With all the changes and decisions facing our schools here in the North Country, many members of the disbanded Connecticut River Collaborative Planning Committee have received inquiries about our previous work regarding possible collaborative solutions to our common problems: declining enrollments, rising costs and the desire to provide our students with the best educational opportunities we can offer. It is clear there is still an interest in working together in some way to achieve these goals. This website provides background and historical documents related to the work of the Connecticut River Collaborative Planning Committee.

A Brief History of Our Inquiry Into an Interstate School District

In March 2018, all local towns voted in favor of being part of a regional conversation to discuss the future of education in the North Country. A year later, the commissioners of education in Vermont and New Hampshire endorsed a committee to formally investigate an interstate school district, and the Connecticut River Collaborative Planning Committee was formed. The committee comprised 21 members from New Hampshire's School Administrative Unit 7 and Vermont's Essex North Supervisory Union.

The committee met for several years, with hundreds of hours of volunteer work and meetings. In the end, and for varied reasons, they felt they did not have a consensus for an interstate agreement, and they disbanded and concluded their work.