Colebrook, Norfolk Selectmen Seek Collaboration

By Avice Meehan

The Colebrook and Norfolk Boards of Selectmen held a joint meeting on Thursday, Nov. 14, to “restart the conversation” about how the two communities could find ways to collaborate as elementary school enrollments decline.

Originally planned for Colebrook Town Hall, the session was moved to the adjacent senior center to accommodate the number of attendees. Outside of Norfolk’s three Selectmen, however, that included only two Norfolk residents, Jessica and Mike Listorti, who have a child enrolled at Botelle Elementary School.

Members of the Colebrook Board of Education were in attendance but spoke primarily as individuals or in response to specific questions about a survey of parents and staff. Virginia Coleman-Prisco, chair of Norfolk’s board, said she had her colleagues found out about the meeting “through the grapevine” and had trouble adjusting schedules at the last minute. Coleman-Prisco said First Selectman Matt Riiska 

Colebrook’s Brad Bremer and Riiska noted that had spoken informally about the schools – both Colebrook Consolidated School and Botelle have enrolled 61 students this year, although Botelle offers a pre-kindergarten program and Colebrook does not. The enrollments at both schools have dropped below the projections made almost a decade ago when a plan to consolidate at Botelle was rejected by Colebrook voters.

Bremer said his avowed goal was to “throw out” the idea of creating a joint committee that included broad representation from Colebrook and Norfolk. But the meeting rapidly veered into strong statements of opinion and emotional comments, often to the detriment of Norfolk. “I don’t think our children are getting a good education,” said Sandy Evans, a Norfolk selectman. 

For his part, Riiska said if a school had “better pay, better grades, that is where I would want my kids to go.” In recent years, Colebrook students in Grades 3-6 evaluated through the Smarter Balanced Assessment have had higher scores in math and English language arts than their counterparts at Botelle. However, educators counsel 

“Where is the best education?” he later asked, noting that he believed Botelle has an excellent physical plant. “If it is Colebrook Consolidated, that’s where it is going to be…. I don’t want people to think we’re here as a road show to drive you over to Norfolk.”

Some speakers from Colebrook made it clear they were uninterested in any collaboration or conversation that would lead to their children traveling to Norfolk because they had bought houses in Colebrook based on the school and its approach. Botelle introduced multi-age classrooms some years ago; Colebrook still focuses on single-grade teaching.

Others expressed weariness at going through the process of considering consolidation again only to have it fail or voiced suspicion about the conversations that have occurred between Bremer and Riiska. A few also worried about impact on jobs for teachers and support staff at both schools.

“If Norfolk is not coming to Colebrook, then I’m not for it,” said A.J. Ruwet, a Colebrook selectman with children at the school.

That generated a response from a Colebrook resident with a child in kindergarten. “It is not fair to point fingers at Norfolk,” said Abby Griffin, who said the discussion seemed a “little argumentative. These towns are not so different from each other.”

Griffin’s perspective was echoed by Norfolk Selectman Henry Tirrell, who has a child in kindergarten at Botelle and whose mother taught there for many years.” Both schools are quality schools…. I am looking for a positive conversation that hopefully leads to the best education for my kids. Let’s try and keep a positive attitude and engage with people that way.”

It was unclear, at the end of the hour-long discussion, what the next steps might look like. Colebrook Selectman Ernest Marmer, who was a member of the Colebrook Board of Education during the last go-round, said both towns needed to incorporate long-range planning into their thinking.