ORFORD — The Rivendell Interstate School District will host a community forum to discuss the condition of its three schools on Wednesday, starting at 6 p.m.
The meeting will be held in the multipurpose room at Rivendell Academy, located at 2972 Route 25A in Orford. It can also be streamed via rivendellschool.org.
The engineers and architects who compiled reports on the condition of the district’s three schools and the programs they support will facilitate the discussion.
The discussion seeks to inform the School Board as it considers next steps for the district’s buildings: Samuel Morey Elementary School in Fairlee, Westshire Elementary School in West Fairlee and Rivendell Academy in Orford, the district’s middle and high school. The four-town district, which was formed in 1998, also includes Vershire.
One of the reports, “Rivendell Interstate School District Programming Assessment” contains a variety of options. They range from closing the two elementary schools and consolidating all grades at Rivendell Academy, to closing Samuel Morey and sending all elementary school students to Westshire, to continuing with the status quo.
“Stakeholder input revealed a strong desire for instructional flexibility, improved facility conditions, and long-term planning that reflect evolving enrollment and community needs,” according to the program assessment. “Themes of consolidation, equity, and preserving school identity emerged consistently, with particular emphasis on maintaining student-centered environments and fostering collaboration among staff.”
To try to save the district money as well as to adjust to student enrollment numbers, which started declining in 2000, the Rivendell School District Board of Directors voted in November 2023 to close Samuel Morey Elementary School over three years beginning in 2024.
About a year later, the School Board voted to pause those plans, in part, due to turnover in school administrators. Superintendent Randy Gawel came aboard this year, after serving the same role for the Orange East Supervisory Union in Bradford, Vt.
The Rivendell board will establish a new timeline “once all the information has been brought together after the community forum,” Gawel said in an email, noting that the forum is to share what is in the reports and also to gather any additional information that might not have been previously known or included.
“The board has stressed that they want this to be a thoroughly inclusive process and the process is in many ways as important as the outcome,” he wrote.
Board Chairman Charles Newton, Vice Chairman Clement Powers and Secretary Kathy Hooke couldn’t be reached by deadline.
Currently, 409 pre-K through 12th grade students are enrolled in Rivendell’s schools, including 131 from New Hampshire and 278 from Vermont, according to the report.
All of the schools are at less than half capacity. Samuel Morey has 110 students, with a current capacity of 247; Westshire has 90 students, with a current capacity of 202 students; and Rivendell Academy has 209 students, with a current capacity of 490 students.
Each of the three buildings are also in need of repair, including compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and upgrades to the HVAC and electrical systems, among other needs.
Rivendell Academy’s West Wing was built in 1957, with additions in 1973 and 1990, and its East Wing was built in 2000. Samuel Morey was built in 1957 and an addition was put on in 2000. Westshire — the school district’s newest — was built in 2001.
According to a report,”Facilities Condition Assessment,” cost estimates to upgrade the buildings could rise to millions of dollars, including $7.5 million for Rivendell Academy’s West Wing and $6.9 million for its East Wing; $3.4 million for Samuel Morey; and $3 million for Westshire.
“It is important to stress that these are estimates and not in any way set in stone,” Gawel wrote in an email. “Things can be added, taken away, and altered through the process.”
For example, if all the schools were consolidated at Rivendell Academy, the school would need to be remodeled and reconfigured to accommodate all students.
The next steps — which Gawel projects will take four to five months — include gathering more feedback, hiring architects and other professionals to draw up plans and determine “potential outcomes,” he said.
“As everyone stresses, with good reason, the process needs to be thorough, inclusive, communicative, and transparent throughout,” he wrote.
There is also a chance Act 73 — Vermont’s latest effort to reduce the number of school districts throughout the state — could play a role.
“We certainly want to look into collaborations and how we might streamline operations, coordinate resources, seek out efficiencies, while continuing to grow the many supports and opportunities that we offer our students,” Gawel wrote. “Being an interstate district is a bit different with regard to Act 73, so we do have inquiries out to both legislative folks and legal counsel seeking clarification as to how all of these things might work.”
One of the suggestions in the school program report is considering dissolving the interstate school district and “aligning with broader Vermont state-level conversations around school governance and consolidation.”