Winchester, Gilbert considering three-year contract agreement

WINSTED — The Winchester Board of Education is still considering the possibility of pursuing a new three-year contract agreement with The Gilbert School Corp. after negotiators for the semi-private high school put forward the proposal at a joint meeting last week.

Members from the two school boards met for their fifth negotiating session this spring at Batcheller Elementary School on June 3.

Winchester’s school district serves the town’s kindergarten through eighth-grade students. The town then pays tuition for each of its ninth- through 12th-graders to attend the semi-private Gilbert School.

The current three-year agreement, which stipulates a $15,169 per student fee for the town, expires on June 30.

At last week’s meeting, Susan Hoffnagle, who is leading the negotiations for the Winchester school board, initially had proposed a one-year agreement between the two districts.

Hoffnagle said her board wanted to give Town Manager Wayne Dove time to find a redistricting solution that could save the town money and serve the interests of both parties.

“I’m sorry to say, we’re only offering a one-year contract,� Hoffnagle told Gilbert board members in her opening remarks.

Gilbert school officials had rejected a similar one-year proposal from Winchester at a joint meeting on May 25, citing a need for a longer term contract. At an earlier negotiation session last month, Gilbert had put forward a 10-year proposal.

But upon returning to the bargaining table at Batcheller after a lengthy caucus, Gilbert school officials said they would be willing to consider a three-year agreement.

Gilbert School Superintendent of Schools David Cressy said while the school corporation feels that a five-year agreement or longer would be preferable, the board is willing to discuss a three-year contract.

“We think that a one-year contract is unacceptable,� Cressy said. “So, we’re putting on the table some notion of a three-year contract.�

After returning from their own lengthy caucus session, Winchester school board members responded by saying they needed additional time to discuss the proposal before moving forward in the negotiations.

“We’re not making a commitment to anything,� Kathleen O’Brien, chairman of the Winchester Board of Education, said. “We need to delay the process until after we have had an opportunity to speak with our board.�

The Winchester school board was expected to discuss the ongoing negotiations at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, June 8. The two sides are then expected to resume their talks June 21, at The Gilbert School, beginning at 7 p.m.

While Gilbert officials agreed to delay negotiations to allow Winchester negotiators more time for a full board discussion, Cressy said it was unfortunate that the next meeting would take place so close to the June 30 deadline.

“It is what it is,� O’Brien responded.

If the districts are unable to meet the deadline and are required to move forward into the 2010-11 school year without a contract, Hoffnagle said Winchester would request a separate contract be forged between the two sides specifically for special education.

This contract, she said, would allow the district to ensure that all state Department of Education requirements are met.

In addition, Hoffnagle said if The Gilbert School felt that it could not serve the town’s special education students at the high school for an “appropriate budget� of about $220,000 a year, then the Winchester Public School district would operate the program in-house instead.

“If you’re not willing to do a contract ... we would take over and run the special education program ourselves,� she said.

Hoffnagle added that the Winchester board feels it could reduce its special education costs by changing the program’s current staffing levels.

In response, Gilbert School Superintendent of Schools David Cressy said he felt there were areas where cost savings could be found within the high school’s special education budget, if the two district’s “work better together.�

“I’m very willing to find ways to make special education better,� Cressy said, adding that the school does its best to keep the program’s costs for Winchester at a minimum.

“We’re not making a profit,� he said. “We’re just providing a service at the amount it costs us.�

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