Letter from New Families

To the Editor,

Region 12 has hired a firm (Kerin & Fazio) to conduct a real estate impact study.  The purpose of this study is to find out if communities who close their only school will experience an adverse impact on real estate values. The firm has hit a snag as their initial findings show that every town in the state of Connecticut has a school.  The firm is now looking to find “comparable” towns in other states. 

We represent seven new families who have recently moved into the town of Bridgewater. We all have children either enrolled at the Burnham School, or children who we intend to enroll at the Burnham School.  There are many reasons why we chose Bridgewater, Connecticut to raise our families.  By far the most important consideration was the local schools.  Bridgewater represents all that we were looking for: a high quality education, a small school close to home and a tight knit community. We also recognize that with a school in town, there are many other family friendly services, programs and events that naturally follow.  Bridgewater has a wonderful recreation center, playgrounds, summer camp programs, a children’s librarian, annual fishing derbies, Easter egg hunts etc.  It would be unlikely that these services and children focused activities would continue without a local school to draw new families into the town.

We would not have considered Bridgewater without a hometown school.  If Region 12 consolidates in Washington, it would be highly unlikely that we would have chosen Bridgewater which is the furthest away from the proposed elementary school. 

We hope that this “real” data will help to solve the question regarding real estate values.  Is there an impact if you close the only school in town?  Absolutely!  You will lose a whole segment of prospective buyers.

Sincerely,

Dawn & Fred Basli, Bridgewater

Suzanne & John Creech, Bridgewater

Erin & David Elovecky, Bridgewater

Diana & Jeff Kelly Bridgewater,

Shannon & Zach Klaus, Bridgewater

Megan & Alex Romanoff, Bridgewater

Amanda Telford & Morgan Hill, Bridgewater