West Tisbury, Chilmark Divide Deepens Over School District

By IAN FEIN

After a two-hour joint meeting called this week to discuss the status of the Up-Island Regional School District, the West Tisbury finance committee and regional school committee did not appear any closer to resolving their differences about the fate of the district.

The two boards, which have a history of emotional disputes, traded barbs during the discussion and in the end could not even agree whether the meeting was worthwhile.

School committee members said the brainstorming session was a good start, but most of the finance committee members left the Chilmark School on Tuesday frustrated by the limited scope and strict structure of the meeting, which was moderated by school officials.

A member of both committees, Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter said the meeting had strayed from the purpose of the joint session he requested the month before.

"At our last school meeting I listed off a number of specific concerns and thought that we were going to talk about those issues here tonight," Mr. Manter said. "This district is going to crash and burn unless we do something about it."

Finance committee members for the last few years have lobbied to dissolve the district, which includes the three up-Island towns and the Chilmark and West Tisbury schools. Over the last few months, it appears that others may have joined the cause.

In a nonbinding referendum on the annual town election ballot this April, 52 per cent of West Tisbury voters said that the town should withdraw from the regional district.

There are now signs that Chilmark may be following suit. Growing tired of criticisms about the Chilmark School and uncertainty about the district as a whole, Chilmark selectman Warren Doty has begun to speak publicly about pulling out.

"I'm not opposed to breaking up the [regional] district," Mr. Doty told the two boards on Tuesday. "Chilmark had a very successful district before we regionalized. We have a nice little school that we can run on our own. We've done it before and we can do it again."

With the future of the district hanging in the balance, school administrators and members of the two boards gathered in a small Chilmark School classroom on Tuesday and took turns listing pros and cons for regionalization. Most school representatives identified positive aspects of a regional district, while the finance committee members who chose to participate listed mostly negatives.

School committee chairman Kathy Logue said she selected the brainstorming format of the meeting as a way to get issues on the table in a less inflammatory context.

But by the end of the evening, outward hostility between finance committee members and school officials bubbled to the surface. At one point interim superintendent G. Paul Dulac and West Tisbury finance committee member Peter Costas exchanged sharp words.

"I think you missed your calling. You should have been a lawyer," Mr. Costas told Mr. Dulac, who moderated most of the brainstorming session.

"This is not a forum for you, Pete," Mr. Dulac replied later. "And by the way, I don't take the lawyer comment as a compliment," he added.

"Good," Mr. Costas replied.

The school committee believes that the regional district is a better option for the up-Island students. Board members said Tuesday that the shared services help build community, allow for a more efficient use of resources, and give families more educational choices.

The West Tisbury finance committee maintains that the regional district has not lived up to promises of cost efficiency, and that its town carries an unfair share of the school costs. Finance committee members this week repeatedly criticized the school board for a lack of leadership and willingness to provide useful financial information.

"The school committee is like being on a tour bus. Everybody's so busy looking out the window, nobody's driving," said finance committee chairman Sharon Estrella.

"I'm sure you're all a well-meaning, caring group of people - I don't doubt that for a minute," Mr. Costas told the school board. "But I think the Chilmark School and West Tisbury School are the victims of an Up-Island regional school bureaucracy . . . . The school committee is what's at the heart of this problem."

School board members argued that the finance committee focuses too much on the bottom line at the risk of losing sight of the district's primary purpose of education.

"We have a different constituency on the school board. We're representing the children of this entire community," said school committee member Susan Parker of Chilmark. "In that regard, we believe we are doing our job. To me you're looking at it with tunnel vision."

One finance committee member, James Powell, who is also a teacher at the high school, tried to bridge the gap between the two boards. Mr. Powell suggested that they hold off on some of the discussion until a report comes back from the financial consultant, Mark Abrahams, who was hired by all three towns to analyze the cost allocation formula of the up-Island district.

"Until Mr. Abrahams gives us the numbers, we need to loosen up emotionally so we can all work together," Mr. Powell said. "Otherwise we're just going to keep fanning the flames of uncertainty."

The consultant idea arose at the West Tisbury annual town meeting last year as a compromise to a finance committee article asking the town to withdraw from the district. The financial study was meant to be completed early this spring and ready for annual town meetings in April, but scheduling issues and political wrangling between the towns delayed the process.

Mr. Abrahams began work at the end of April; his final report is expected some time in the fall. He will present an interim report at a public meeting on Monday in the Howes House in West Tisbury at 5 p.m.

But on Tuesday both finance committee members and school officials expressed concerns about how useful the final report may or may not be. Chilmark finance committee member Frank Yeomans, who is also on the regional task force that created the scope of the study, told the two boards that Mr. Abrahams has found the project more difficult than he anticipated.

"I'm fearful that it's still going to be complicated," Mr. Dulac said. "The data he's gathering is not that crystal clear. Right and wrong are shadows and degrees," he added.

"Mark Abrahams is not God," warned finance committee member Al DeVito. "He's not going to solve all the issues."

Finance committee members on Wednesday approached West Tisbury selectmen with a request to contract separately with Mr. Abrahams to study the financial implications of moving all of the district students into the West Tisbury School, effectively closing the Chilmark School.

This aspect of the study led to a standoff last fall between Chilmark and West Tisbury selectmen, with the West Tisbury board finally relenting and removing the so-called one-school scenario from the original consultant study.

But finance committee members persisted in their pursuit of those numbers, and in a divided vote this week the West Tisbury selectmen gave a green light for the extra contract with Mr. Abrahams, as long as it falls with the committee's expense budget of roughly $3,000.

"I think the study should be full and complete," said Mr. Manter, who is also chairman of the board of selectmen.

"I think this is a breach of faith," replied selectman John Early, who voted against the request. "For the town of West Tisbury to go out and do this on its own right now I believe is inappropriate."

Reached by telephone yesterday, Mr. Doty expressed dismay at the West Tisbury selectmen's decision.

"I think it was a mistake for us to mail the check for our share of the study," Mr. Doty said. "There is no point in Chilmark participating in any study that considers closing the Chilmark School. That's not an option and we are not closing that school, period. It's hard to be a partner with someone who doesn't want to be a partner with you."