By Wiley Wood

The Norfolk-Colebrook Regional Study Group met on January 15 to bring the neighboring towns a little closer to consolidating their primary schools under one roof, possibly as early as the fall of 2016.

The process, endorsed by town referendums in the fall of 2012, is nearing the decision point. The study group’s lawyer has drafted a special act that would remove legislative hurdles to the group’s regionalization plan. The act will be presented to the state’s Education Committee on February 4 and if approved will move toward a vote during the present legislative session in Hartford, which runs from January to June.

“A special act,” said Matthew Venhorst, a lawyer for the state’s Department of Education and a member of the study group, “as opposed to a public act, applies only to a particular situation.” In this case, it would concern solely the towns of Norfolk and Colebrook, waiving specific fiscal requirements of the state’s regionalization statutes for an initial transitional period.

Before the two schools can come together, the state’s Board of Education will need to approve the study group’s regionalization blueprint, and the citizens of both towns will need to vote in its favor. The plan was set in motion by the two towns’ governments three years ago in response to falling enrollment and rising costs.

The proposed regional school would occupy the present Botelle School building, with the new regional board leasing the property from the Town of Norfolk.

The towns’ first selectmen, Sue Dyer and Tom McKeon, presented preliminary terms for the lease, which include the assumption by the new regional board of all costs associated with the building, including operating costs, maintenance and insurance. The major provisions of the lease will appear in the regionalization blueprint.

The study group’s next meeting will be held at the Botelle School, Room 104, on February 19 at 7 p.m.