KENT, CONN.—With Region 1 School District officials studying educational and financial trends—a move that could lead to a recommendation for some kind of lower grades consolidation—the Kent Board of Finance last week agreed that the town should explore additional educational opportunities for the town.
While finance board member Jason Wright has renewed his call for “out of the box” thinking with every recent budget cycle, last week’s discussion grew out of a letter written by former board of education chair Scott Trabucco.
Trabucco urged the boards of selectmen and finance to take the lead in gathering information about potential cooperative agreements with Sherman, Region 12 or possibly New Milford, regions that are closer to parts of Kent than Falls Village, where the regional high school is located.
Trabucco told the Board of Finance that he applauds the ABC (All Board Chairs) Committee, Region 1 Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley and Region 1 business manager Sam Herrick for undertaking the study.
“It’s a hard, emotional subject that will get a lot of push back, but it does need to be talked about,” he said. “I applaud them for taking it on and don’t want to discourage them.”
He acknowledged that no one has proposed anything specific but said that if the final recommendation is for some kind of consolidation of the elementary school grades, the town should do its own due diligence “to look at options open to us that the study might not consider.”
“I’m not proposing a specific course of action,” he said. “I was thinking one member of the Board of Selectmen and one Board of Finance member could start gathering information, so that when we get the report we’re prepared with information.”
Trabucco explained that he is not advocating that the town withdraw from Region 1. All his children have attended Housatonic Valley Regional High School, and he would like to see his youngest child graduate from there. But, he added, it makes sense for the town to explore possible cooperative arrangements with Sherman, Region 12 or New Milford “if they have the capacity.”
Sherman, for instance, has reflected the statewide trend for falling enrollment. Student enrollment there plummeted by 38 percent over a single decade, dropping to 275 students in 2020. By 2024, enrollment dropped further to 252 students and currently sits at approximately 229 students.
Trabucco noted that the children in Kent Hollow are closer to towns to the south of Kent such as Sherman. “We pay an assessment to Region 1 based on the number of kids we send to the high school,” he said. “If we have 10 high school kids, and if five went to Region 1 and five to Region 12, it could cost the same. But it takes time to gather that information. Maybe Region 12 would say, ‘No way,’ but if we explored these things, we could say to the town that we chased down all these things and there’s nothing else to do.”
Finance members wondered whether the Region 1 survey is being sent only to parents. Member Charles Cogut made the case that the finance board should get it, saying the town has a vested interest in its school system because it represents a large portion of the annual budget. He termed Kent Center School “a jewel of the town,” and said the municipal goal should be greater use of the facility rather than removing upper grade students to a consolidated school elsewhere.
Board of Education Chair Heather Brand said she believes the survey will be released to different demographics in phases. Her goal is “to give regular report[s] to the Board of Education and you. What we don’t want is for us all to sit around for months and then have a huge report that is scary.”
She expressed concern that people “quickly people jump to assumptions” and that “talking about whether it’s realistic—even if the point is to put it to rest and not discuss it anymore—still creates fear, creates anxiety, especially as this is a long process.”
As a member of the ABC Committee, she said that the study is “not meant to be a throughway to regionalization. We’re just trying to look at everything over the course of the years—with enrollment down and costs up, we’re looking at ways to save money.”
As an example of a cost-saving action, she said all the individual schools in the district have now been put on the same Internet domain, a move that saves on software and licensing.
She also told the finance members that future Kent board of education meetings will be streamed live to make them more accessible to the public.
Selectman Lynn Mellis Worthington noted that Region 1 was the first regional district in Connecticut and was created by state legislation. Its charter is different from other regional districts and she questioned whether Kent can legally send its students to different districts.
Wright said, “My gut says there is a chance to do something with Sherman, but it might take greater creativity. It could be a real savings for both towns by doing something. But our interest is Kent and we have enough time to see what our other options are.”
