Feels consolidation would prompt 'community collateral damage'
Published 5:30 pm, Wednesday, March 12, 2014
To the Editor:
I have lived in Roxbury for 30 years now, with all five of my children having attended Booth Free School.
It comes as no surprise to me our current Region 12Board of Education has once again come up with a plan to close our three hometown elementary schools and construct a new consolidatd pre-K to grade-five school in Washington.
This same proposal, which is now referred to as the "Preferred Option," has been suggested by past boards several times in the last three decades.
Reasons for shuttering our schools have varied over the years.
Previous boards have cited `necessary' and prohibitively expensive repairs, projected decreases in enrollment, and projected increases in enrollment.
The current board stresses the most recent studies which predict there will not be enough children (or tax dollars), to make it viable to educate them in our three "inefficient," hometown schools.
Though the perceived problems have varied, the solution has always been the same: close our local schools and build a new one.
The Board of Education has hired an architectural firm and a project manager, at a cost to taxpayers, sent out a full-color brochure with pictures of the preliminary conceptual design, and set the wheels in motion to obtain the $40 million to bond the project.
The misstep in this process is the constituents of Region 12 have not voted whether we want to close our three schools and build the one that is pictured in the brochure.
A great deal of data in regard to the necessity for and cost of "The Preferred Option" has been circulated and discussed.
Should the voters of Roxbury and Bridgewater approve this option? We would be the only towns in Connecticut without a hometown elementary school.
I personally believe there are three major points to consider before casting a ballot.
1) The numbers -- the Board of Education believes the presented numbers (demographic and dollars) speak for themselves. Math may be the universal language, but everyone still speaks different dialects.
Numbers can be selectively arranged so as to make any strategy seem viable. Anyone who thinks the numerical data the board has circulated is cast in stone is being naïve.
2) Quality of education -- our three K-5 schools have been doing a fine job of educating our children for decades. They are the pride of their hometowns.
Burnham School students' performance on state Mastery tests were in the top 1 percent of all schools in the state with a performance index of 95.5.
Booth Free and Washington Primary are not far behind.
There is no available data to support the board's assurance that a new regional pre-K to grade-five school on the Shepaug Valley Middle/High School campus would improve educational quality.
There are no regional pre-K to grade-five schools in Connecticut to use as a model. The general consensus suggests smaller grade spans and classes are the preferred model.
3) Community collateral damage -- Roxbury, like Bridgewater and Washington, is a small town. There is not much to it really: mostly just hard-working people busy with family, work, business and personal matters.
We have the Town Hall, the post office, the volunteer fire department, the senior center, the library, Roxbury Market, our churches and Booth Free School.
Any one or all of these facilities could be consolidated in the name of efficiency (see Malloy's central governance), but at what cost and to whom?
Here, children bear the brunt of consolidation to serve an administrative end.
Our hometown schools are an integral part of the fabric of our communities.
Tear that fabric and it is hard to predict how it will unravel. This "community" issue deserves at least as much consideration as the "cost and quality of education" in our towns.
While we may be facing many difficult problems as to the future of our towns and our educational system, closing the Booth Free, Burnham and the Washington Primary schools and building a new, consolidated school is not the solution.
Roxbury
Believes 'change would be good' in Region 12
Published 5:30 pm, Wednesday, March 12, 2014
To the Editor:
Region 12 has many tough decisions to make in the upcoming months.
It will bring into play not only facts but emotions and values from many separate families in the district.
I would like to start by admitting I certainly do not know every family's thoughts on these upcoming decisions but I do feel the need to express my own thoughts.
I could be among a few select people who believe change is a good thing.
From infancy to adulthood, the human condition is one of constant change and growth and one of my favorite life quotes comes from Max DePree, who says, "In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be, by remaining what we are."
Region 12 once again has the opportunity to be a leader, just as we were when we began the senior project, which many schools now emulate.
As when we were one of the first to try block scheduling, even though we have changed back; the point is we led the way and we changed when the time called for it.
I strongly believe our cost per student is already too high and we cannot continue to spread thin our students and educators as our enrollment continues to decline.
