Reynolds, West Middlesex school districts to continue sharing superintendent, services

Aug. 3—After a successful trial year, the West Middlesex and Reynolds school districts are going to continue sharing services for the next four years.

The agreement, which includes sharing Superintendent Raymond Omer and Special Education Director Scott McCaskey between the two districts, will remain in place until June 30, 2026, according to school documents.

The agreement was approved in June by both the West Middlesex and Reynolds school boards.

The arrangement began in late 2020, when former Reynolds Superintendent John Sibeto announced his intent to retire. By early 2021, Reynolds officials began looking into sharing a superintendent with another school district in the area.

West Middlesex school officials responded positively to the idea, and the arrangement and both districts and the state Department of Education approved the arrangement.

The shared services agreement began on a trial basis for the 2021-22 school year, with committees formed by each district's school board. These committees met throughout the year to discuss the agreement's effectiveness.

However, there were some changes to how the agreement was implemented because of inefficiencies identified throughout the school year, including how Omer organized his days.

Initially, Omer said he planned to spend half his day in one district, then drive to the other district for the day's second half. Over time, that shifted to spending an entire day in either district, while communicating virtually with the other district whenever needed.

"I'd get to one district, start working, and then things might take more than four or five hours to finish up," Omer said.

Some of the flexibility in overseeing two school districts comes from the increased familiarity school officials have with technology due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which sometimes required staff and students to work remotely.

While important matters can still be attended to in-person, school officials are now more efficient at using phones and online systems to communicate, whether it's hosting a virtual meeting or using similar employee systems for both districts.

Despite the continued shared services agreement, Omer stressed that there are no plans to merge the two school districts, which do not share a common border. The school campuses are about 12 miles apart. Reynolds has about 1,000 students in two buildings and West Middlesex has about 800 students in three buildings.

Officials from both districts want to continue focusing on the unique aspects of the Reynolds and West Middlesex communities, such as their own school colors and mascots.

"They're both community-oriented, student-driven schools, and they're very similar in many ways, but we're not looking to merge the schools," Omer said.

The committees formed by both school boards to oversee the agreement will continue to exist, but they will meet only as needed, Omer said.

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