PELHAM — Tyngsborough, Mass., is courting Pelham school district officials — among others.
School officials there want to know if Pelham officials would discuss regionalization to help both districts through tough economic times. But it remains to be seen whether that conversation will take place.
The Pelham School Board decided earlier this month to wait until after Town Meeting, when two new members will be elected, to decide whether it is interested in talking.
Tyngsborough Superintendent Darrell Lockwood sent letters to several Massachusetts and New Hampshire school districts, Pelham and Hudson among them, to gauge their interest in school regionalization. Tyngsborough's regional interest includes the areas of secondary education, special education operations, and special education transportation, Lockwood said.
Lockwood wants to continue to offer Tyngsborough's 500 high-school students a wide variety of classes, he said, but that's getting tougher to pay for in trying economic times. Lockwood sees regionalization as a possible solution to the problem.
Pelham Superintendent Frank Bass told board members on Feb. 18 that Pelham's high school space needs and Tyngsborough's needs might be a jumping off point for discussion, according to School Board Chairman Bruce Couture.
The board, however, deadlocked, 2-2, in a straw poll on whether to start talking now. The board left it to the next board to decide, Couture said.
Couture, one of the departing members, said he sees value in at least talking about the possibility, given Pelham's struggle to get public approval to build a new high school.
Any interstate agreement would presumably require voter approval.
There already are interstate tuition agreements between schools in New Hampshire and Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, and New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Sarah Browning of the New Hampshire Department of Education said. South Hampton students attend Amesbury (Mass.) High School.
"Having students go to school in another state is not unique when geography makes it feasible," Browning said. She is special assistant to the commissioner of education.
Wayne Gersen, superintendent of School Administrative Unit 70 in Hanover, the nation's first interstate school district, said regionalization has the best chance for success where towns have similar education goals or demographics.
"You need a like-minded spirit for it to succeed," he said.
New Hampshire and Vermont towns belong to two interstate school districts, the only ones in the country, Gersen said.
The Rivendell interstate school district serves New Hampshire students in Orford and Vermont students in Fairlee, Vershire and West Fairlee.
The Dresden school district serves students in Hanover, N.H., and Norwich, Vt.
About three or four miles separate Pelham and Tyngsborough high schools, Couture said.
"To be honest, at this point I think it's a pipe dream, but I think it's worth talking about," he said.
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