About NMH Northfield

NMH stewardship panel talks future of Northfield campus:
Committee awaiting proposal submissions

NORTHFIELD-Northfield Mount Hermon School has begun the job of deciding the who, what, when, and how of the Northfield campus’s future.

The newly formed NMH Northfield Stewardship Committee has met to address its first task: how and what it needs to be able to take care of the Northfield campus.

The board of trustees of the private school decided in January to consolidate the boarding and day school to one campus, in the Mount Hermon section of Gill. The decision, according to school officials, was prompted by the cost of running the kind of school that fulfills the mission of NMH. In particular, school officials have said they want to enhance the ability of the school to make scholarships and financial aid available to those families that cannot afford the more than $30,000 a year tuition.

"By forming the committee, the school is preparing itself to manage the development of a plan for an alternate use of the Northfield campus," said Carol Ramsey, committee chairwoman, a 1970 alumna.

President Richard Mueller will directly support the committee of six trustee members, she said.

Ramsey said that although it has become Mueller's primary job to determine the use of the original campus of Dwight L. Moody's School for Girls, he did not turn over a folder of proposals for the committee to review.

"I haven't heard from Harvard," said Ramsey laughing about the rumors.

And then more seriously, she added, "These things take time to prepare. People need time to prepare (proposals)."

One of the jobs of the committee will be to "generate proposals" and to do that, the committee needs to understand "how (the) Northfield (campus) looks in terms of its options."

"It would be nice if it were something that complemented what we're doing on the Mount Hermon campus," she said.

She listed educational uses, a retreat center, or a retirement community for alumni as some types of uses that would complement the school's purpose.

That said, Ramsey acknowledged the "need to be completely open to all potential prospects..." And to keep in mind the "stakeholders"--a list that includes the town of Northfield and Franklin County.

At the top of the list of stakeholders are "the school and students," said Ramsey.

It's a distinction Ramsey's counterpart in Northfield, Laura DiBari, who is co-chair of the town's NMH Transition Committee, understands.

"It's not our property. We want to be a partner, but we understand the limits of our role. I want to be clear about that," said DiBari.

DiBari said her committee of more than 20 residents has met three times as a full committee and divided itself into subcommittees to cover specific subjects such as historic preservation.

DiBari said she had heard from NMH about he formation of the Stewardship Committee and the school is working with the town committee to have a meeting with Ramsey.

The next meeting of the town committee is June 30 at 6:30 with a location to be determined.

Ramsey said the Stewardship Committee plans to include town participants on its advisory committee along with others who would be brought in for their expertise or because of the interests they represent.

"I intend to be as transparent as I can be. We certainly would hope that we develop a process that garners trust."

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