Attorney Jackie Cowin obtained a Judgment on behalf of the Town of Granville in the amount of $146,050 against the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, based on the District’s breach of the Regional School District Agreement with respect to the closure of a school building in Granville. Specifically, the Agreement provided, among other things, that the District would not close a school in a member town less than one year after a study of the proposed school closure was performed. The Town asserted that the District failed to provide the required one year’s notice when, in February, 2017, it voted to close the Granville Village School as of June 30, 2017. The District asserted that it had met the one-year requirement because the issue of school closure had been under consideration for more than a year; alternatively, the District asserted that extraordinary circumstances justified the early closure due to an unexpected budget shortfall. Following a two-day bench trial, the Hampden Superior Court held that the District had failed to provide the required notice, in breach of the Agreement. The parties subsequently settled on $146,050 as damages for the early closure.
