NEWBURYPORT — Following the most recent meeting of a task force looking into revising the agreement that binds 11 communities to Whittier Tech High School, task force founder Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon is expressing doubt that Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett is willing to make any changes.
“Although I haven’t heard from the Haverhill City Council on this, we have one community telling us that they’re not interested in doing it,” he said. “And that’s coming from the mayor’s office, over there.”
The Haverhill-based Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School includes students from each of the 11 communities that all pay a percentage of the school’s budget based on the agreement ratified in 1967. Those communities are: Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury and West Newbury.
The agreement was under intense scrutiny last winter when voters in the 11 communities shot down a plan to build a $444.6 million new building by a wide margin in January. In every community but Haverhill residents voted against the project.
In the aftermath of the failed vote, Reardon called for the formation of a Whittier task force, made up of representatives from each of the district municipalities represented on the Whittier School Committee to potentially revise the 1967 regional agreement. However, any change to the agreement needs to be approved by all 11 cities and towns.
So far, according to Reardon, the only holdout towards making any revisions is Barrett.
“Haverhill has made it very clear they’re not interested in changing the regional agreement, at all,” he said.
Reardon went on to say Barrett told the group early on that her city has no interest in changing any part of the agreement. He also said she did not elaborate further.
Barrett said in an email her job is to look out for the best interest of Haverhill.
Although she didn’t go into detail, Barrett added she has had a different experience with fellow Whittier communities than Reardon.
“I have had countless conversations with the elected and appointed leaders of the other Whittier Tech member communities,” she said. “Many have expressed to me that, if they were in my shoes, they’d take the same position I have.”
Reardon added he has also worked closely with Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove in the effort.
When asked for her take on the matter, Gove declined to comment about Barrett’s stance.
What the Amesbury mayor would say is that the most important takeaway from the task force meetings is every community representative is participating.
“Everyone’s at the table and there’s an acknowledgment the district agreement was part of why the vote for the new building failed,” Gove said. “There’s also a desire to ensure we are in a better position, when any potential future vote comes up.”
West Newbury Town Manager Angus Jennings was more forthcoming regarding where he felt talks were going with Barrett.
“Mayor Barrett has stated clearly and unambiguously that she would oppose any proposed amendments to the regional agreement, based on an assumption that any proposed changes would likely include proposed changes to the funding formula, and would therefore be expected to increase the proportional cost to her constituents,” Jennings wrote in an email.
Jennings also acknowledged that task force members expressed to her they would likely see things similarly in her position.
“However, her administration’s position has left many of us feeling we may be at a stalemate, and questioning what level of effort is warranted toward potential changes to the regional agreement, knowing that any proposed changes – the approval of which requires unanimity among the 11 communities – would be expected to be opposed by (at least) one community,” Jennings wrote.
Having Haverhill block any revisions doesn’t mean changing the regional agreement is impossible, Reardon added.
“It doesn’t die here. This just means we have to take a different route, which means we probably have to go the legislative one,” he said. “That’s still open. So, I, along with Mayor Gove, really encourage everybody to have these important conversations.”
The Whittier task force, Reardon said, will continue working together to come to a consensus.
“We should keep working through this, even though it looks like one community is going to push back,” he said. “Then, if we have to take that legislative route, we will.”
Any revised or new plan, he added, would be based on other regional agreements that have been updated over the last few years.
“That would have to go to the Whittier School Committee,” Reardon said. “Then, they would also go to each of the 11 communities to be ratified. That would have to be unanimous for that to take place.”
The task force had its first meeting in March. Reardon said it has met under a handful of times since.
“We haven’t had a ton of meetings. But we had a couple of meetings right off and I thought they were good conversations,” he said. “Our last meeting was held (virtually) about a month ago. I think we were kind of deciding about how to move forward.”
The workgroup has been spending the summer working in smaller subcommittees focusing on finance and administration, among other things, according to Reardon.
“Our next meeting as a full group should be in September,” he said.