The Harwood Unified Union School District HUUSD board reviewed 46 slides related to possible school district reconfiguration scenarios presented by TruexCullins architects last week.
Those slides featured 16 scenarios and were drafted based on surveys that the architects gathered from administrators and educators at the district’s seven campuses.
After the meeting, school board members narrowed the list of options to six, including maintaining the status quo.
Dave Epstein and Cam Featherstonhaugh of TruexCullins came up with the scenarios after surveying administrators and educators throughout the district. Those scenarios were presented at a January 22 meeting. The architects told the board that priorities identified by the administrators and educators were bus rides of 45 minutes or less for elementary school students with bus rides of 60 minutes acceptable for middle and high school students.
Other priorities that admins and educators identified included one centralized pre-school in The Valley and one in Waterbury-Duxbury as well as two sections per grade for each elementary school, which translates to larger class sizes and larger total school populations. Additionally, those surveyed prioritized equitable access to programming.
The architects provided data showing how different configurations involving several or one elementary school in The Valley would work in terms of school populations and class sizes. They discussed potential additions/construction needs for each of the 16 options and the priorities shared by educators and administrators.
Board members pushed back in several areas, including the legal requirements for closing schools which are spelled out by the Articles of Agreement between the six towns in the district that passed in 2016 and led to a unified school district. Other questions were raised about the capacity numbers that TruexCullins is using for each school that differ from actual recent usages at Brookside Primary School, for example.
For each of the scenarios, the architects detailed total district square footage and identified pros and cons.
The options that the school board directed the architects follow up on and which district finance director Lisa Estler will cost out include the following scenarios:
Note: each scenario envisions all 9-12 students at Harwood Union. Each scenario envisions closing the Fayston and Moretown Elementary Schools.
Option B
Elementary school — Waitsfield PK-6, Warren K-6, Brookside PK-4.
Middle school — Harwood 7-8, Crossett Brook 5-8.
Option D1
Elementary school — Waitsfield PK-5, Warren K-6, Brookside K-5.
Middle school — Harwood 6-8, Crossett 6-8.
Option G
Elementary school — Waitsfield PK-6, Warren K-6, Crossett Brook PK-6.
Middle school — Harwood 7-8.
Option G1
Elementary school — Waitsfield PK-6, Crossett Brook PK-6.
Middle school — Harwood 7-8.
Option K
Elementary school — Waitsfield PK-5, Warren K-5, Brookside PK-4.
Middle school — Harwood 6-8, Crossett Brook 5-8.
Option K2
Elementary school — Waitsfield PK-6, Warren K-6, Brookside PK-4.
Middle school — Harwood 7-8, Crossett Brook 5-8.