We should choose to unite as a region, for change we know is coming. Let's once again take the lead so as other small regions in the state who face the same difficulties can look to us as an example of how to move forward and succeed.
Our children deserve the best we have to offer and it should be better than we had in the past.
We all can find sentimental reasons to hold onto things (buildings) that have brought many happy memories.
However, we need to put into perspective the thought "it has always been that way so that's how it should remain."
Declining enrollment in our district is not a falsity and waiting too long to address it or grasping status quo too tightly will probably dismantle our school district all together.
Change is scary for many, but most amazing things in history have come from that exact thing. It may be time to treasure our past histories but embrace change for the new generation.
Carrie DeMilio
Roxbury
Advocates 'one for the good of all' in Region 12
Published 6:04 pm, Wednesday, March 12, 2014
To the Editor:
I have thoughts regarding the Gut Feeling column ofArt Cummings, editor emeritus of the The Spectrum, about "Future of Region 12 hanging in balance."
First and foremost -- Washington, its government officials. residents, voters or the community at large are not the bad guys in this situation.
As Mr. Cummings states: "To be fair, Region 12 faces serious challenges, with the rapidly declining student enrollment and spiraling per-pupil expenditures casting doubt about the future of the district. And enlightened solutions have to be found."
That last sentence is the crux of the challenge and issue -- Shepaug Region 12 is its own entity, an approved, state-authorized school district -- not governed by the local governments of the three supporting towns.
The district is governed by the elected Board of Education of Region 12, under the direction of the state Education Department.
By the Region 12 board's own mission statement, they are there to carry out the wishes and direction of the state Board of Education, to educate the children of the Region.
However, collaboration, cooperation and communication with the local officials are paramount for the success of the region. The state government is seeking and encouraging more regionalization at many levels, not just education. Our Region 12 is one of the smallest in the state.
Therefore, back to an enlightened solution, which a lot of people of the Region have and continue to put countless amounts of time and effort to find that solution.
As mentioned, this is not new, but continues to escape a solution. Since 1967, Region 12 was established as a K-12 region, I believe the first in the state to be a total K-12 system.
Time moves on and change becomes necessary as the situation dictates. Washington's New Preston community elementary school was closed in the late '60s.
I believe Mr. Cummings' article, while he makes several valid points, furthers the discontent and division that he himself speaks of.
It is time to put emotion and what I feel are phony property values claims aside. The system is at a breaking point that needs a real solution; a common-sense, practical, fiscally sound, based on reality for a Region 12 solution.
We, the people of Region 12 need to decide, before the state's Board of Education, building department or OSHA, to name a few, come in and do it for us.
Just like what I feel was a biased 2009 state Supreme Court ruling, by one man, that seemed to forget the one person -- one vote principle for the legally established Region 12.
That not only put Region 12 into turmoil and removed a reasonable solution to be determined by our elected Board of Education and voted by the Region voters, but has carried over to Region 14, with similar divisive results.
We in the Shepaug Region 12 school district would be better served if we all look at the big picture and not our personal, narrow-minded position, that will change as the children grow in short time anyway.
Our children interact with sports and social activities within the region now. The purposed concept, with modern facilities, would be a win-win for the children, the education system, and financially responsible.
Region 12 is a valuable asset to our communities which has developed an excellent representation with a long list of excellent graduates who continue to excel in all walks of life with their successes and accomplishments.
We all should be proud.
As for the bus ride issue, I believe if you live in the New Preston/Lake Waramaug section of Washington, your ride would be as long as or longer than Bridgewater.
No one is losing unless we do nothing.
The proposal before us would be an upgrade to enhance and improve the already valuable system. Shepaug's beautiful rural campus is located on the southern most border of Washington, with the north border of Roxbury -- in the center of the region, convenient to all residents.
If we look at the bigger picture, our region's school education system, not over-spending on outdated buildings, and think regionally, as we have been established since the late '60s, then we can and must solve this serious challenge with an enlightened decision.
One for the good of all. The time is now.
Washington
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