Magri
No, Seymour school are not thinking about merging with Ansonia schools, Jennifer Magri said Monday.
Magri is the chairwoman of the Seymour school board. She acknowledged that she met in December with William Nimons, her counterpart in Ansonia, to talk about setting up subcommittees to explore whether some services could be shared between the two districts.
The idea was then brought to the Seymour Board of Education for discussion.
But sharing services isn’t the same as consolidating districts.
The services to be shared could be things like transportation or food services. It could increase bargaining power to have two or three school districts negotiate transportation contracts together.
Or it could turn out there’s nothing to share, Magri said. The point is to simply have the conversation.
“Again, I want to make it clear that this is just talk. This does not mean that we are taking any action whatsoever,” Magri said. “I think it would be fiscally irresponsible, in my personal opinion, to not engage in conversations like this with the other Valley towns.”
Magri said she made her comments in response to rumors circulating in Seymour about her meeting with her counterpart in Ansonia.
She made her comments during a Seymour school board meeting Monday. The meeting agenda included setting up a shared services subcommittee to talk with Ansonia school leaders.
The shared services talk is happening because Valley schools — like schools all over the state — are going through tough economic times thanks, in part, to decreases in state funding.
Seymour was especially hard hit, having laid off 12 clerical paraprofessionals as a cost-saving measure in December.
The concept of sharing services isn’t new for Valley school districts.
However, Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan announced last week his intent to explore whether it is feasible to create a regional school with Ansonia, or, perhaps, another willing district.
He’s asking for permission from the Derby Board of Aldermen to pursue the matter formally under a process outlined in state law.
That’s a much more formal and concrete action than what Seymour school officials are talking about.
Magri suggested the Seymour school board create a three-person shared services subcommittee to gather information. She suggested the subcommittee include school board members Kristen Harmeling and Edward Hendricks.
Harmeling suggested the shared services discussion should go beyond Ansonia, and include other Valley schools as well.
School board member Jay Hatfield suggested that the subcommittee also explore whether the same conversations happen internally, between school and town officials in Seymour.
The school board then voted to shelve the discussion on the shared services subcommittee until their Feb. 5 meeting.
School board member Fred Stanek, an attorney, pointed out that the suggestions made by Harmeling and Hatfield significantly altered the matter from its description on the board’s meeting agenda.
Monday’s meeting was a “special” meeting, one that had been rescheduled due to weather. Boards and commissions are not permitted to add new items to the agenda during “special” meetings.
Therefore it made sense to table the discussion until it could be properly noticed before the next meeting on Feb. 5.
