Carla Occaso
Washington Central school board is negotiating with Turtle Island Children’s Center
By Carla Occaso
Turtle Island Children’s Center may soon be operating out of Doty Elementary School in Worcester if things advance as described recently by Washington Central Unified Union School District Superintendent Steven Dellinger-Pate and Doty Principal Gillian Fuqua.
“Of our available space, Doty is the best option to meet their (Turtle Island’s) needs and we have had the fire marshall and state licensor visit to determine what spaces can be licensed for use by Turtle Island. We know that some space will work and we are starting to look at lease terms that can be brought to the board for approval in May,” Dellinger-Pate wrote on a Front Porch Forum update on April 14. Dellinger-Pate also wrote that people from Turtle Island visited Doty, Calais Elementary, and Berlin Elementary schools in recent days to see any space that might be available for their use. A call and an email to Dellinger-Pate were not immediately returned.
Doty Principal Gillian Fuqua spoke briefly to The Bridge, but referred all questions to the central office. However, she did say there is a meeting being held April 17 for parents to ask questions about the plan. She had sent out an email to families with students at Doty inviting them to the meeting on the afternoon of April 16.
“Turtle Island is in negotiations with the board to lease space at Doty and moving much of their program to our campus,” Fuqua wrote in the email obtained by The Bridge. This plan will require Doty to move the combined fifth and sixth grade classroom to the Rumney School in Middlesex. “The change is happening faster than I think any of us would expect and I recognize this could be upsetting and difficult to hear,” Fuqua wrote further.
Discussing this transfer of fifth and sixth grade students is the key purpose for the meeting April 17 at Doty, she wrote. However, she said this dovetails with the state’s move to restructure education and the national drop in birth rate, which makes small schools like Doty “vulnerable”.
A call to Turtle Island was unsuccessful. The next school board meeting is scheduled for May 7, according to the district’s website.
The children’s center has also been asking the City of Montpelier to use the former Elks Club clubhouse on Country Club Road for space during the meeting March 26, but nothing has been decided on that front.
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