TIVERTON – Citing the need to decrease a seven-figure deficit in its upcoming fiscal budget and declining enrollment, the Tiverton School Committee on Feb. 11 voted unanimously to permanently close Fort Barton Elementary School at the end of the current school year.
The decision to decrease the number of elementary schools in town from three to two came after an hour-plus discussion between committee members, the public and school administrators. With Fort Barton closing, Pocasset and Ranger elementary schools will remain operational.
Tiverton School Committee Chairperson Diane Farnworth, who made the motion to close the school, also called for the school superintendent to craft consolidation plans for the committee’s consideration at the committee's Feb. 25 meeting.
“This is not an easy decision, but it is what I believe to be in the best interest of the school district,” Farnworth said. “When voters approved the plan to build and rebuild three elementary schools, we were a much different school system."
The discussion was based on the Tiverton School District needing to close a $1.8 million gap in the district’s upcoming 2026 fiscal year budget. Principals in the town’s schools originally pleaded with the committee to not cut staff across the district, citing the schools would lose progress made on education if those cuts are enacted.
However, Farnworth said the district’s enrollment declined more than 30% over the last two decades. There is “no indication” that those trends will reverse themselves, she said.
Farnworth said the district can realize “significant savings” by reducing the number of class sections, school lunch costs and administrative transportation with Fort Barton closing. Also, if Fort Barton remained operational, it would cost the district “in the form of elimination of services and programs,” Farnworth said.
“I am not willing to make this sacrifice for the benefit of a school building,” Farnworth said. “Its people, teachers, administrators, students and families who make our schools, not the buildings.”
Farnworth also left the door open for Fort Barton to reopen in time. Farnworth also said those plans should include options on still using the Fort Barton school building for “other educational purposes for the foreseeable future” at least until the building’s debt is satisfied. The school could reopen as such if enrollments “increase materially,” she said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
