SHELBURNE, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — The Mohawk/Hawlemont district Sustainability Study will have a busy few months ahead as Berk12 works to analyze five potential models to be reviewed by the Steering Committee and presented to the public for feedback, according to Berk12’s Community Outreach specialist Mary Nash.

In the November update, Berk12 says the analysis will be completed in January of 2025 and feedback sessions will run in February and March.

The five models being analyzed presently are:

  1. No Change. Examine the status quo with projections into the near future if the districts remain as they are currently. No school closures.
  2. Districts Merge. Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Regional School Districts become a single PK-12 regional school district with 8 towns. No school closures.
  3. Move 6th Grade. Move students to Mohawk Trail Regional School (MTRS), making it a grade 6-12 school with a 6-8 middle school. All elementary schools become PK-5. No school closures.  The two scenarios to be considered are maintaining HRSD and MTRSD as separate districts and merging the two districts into a single PK-12 district.
  4. Move 6th grade (and possibly 5th) to MTRS and close one to three elementary schools. The three scenarios to be considered are closing one elementary school, closing two elementary schools, or having all elementary schools consolidate at the Buckland-Shelburne Elementary site.
  5. Single Campus. All schools combine onto a single PreKindergarten-12 campus at MTRS.

The update also includes further details about the possibility of renovation or construction projects as part of various models, and as such “the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Regional School Committees will consider filing a Statement of Interest (SOI) with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The SOI process is conducted annually, and districts must submit their SOIs between January – April 2025.”