A Tale of Two Norfolk Schools

By Matt Riiska

Perhaps it’s the number of times they had to stay after school to clean the chalk board or got caught snoozing in class, but whatever their motivation, I have to thank Jeff Torrant and Dan Green for organizing the replacement of the roof of the “little red schoolhouse” at the corner of Ashpohtag and Bald Mountain roads. A few years ago, we painted the interior of the school. Noticing the deterioration of the roof, I contacted Dan about what it would take to replace the roof. Hearing about the concern, Jeff stopped in to tell me about the number of his relatives who had attended the school and how did not want to see the building fall into disrepair. After a very brief conversation he said he would purchase the materials and work with Dan to get a new roof on the building. There are still a few maintenance items to take care of but for now, thanks to Jeff and Dan, the building will be in good shape for many years.

This brings me to a difficult subject. Our current school population continues to drop each year. This is a situation that is happening in most rural communities across Connecticut. It is obvious that the number of young families who can afford to move to Norfolk is few. Our inventory of affordable homes is non-existent. The Foundation for Norfolk Living is working very hard to provide housing options. Consisting of ten affordable single-family homes, the Haystack Woods development is underway, but this will not increase our school population alone. We all need to work on this issue. 

It would be a shame to have our elementary school students be bused to neighboring Colebrook. We have a good school in Botelle, but with a decreasing student population, are we providing the best education we can? Socialization and interaction with their peers are an important element of a child’s education. 

The other component, of course, is cost. With a budget of $2.4 million for our current 64 students, our per-pupil costs are high. Our Board of Education has worked hard to maintain a near-zero increase in their budget, but at what cost to our students? 

This is going to take all of us to work through. When Norfolk and Colebrook discussed consolidation a few years ago, the push was to have Colebrook students come to Norfolk. Colebrook’s concern was losing their school and we are no different. We have a lot of people in Norfolk who work hard to make Norfolk a better community. 

When the Foundation for Norfolk Living was established and first discussed their goals, they focused on bringing more people and families to Norfolk. As much as we need to increase our school population, we also need more volunteers for our emergency services. I urge everyone to get involved, discuss your ideas to bring more families to Norfolk so we can provide for our important emergency services and maintain a vibrant school.

Take care and stay healthy.