Cape & Islands News

Ptown outflanks Nauset Regional

Cape-tip town talking with new Monomoy Regional rather than Nauset

If Carolyn Cragin accomplishes even half of her goals for Monomoy School District,
we'll be forced to add her to the list of America's most powerful woman.

Is Provincetown's interest real, or a good bargaining move?

By Walter Brooks, staff reporters and contributors.

It's an extra 15 miles for Provincetown students to be bused pass Nauset H.S. to Monomoy H.S., a total ride from Provincetown twice a day of 37 miles each way.When we visited with the new Monomoy District's Superintendent Dr. Carolyn Cragin two months ago, we came away with the strong impression that despite a career in the sheltered environment of education, she understands business at the same level of bucolic Buffet or Bloomberg.

This was brought home to us again when we heard that Provincetown Superintendent of Schools Dr. Beth Singer has already asked Dr. Cragin about the possibility of sending some of their Provincetown High School (PHS) students to the new Monomoy Regional School District rather then continue at Nauset High School in Eastham as the town's high school students began doing two years ago.

And Ms. Singer has the support of her school committee which voted unanimously Dec. 13 to instruct her to explore the possibility of a tuition agreement to send high school students to Monomoy.

PHS 9th and 10th grade students are already at N.H.S., and the Cape tip high school looks like a ghost town today with only a handful of juniors and seniors waiting to graduate. The last class graduates in June 2013.

Ptown to Nauset: 22 miles; Ptown to Harwich: 37 miles

The Provincetown high schoolers are already making a 44 miles round trip to attend Nauset. Choosing to go to Harwich will add 30 miles more each day. So, why would Provincetown choose Monomoy over Nauset?

Meanwhile, the new Monomoy District may be seeing problems elsewhere. There are rumors that Sturgis Charter High School which is opening a second campus in Hyannis is getting a surge in applicants from Chatham as well as Nauset Regional towns and Sandwich. It isn't your grandfather's public school system any longer.

Will Monomoy Region become Chatwichtown Region?

Meanwhile, it is reported that Provincetown may be exploring the concept of joining the Monomoy Regional School District as a member town.   Membership in Monomoy would give Ptown more of a say in their children’s education than they currently enjoy under the tuition payment arrangement with Nauset.  Section XI of the Monomoy Regional Agreement allows for amendment of the agreement to allow additional towns to join the district.

British satirist James Gillray pictured William Pitt and Napoleon Bonaparte 'carving up Europe' in an 1805 cartoon. Can it be what the Dennis-Yarmouth School District and Nauset Regional School District have in mind for the fledgling Monomoy School District?Nauset Regional Schools’ superintendent Dr. Richard Hoffmann did not respond immediately to emails sent to him on Sunday.  We will publish his remarks as soon as he submits them.

If Provincetown was included as a third town in the Monomoy District, it would have some representation on the school committee, albeit a smaller one than either Chatham or Harwich.

But "some input" is better than none at all, and as tuition clients at Nauset they have no input.

Many people feel there is a natural affinity between Provincetown and Monomoy.  Indeed, Harwich and Ptown worked together on a cooperative varsity hockey team from 1998 to 2007.  The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) runs a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funded program for the arts and runs buses from Harwich High School with stops at various locations between Harwich and Ptown using a Provincetown school bus.

In recent years, Provincetown has done some innovative work at the elementary level.  With an emphasis on technology and international focus, Provincetown’s program would mesh well with Monomoy’s 1:1 laptop program which is already working its way through the Harwich and Chatham High Schools. 

If Provincetown residents endorsed joining the new Monomoy District, it would need a three-quarters vote of the present Monomoy Regional School Committee, and the process can begin by Provincetown school committee sending a letter to the Monomoy school committee.

In our interview with Superintendent Cragin she expressed her desire that the new Monomoy Regional High School be the most technologically sophisticated high school on the Cape, a position sure to attract school choice students and perhaps even new members for the Monomoy region.  Perhaps that attraction is enough to justify an extra fifteen minutes’ travel time each way for Provincetown’s high school students.

What’s wrong with Nauset?

Let’s be clear:  nothing is “wrong” with Nauset Regional High School (NRHS).  By all accounts, NRHS is one of the best in Southeastern Massachusetts.  With consistently high test scores, diverse curriculum offerings and excellent extracurricular programs, Nauset has a lot to offer. 

By the same token, NRHS is a school of 1,000 students – which might be a bit of a culture shock for Provincetown kids coming out of a small, intimate learning environment in their home town.  

Perhaps they would feel more comfortable at the smaller Monomoy High and be attracted to Dr. Cragin’s “private school atmosphere in a public school.”  Rumors are afoot that Monomoy is exploring participation in the International Baccalaureate program or something that approximates the IB experience.

It is not lost on this reporter that the Provincetown-Monomoy discussions might be part of an elaborate ruse to affect negotiations for next year’s Provincetown-Nauset tuition agreement.  Ptown could simply be showing a little garter to Monomoy to rattle Dr. Hoffmann’s cage.

Meanwhile at Dennis-Yarmouth…

The town of Dennis continues to explore removing its K-8 from the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District (DY).  If the DY de-regionalization occurs, it might make sense for Dennis to join forces with the Monomoy Region as well.

Competition drives the market

In our recent studies of education on Cape Cod, we have repeatedly been told that Dennis-Yarmouth, Monomoy and Nauset cannot thrive as three distinct districts.  Many administrators predicted the quick demise of Monomoy as the population of young families drops, students leave on school choice and the district falls below critical mass.  One could almost see Nauset and DY waiting to feast on pieces of Monomoy’s carcass. 

We don’t think that’s going to happen. 

Nauset Regional District Superintendent Dr. Richard Hoffmann responded to this story here.Dr. Cragin is a “woman with a plan” and brings the charisma to advance her mission.  With a unification of two attractive school choice “destinations” and a forward-thinking, technology-savvy agenda, the Monomoy Regional School District has already shown its mettle by attracting Provincetown into discussions of a tuition agreement.  If Provincetown joins Monomoy watch for Dennis next as the fledgling district begins to spread its wings.