Uvalde, Texas, is almost 2,200 miles away from Chatham Elementary School. But for the school's principal, Jennifer Kelly, it feels much closer to home. A total of 21 people, including 19 students and two teachers, were killed in the May 24 shooting at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School, making it one of the most deadly school shootings on record in the United States. The shooting has reopened the national debate ...

But Wants Guarantee If Parcel Is Turned Over To Town CHATHAM – Repeatedly, top candidates offered jobs in the Monomoy Regional School District decline because they can't afford to live in the area. “The housing situation has changed in the last two years, creating a situation that really threatens the quality of the school district,” said Superintendent of Schools Scott Carpenter. “That puts us in a bind an...

Nauset Schools To Make Town-by-town Decisions When they return to classes Monday after winter break, students in the Monomoy Regional School District could opt to leave their face masks at home. While they’re still required on school buses, in nurse’s offices and for students returning from COVID-19 quarantine, masks will be optional in Monomoy classrooms starting Feb. 28. In the Nauset district, which span...

When it comes to bringing the next Monomoy school budget to voters, district and town officials came prepared with sharp pencils, but they probably wish they had a crystal ball. They’ve prepared a $42,801,403 spending plan for fiscal 2023, and two formulas for the town’s school assessment: one using the current terms of the regional agreement, and another with each town paying for its own elementary school. It...

Salary, Insurance Hikes Will Increase School Budget To $43 Million If town meeting voters in Chatham and Harwich approve changes to the Monomoy School District regional agreement requiring each town to pay the operating costs of its own elementary school, Chatham's share of the next school budget will increase by $800,000, about $200,000 more than previously forecast. Slightly more than $100,000 of the incr...

HARWICH – Language changes to the Monomoy Regional School District agreement that would reduce budget inequity by having each town pay for its own elementary school gained the support of selectmen last week. Under the present agreement the town of Harwich is subsidizing the per student cost for the operation of the Chatham Elementary School. In the agreement, school budget contributions of both towns are based...

Monomoy Regional School District Superintendent Dr. Scott Carpenter is one of four finalists for the superintendent position in both the Barnstable Public Schools and the Hingham Public Schools. Both communities are expected to name the successful candidate shortly after the holiday break. “There are moments in life when leaving your comfort zone may open the door to tremendous personal growth,” Carpenter wrot...

CHATHAM — The select board agrees that Chatham should pay its own way when it comes to running the elementary school, rather than leaning on subsidies from Harwich. But some members say that such a change should also include steps to give the town more local control of the school. Having made a similar presentation to the Harwich selectmen several weeks earlier, Monomoy Regional Schools Superintendent Scott Ca...

A mask requirement for students returning to the Monomoy schools isn’t just a means of controlling the person-to-person spread of COVID-19. School officials say it’s an incentive for students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated as soon as they’re eligible. The Monomoy school committee approved the mask mandate last week as part of its school reopening plan. While the requirement for face coverings drew vocal ...

To Address Elementary School Funding Disparity Voters will likely have to wait until the spring to consider a change to the Monomoy Regional School agreement designed to boost financial equity between Chatham and Harwich. But school officials say the fiscal impact of delaying the vote from a fall special town meeting to the May annual town meeting comes as no big surprise. On Monday, the Harwich board of se...

Monomoy’s soccer program just got a little more serious. On Monday night, the South Coast Soccer League voted to accept the newly-formed Monomoy Youth Soccer program as a member of its league. Monomoy Youth Soccer was spearheaded by president Jason Laramee and vice president Jenn Peterson, who serves as the girls varsity coach at Monomoy Regional High School. “Although the rec departments offer some opportu...

CHATHAM — Monomoy teachers, nurses, specialists and other instructional faculty members will soon be working under a new contract. The three-year pact, which takes effect Sept. 1, was recently ratified by the school committee and the Monomoy Regional Education Association. It provides for salary increases and special stipends for certain instructional assistants who work with youngsters with special needs. ...

CHATHAM – Danielle Tolley isn't worried that Chatham Elementary School will close. She's more interested in the way the conversation around the school's future developed, how it snowballed from concern over low enrollment to demands that the town increase its share of the Monomoy Regional School District budget. “It feels like something is on fire, when it clearly isn't,” she said. It's important to get to ...

Changes have been implemented to the Monomoy Regional School District’s Equity Task Force. In the fall, the school district invited all of its parents and caregivers, teachers and staff, students and community members to be a part of a newly-formed Monomoy Equity Task Force, which was created to bring more equity to a school district with a population that becomes more diverse each year. “We initially start...

Discussions Continue On Elementary School Costs HARWICH — After selectmen threatened several times to reject the Monomoy Regional School District FY22 budget, the board voted 4-0 last week to support the $41,561,134 package. The school budget is up $300,000 over the present year, a 0.73 percent increase. However, Harwich’s share is $27,361,049, a $541,002 increase, or 2.02 percent. Chatham's contribution of...

The Monomoy Regional School District launched a pooled COVID-19 testing program this week, designed to identify spread of the disease among students and teachers who show no symptoms. But as of Tuesday, only about half of the school population had agreed to be tested. Superintendent of Schools Scott Carpenter said more permission slips are being received each day, and he hopes by the end of the four-week poole...