Nov. 21 -- In a close vote, cast by nearly 7,000 Ridgefield voters, the Ippoliti site for the sorely needed 5/6 middle school was declared officially dead tonight.
For almost a year, voters have been hearing about the site and its promise to house not only an educationally-superior 5/6 middle school, but also a future elementary school and firehouse. For the same period, voters have been barraged by an orchestrated campaign of misleading information, rumors about swamps, traffic, water and petroleum by a gaggle of professional spin doctors.
Well, the naysayers and their well-funded backers, have managed to scare enough parents and concerned citizens into saying no to Ippoliti –after saying Yes to its purchase. This feat of double think consigns the elementary children and middle school children of Ridgefield to portables, double sessions, crowded halls, and few prospects of good facilities anytime in the next 3 years. As of tonight, it is no longer a just a matter of how soon the town will build a middle school for Ridgefield, it's now a matter of how to educate and accommodate our entire school population—and the problem just keeps getting bigger and bigger. (Photo, right: Democratic leaders Mary Miller, Rudy Marconi, Rob Miller, and Barbara Manners discuss next steps to develop a new middle school solution for Ridgefield's children.)
Watching the votes come in tonight, Town officials, the Superintendent of Schools, Board of Education members, and citizens from READ gathered at the Veteran's Park School in disbelief. VP was a NO, but close…Yanity was heavily No…High School Yes…but not wide enough…the absentee ballots…heavily No. Shock…no, speechlessness, set in… a few people cried.
All of the town officials,--Republicans and Democrats, including First Selectman Abe Morelli (photo, left), spoke about the difficulties confronting the school children of Ridgefield and the space crisis at every level. Selectwoman Barbara Manners offered a pro-active note, " The Board of Education wants a 5/6 middle school and we need it. It is our job to find the spot for it. There are none as good as Ippoliti, but we will work out a site for a new school".
In the meantime, Superintendant of Schools, Dr. Ralph Wallace, facing overcrowding at every grade level, and recognizing that children need solutions today, stoically declared, "We will accommodate them."
How remains to be seen.
The key sentiment expressed tonight was, "Why?" and "What do we do next?" In the end it is leadership which the Town needs to move quickly on the next solution for the 5/6 middle school.
Mary Pat Devine and Kitty Fischer, Democratic members of the Board of Education, offered that the next steps must be developed quickly and thoroughly. "Making do" just won't work for our children, or our town. "The entire community has lost tonight", said Kitty Fischer, "and we have to get going on the next solution". (Photo, right: voting was a family affair as these Ridgefielders cast their ballots at Veteran's Park School today.)
Town officials and citizens alike now face the challenge of selecting an alternate site for the new school. For detailed reviews, with map and photos, of the alternate sites studied by the School Site Selection Committee, click here.
Today's referendum was a petition-inspired effort to overturn an a previous defeat of the measure, in August, when less than 15% of registered voters turned out. Ridgefield Democrats have been leaders in urging the town to approve this referendum to get the badly needed lower middle school back on track.
Ridgefielders for Excellence in Academic Development (R.E.A.D.) conducted a day-long get-out-the-vote effort in support of the new school. Here (photo, left), Democratic education leader Mary Miller assists school board member Doug Orr in reminding a Ridgefielder to vote before 8:00 PM tonight.
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