Selectmen Seek Conversation About Collaboration

By Avice Meehan

Nearly a decade after Norfolk and Colebrook failed to reach agreement on creating a new regional school district that would combine their elementary schools, the issue is back on the front burner thanks to a column from Matt Riiska, Norfolk’s first selectman.

Riiska, a veteran of a 1990s effort to create a single elementary school for Region 7, posed the question of restarting conversations between the towns in last month’s “Selectman’s Corner” in Norfolk Now. In a recent interview Riiska admitted he was “shocked” that no one in town has mentioned it to him.

Riiska and his counterpart in Colebrook, Brad Bremer, believe the towns need to begin thinking creatively about the future. And soon. Riiska defined soon as in the next year.

Enrollments at the two schools for the 2024-25 school year are, if anything, lower than the projections developed for the proposed reorganization plan in 2015. The report, produced by the organization now known as EdAdvance, projected enrollments at 84 students in Norfolk and 78 students in Colebrook in kindergarten through sixth grade. Today, Norfolk expects to enroll 59 students beginning with pre-kindergarten and Colebrook expects to enroll 60.

At the same time, both communities have made significant investments to maintain their school buildings. Botelle Elementary School is getting a new roof and boiler upgrades; the Colebrook Consolidated School will be receiving a $1.7 million upgrade to its heating and ventilation system.

“We have a lot of smart people in our town and there are great people in Colebrook,” Riiska said. “You have to open your mind and ask, ‘Are there other possibilities?’ It is a difficult topic to get people talking about without getting emotional, but like everything else, you can’t get emotional. You have to take a deep breath and look at the situation.”

Bremer made a similar point. “We need to take a fresh look. I think there is always going to be emotion involved, but we have to approach it logically and do what’s best for everyone.”

Emotion is close to the surface. Said one Norfolk parent, who described Botelle as a gem, “Our children are our future and if we ship them off to another town for the lowest price, it will make me, and most other young families here, feel like we are not wanted.”

Jessica Listorti, who grew up in Norfolk and has a child at Botelle, believes the school needs to do more. Speaking during the public comment portion of the Board of Education’s Aug. 20 meeting, Listorti told the board, “You are not delivering the same education you were 10 years ago,” and lamented what she saw as a lack of advocacy on the school’s behalf.

Riiska believes the issue is less about money and more about having enough students to provide a wide array of opportunities, both academic and social. He wants them to be prepared for Regional 7, which brings together students from Norfolk and Colebrook, as well as New Hartford and Barkhamsted.

Bremer sees it the same way, noting Colebrook is exploring opportunities to attract students from neighboring towns like Sandisfield, Mass., or Winsted to increase enrollment. That approach, borrowed from schools in nearby Region 1, is wholly separate from any conversations involving Norfolk.

“I have been talking about declining enrollments in Northwest Connecticut for 15 years,” said Jonathan Costa, executive director of EdAdvance. “There is a lot going on here, and no region or town can fight it themselves because we are in the midst of a big demographic shift.”

Costa, who grew up in Sharon, acted as a facilitator in the 2015 reorganization process. The plan that emerged, which was approved by Norfolk and voted down by Colebrook, would have brought students together at Botelle. It would have been the state’s 20th regional school district, a distinction that has since gone to a new district serving the towns of Litchfield, Warren, Morris and Goshen.

“The complicated truth is that there is no simple fix,” said Ann DeCerbo, who recently stepped down as a member and chair of the Norfolk Board of Education. She would like to see more families able to live in town. “What is going to matter in 20 years? A town is a living thing. It doesn’t end or retire. It continues on. What do you hold on to even if it’s difficult to hold onto, so you have a prosperous future?’

Costa believes Norfolk and Colebrook can pursue a few different pathways in the coming months and years, noting that the new Region 20 emerged after several years of increasing collaboration between the towns.