School board, Gilbert School Corp. members battle over contract

WINSTED — For more than two hours, members of the Winchester Board of Education and the Gilbert School Corporation on Thursday argued over the need for an annual contract.

The Zoom meeting was attended by an ad hoc committee assembled to discuss establishing an annual contract between the public school district and the semi-private high school, which is attended by students in grades 7-12, most of whom reside in Winsted.

In its idea of contract negotiations, Winchester school board members want to established tuition and brought that idea to the meeting, asking Gilbert to accept a payment of $16,000 per student and setting that amount before the annual town and school budget hearings in June.

Gilbert School Corporation members view the contract negotiations as a way to discuss programming and facilities, not dollars and cents.

As a result, the divide between the two boards appeared to be widening instead of narrowing, with both sides arguing their points vehemently during the online meeting.

“The Gilbert School is committed to providing education to the students of Winsted, and in return, we need a contract,” said GSC member Ellen Marino. “We’re not here to negotiate tuition, and the dollar amount of tuition. We’re here to discuss a contract, with coordination of curriculum, classes ... We want contract proposals that are

serious.”

Winchester school board chairman Doug Pfenninger said Gilbert’s contract was unacceptable, without a discussion on tuition costs.

“We no longer have the time to drag through that verbose contract you guys have been dusting off every year,” he said. “It’s not

worth our time. If this isn’t the (time )to discuss tuition costs, when will it happen?”

Marino objected to the BOE’s requirement that tuition for Gilbert students be set by June. “To try and spin this arbitrary date of June for a tuition number is not OK,” she said. “Your proposals ... Where you want us to do $16,000 per pupil is outrageous. I think to come out unilaterally

and say ‘This is how much we’re going to pay you’ is unfair. We reject the proposal of a flat rate tuition and establishing that tuition.”

Marino further argued that tuition shouldn’t be based on the number of students attending Gilbert. “You base it on programs and then come up with a number,” she said.

In response, Pfenninger said there would be no contract.

“It appears you want a long term contract, and we don’t think we need one, based on the terms you’ve laid out,” he said. “Our school will have other options to pursue.

“We spent a lot of time talking to you folks, and in the end we get nothing out of it,” Pfenninger said. “If you think we want to do this, and it’s offensive, it’s not. Don’t take it that way. We’ve operated without a contract. Let’s do it again.”

Among its conditions, Gilbert is asking the Winchester school board to

agree to a Memorandum of Understanding and that Gilbert be the exclusive high school for the town’s middle and high school students. The Winchester board doesn’t want to give Gilbert that exclusivity.

“We want to be sure our students have other opportunities,” Pfenninger said, such as sending Winchester students to another district, and named Granby Public Schools as an example. He said the tuition costs the school board came up with were a result of research and study of other school districts and what they offer.

He said Gilbert didn’t “exist except because of us” and that Winchester was the semi-private school’s only customer.

“I don’t think my team has any inclination to pursue this anymore,” he said.

Pfenninger also said a recent lawsuit filed by the Gilbert Trust, involving a piece of property adjacent to the soon-to-be renovated Hinsdale School, was in

“very bad taste.”

“I take exception to the notion that you want a good relationship with us,” he said.

“Gilbert will always remain open to discussion for a contract that works for both sides,” Marino said in response. “We have a responsibility to establish a fair budget ... if you choose to go elsewhere, that’s your right.”

At the end of the meeting, the committee agreed to meet again in two weeks to continue their discussion.

The impasse between the two boards is not new. In fact, the two entities have had difficulty establishing a contract for years, most recently in 2019, when the school district and Gilbert battled over the contract in a similar fashion. In March, 2019, GCS approved a budget of $7.8 million for tuition and other costs. But a contract remained elusive for both sides. At the time, Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley said Gilbert’s budget request was

$600,000 more than 2018’s request, and that the town was asking all departments and agencies to keep their increases at zero.

In July 2019, Gilbert voted to accept town students for the 2019-20 school year as the impasse continued. In a statement at that time, Superintendent Anthony Serio said, “We have had no contract in the past with the Winchester School District, but we always had our doors open because we are in the business of educating children. So often the press paints a picture of strained relationships but, we and the school district work on many areas with mutual understanding. One area is we are here for the students.”

Before the agreement instituted during the tenure of then-Receiver Freeman Burr, who was brought in by the state to oversee the Winchester School District and its programs and staff, Gilbert and Winchester had been operating without a contract since June 30, 2015.