School board officials from the Gardiner area school district are expected to hold a special meeting Thursday to decide the fate of Teresa C. Hamlin School in Randolph.
An ad hoc committee, appointed by the School Administrative District 11 board last fall, recommended closing the school at the end of the current school year and installing modular classrooms at Pittston Consolidated School just about a mile away to accommodate the transfer of the 40 or so students who remain in Randolph.
At the meeting, which is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. in the Gardiner Regional Middle School cafeteria, William Stockmeyer, the school board’s attorney, is scheduled to give a presentation on the status of outstanding school district bonds on the Randolph school.
Andrea Disch, the district’s business manager, also is expected to give an update on the projected savings as calculated by the state Department of Education that would result if the school board were to vote to close the school.
Parents of students in both the Randolph and Pittston schools said they are concerned about the effect that closing the school in Randolph would have on both schools.
District officials have considered closing the Randolph school before but have opted to keep it open, even as enrollment in the district has been declining and is expected to continue to do so.
If the board opts to close the school, Randolph residents would have the option of overturnng such a decision in a referendum in Randolph. But if they do, Randolph taxpayers would be responsible for reimbursing the district for the lost savings as determined by the state Department of Education, to keep the school open.
This meeting originally was scheduled to take place in February, but it was delayed because the school district’s attorney didn’t have the information he was expected to bring to the meeting.
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