DIXFIELD – Socialization was the crux of a Canton parents group’s request Monday night to jump-start discussions to merge Canton Elementary School children into Peru School next year.
Group representative Christopher Wainwright said his son is the only boy in Canton’s kindergarten class of 15 students. Likewise, Rachel Buck of Peru said that her daughter is the only girl in a class of 15 kindergarten students at Peru School.
“I’m excited at the possibility of having some other students come up,” Buck said. “It would be a more equitable mix of boys and girls. We’re very boy-heavy; they’ve got girls.”
However, if Canton students are merged into Peru School, SAD 21 would likely have to close the Canton school, which Wainwright said is a given.
He said, “It’s going to close, we know that. The general feeling is that people there support it in theory.”
Canton Director Scott Verrill said that wasn’t true.
“Is closure a given? Because I have had phone calls from parents who are not supportive of the idea,” Verrill said.
Thomas Ward, SAD 21’s superintendent, said Canton residents “are adamant about keeping their school open as long as they can.”
Wainwright said he believed that his two children were “getting the short end of the stick” for education in Canton, because no opportunity for socialization exists.
Canton and Dixfield elementary schools Principal Kathy Richard admitted there is a diversity problem in the Canton school.
She recommended going to multi-grade levels.
But both Wainwright and his wife, Erin, objected.
“I’d like my kid to be in her own classroom, and my son, too,” Erin Wainwright said of their kindergarten student and second-grader.
“This is not just about education. It’s about socialization and diversity,” she added.
Ward said Tuesday that he expects to hold an informational meeting in late May in Canton to get feedback from residents.
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