Officials and attorneys for the Hampden‑Wilbraham Regional School District spent the meeting reviewing recent DESE feedback on a proposed amendment to the district’s regional agreement and mapping next steps for final legal review and town warrant deadlines.

The school committee voted last week to adopt a preferred set of language (Attorney Sweeney’s option 3) into the draft amendment; district staff and outside counsel are now revising the single‑option draft and circulating it among attorneys for both towns before returning it to DESE for final review. Staff emphasized the need to continue iterative edits because DESE’s legal review can take time and the districts are working toward warrant deadlines this spring.

DESE’s written comments, shared with the committee, asked for several clarifications and suggested minor and substantive edits. Among the items DESE identified: restating the agreement’s original entry year (1956) and the 1994 amendment that expanded the district to pre‑K–12; placing the district’s preferred student‑assignment option in a distinct preamble section; clarifying seating dates for newly elected school committee members (candidates and voters should understand a July 1 seating date); and noting where statutory citations need updating because applicable code sections have moved.

Committee members focused discussion on several substantive points DESE highlighted. One question is whether the agreement should expressly give the school committee authority to reassign students in grades pre‑K–5 — language that would expand committee authority now applied to grades 6–12. DESE suggested that, if such authority is included, the agreement could require a higher voting threshold (for example, a two‑thirds vote) to change student assignments. Several committee members said that language granting broader reassignment authority would be a substantive change requiring discussion; others argued that the district’s legal obligation to educate students provides an operational backstop in an emergency.

Committee members also discussed adding an emergency‑reassignment clause that would allow the school committee to reassign students if a building becomes unusable, but they debated how to define “emergency” and whether the clause could be a political sticking point during town votes. Staff noted that short‑term, ad hoc moves could happen operationally, but long‑term reassignments raise legal and bargaining questions and should be spelled out carefully if included.

Transportation language drew comment: DESE recommended the draft state the district shall provide transportation “as required by law and school committee policy” and that apportionment of transportation costs be treated as an operating cost. The committee agreed transportation should remain an operating cost but flagged the need to reconcile that with whatever assessment method is chosen for operating costs in the amended agreement.

Leasing, capital costs and debt procedures attracted sustained discussion. DESE recommended a separate section explaining how the district would incur debt and the default method if towns and the district do not adopt an alternative assessment method. Committee members reviewed lease provisions that currently say tenants (the district) are responsible for maintenance up to certain dollar thresholds and noted those thresholds are in practice uneven across buildings. Members also discussed Wilbraham Middle School (WMS): whether to pursue a lease to the district, or a sale to the district, and how capital repairs or MSBA reimbursement flows would be handled if the building remains town‑owned but the district assumes operating responsibility. Staff said MSBA capital payments generally function as reimbursements tied to documented district spending and reporting; whether reimbursements pass through the district or the town will depend on the project and the applicable MSBA arrangements.

Next steps and timing: staff said they prefer to have a “clean” draft to DESE by the end of February so there is time for DESE feedback and any final school committee votes before town warrant deadlines. Committee members noted March 7 as a March/early‑March target related to town warrant planning and said town printing deadlines push toward early March publication. Attorneys for the school committee, the two member towns and DESE will continue exchange of drafts; any additional DESE‑required edits would return to the school committee for a vote before placement on town warrants.

Action recorded during this meeting: committee staff reported that the school committee had voted at a prior meeting to adopt Attorney Sweeney’s option 3 into the amendment draft; the transcript does not record a roll call or tally for that earlier vote. The current committee did not take a new formal vote at this session on amendments beyond directing continued legal work and review.

The committee scheduled follow‑up work and agreed to meet again in two weeks to review attorney edits and any additional DESE comments; members reiterated that further substantive changes should be vetted with legal counsel before being returned to DESE or placed on warrants.