Report Requested on Educational Impact of Prison

Members of the Bellows Falls School Board voted Monday night in the latest development of a proposed justice center in the town. The Board voted to ask the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union to request a formal report into the educational impacts of a proposed federal prison in town.

The proposed $23 million dollar Liberty Mill Justice Center would be built at the former Liberty Paper Co. on Paper Mill Road, and has the potential of bringing up to 60 new jobs to the area according to planners.

But residents of the village and surrounding areas have expressed deep concern of the project, with one group going so far as to request a warrant article on the town’s budget giving residents the right to deny the project.

Board chairman David Clark said during Monday night’s meeting that schools within the district may have differing views on the proposal, and that a report would help the district take an official position on the matter.