OPINION >
LETTERS
Reviews Regional Plan
Published:
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 7:07 AM EDT
To
the Editor:
The first thing you should do in Long Range Planning is review the current Region 12 Plan which states that (1) Each town will have K-5 and (2) There will be a school in each town. What changes to the plan will the voters in each town approve?
The current Long Range Planning Committee seems to be headed towards a consolidated K-12 school with all students on one campus. Would the three towns accept the younger children (K-5) on the same campus as the M/HS with a building cost of $50 to 70 million when the enrollment has dropped from a high of 1,169 in 2003 to the 528 projected for 2022?
This may not be acceptable to the taxpayers mainly because of the cost.
If the Region Plan was changed to say: “Each town will have a school of at least three grades.” Would that compromise work and could it pass a 1047-C Regional vote?
Example: Primary, Booth, Roxbury (K-2); Intermediate, Burnham, Bridgewater (3-5); Middle, Shepaug, Washington (6-8) and High, Shepaug, Washington (9-12).
The benefits of having the early grade students together but separate from the older students are numerous for the district. Each school would have about 100 students. Closing WPS would accommodate having classes for all grades together.
Without an acceptable wording for the change to the Regional Plan, the work on the Long Range Committee will be a wasted effort.
Gerald J. Ronan
Bridgewater
The first thing you should do in Long Range Planning is review the current Region 12 Plan which states that (1) Each town will have K-5 and (2) There will be a school in each town. What changes to the plan will the voters in each town approve?
The current Long Range Planning Committee seems to be headed towards a consolidated K-12 school with all students on one campus. Would the three towns accept the younger children (K-5) on the same campus as the M/HS with a building cost of $50 to 70 million when the enrollment has dropped from a high of 1,169 in 2003 to the 528 projected for 2022?
This may not be acceptable to the taxpayers mainly because of the cost.
If the Region Plan was changed to say: “Each town will have a school of at least three grades.” Would that compromise work and could it pass a 1047-C Regional vote?
Example: Primary, Booth, Roxbury (K-2); Intermediate, Burnham, Bridgewater (3-5); Middle, Shepaug, Washington (6-8) and High, Shepaug, Washington (9-12).
The benefits of having the early grade students together but separate from the older students are numerous for the district. Each school would have about 100 students. Closing WPS would accommodate having classes for all grades together.
Without an acceptable wording for the change to the Regional Plan, the work on the Long Range Committee will be a wasted effort.
Gerald J. Ronan
Bridgewater
No comments:
Post a Comment