional and the Lanesborough school committees.

 

"The purpose was to give them a chance to tell us what they are offering us," DiLego said. "But we are not interested in dissolving."

 

Right now Lanesborough officials don't have a proposal to act on and the School Committee's approval of the letter calls for a proposal by Oct. 1. DiLego said right now the School Committee, which she says would be responsible for negotiating a tuition agreement, has been left out of the process while the two town administrators have done most of the discussion.

 

"We see no educational benefit in making any changes," DiLego said.

 

DiLego says both committees support the efforts underway to consider full regionalization with Williamstown, which would create one school committee, one budget, and merge all union contracts.

 

The full regionalization is a model many officials envisioned when the Supervisory Union 71 agreement was crafted.

 

Below is the letter both committees approved sending.