Published 11:26 pm, Tuesday, April 1, 2014
To the Editor:
I am a longtime resident of Roxbury, and a somewhat vocal opponent of the current Region 12Board of Education's proposal to amend our regional plan and close our three hometown elementary schools.
I recently obtained a copy of Region 12's "Report on the Proposed Amendment to the Regionalization Plan" from our town clerk's office.
State Statute 10-47c requires "The regional B.O.E. shall prepare a report including the question to be presented, file a copy with the (state) Commissioner of Education and the clerk of each member town, and make copies of such report available to the public."
Although it appears this report filed by the Region 12 Board Education is in compliance with the letter of the law, it misses the mark in many ways.
The purpose of the report should be to provide the people of Region 12 with the information necessary to cast a vote, insuring a well-informed electorate.
Rather than preparing such a report, the board decided to recycle its 2012 strategic plan and paste its referendum question within it.
The report does not contain any specific data relevant to the referendum question, such as enrollment projections, projected class and grade sizes, transportation costs , length of bus rides, school start and end times, transportation costs, staffing costs or building efficiency data on a building by building basis.
The report does contain, however, a two-page opinion written by Johnathan Costas, a facilitator hired to "guide the work." My expectations of receiving a comprehensive, unbiased, document have been abandoned.
In deference to the original authors of the report (a dedicated group of citizens and educators from all three towns), they probably did not anticipate their report would be "bootlegged" and presented as "The Region 12 Report on the Proposed Amendment to the Regional Plan."
At the March 13 board meeting which followed the public meeting, Superintendent of Schools Pat Cosentino stated it was ultimately her decision to submit the above mentioned report, and the inclusion of any specific data would have been" redundant," as it was already available on the board's website.
Apparently, insuring a well-informed electorate is not on Dr. Cosentino's "to do list."
In advance of the Region 14 referendum vote back on Feb. 17, 2011, the Region 14 Board of Education submitted a report to the constituents of the region. It was clear, comprehensive and unbiased, containing all of the above mentioned types data that the current Reg. 12 referendum report does not.
A condensed version of that report was mailed to every resident of Woodbury and Bethlehem.
If Superintendent Cosentino and the Region 12 board were to provide me with such a report, I would be able to make an informed decision and just shut up and vote.
Lacking that, I subscribe to the old adage "If I don't understand it, I don't like it."
My intent is to vote "no" in the upcoming referendum, and I urge the people of Roxbury, Bridgewater and Washington to do likewise.
Roxbury
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