With the reality of school overcrowding setting in faster than the winter weather, the Board of Ed convened a public meeting tonight to listen to the ideas and concerns of the public. A large crowd of more than ninety people (not counting the BofE) turned out to toss in their two cents at the unusually early 6:00 pm session.
(Photo, right:
Linda Haynes spoke carefully and cogently about the changes she felt would
work for the next school project. My apologies to Ms. Haynes for flustering
her with the camera.)
In general, the tone of the meeting was cordial and speakers made a concerted effort to avoid the acrimony that had bedeviled the campaigns both for and against the November referendum. Here's a quick rundown on some of the more interesting comments, with apologies to those whose names may be spelled incorrectly:
As a parent of three kids in the Ridgefield system, Kay Audett reported she is extremely concerned about overcrowding. Aside from just the strain on the traditional classroom activities, she sees the art, music and sports programs suffering from the overcrowding. Her answer: she felt it would be useful to keep the 5th and 6th grades in the elementary schools and then expand the Middle School.
(Photo, left:
Carl Fortchesky got a round of applause for his brief but effective comments.
More than 90 people jammed into the conference room at the Town Hall Annex.)
Ms. Jean Juno then spoke about her plans for her very young family. She has had the pleasure of living in Ridgefield, having to move away, and then being able to come back. But she reports she is shocked by the inability of the town to solve the overcrowding. It's more than just the number of kids in a classroom, too: the lack of a full day kindergarten and the absence of a "challenge" program for the academically gifted are major deficiencies. Unwilling to risk her child's education by staying in Ridgefield, she says poor schools will ultimately reflect in lower housing values.
A resident for twenty two years, Peter Genoni courageously tackled the pro-school contingent and spoke eloquently about the burden that new schools and escalating school budgets can inflcit on homeowners. His taxes have quadrupled in the two decades, he said, but with no dramatic improvement in test scores of other measures of effectiveness. He cited the demand for smaller class sizes as one type of expense with litte benefit to show for it: about 30 seconds per student per class, he computed. As for property values, "Not only is education part of the equation, but so is the tax rate," he said, and blamed the demand for more expensive schools on people with youngesters in the school system. "Look to yourselves," he urged, "for the answer [to your child's education] rather than the easier answer of spending somebody else's money."
The next speaker is a parent and a teacher, Linda Haynes. She spoke to a number of issues, but her most telling comment was to address the issue of class size: "Class size does make a huge difference," she said. As a frustrated parent and an education professional, she was disturbed by the inability of the town to solve the overcrowding issue. "It's hard to believe we're back at square one all over again," she concluded.
The co-president of the East Ridge Middle School PTA, Marilyn Carroll, spoke eloquently in her private capacity as a parent. She raised five issues. First, the town needs to select the top site locations and seriously and thoroughly evaluate them with full costing data, including Prospect Ridge, the Old High School, the Rec Center, and so on. Next, the Board needs to revisit the 5/6 configuration and decide if -- given the problems it seems to be causing -- that is the best plan for this town at this time. She urged the town to publish the plans for a short-term fix: portables, redistricting, program changes, whatever, and to also publish a medium-term master plan for the school system's physical plant, such as rebuilding the elementary schools. Lastly, she urged everyone to desist from the personal attacks which so demonized the Rt 35 referendum campaigns. Well-spoken and well-organized, Ms. Carroll got a warm round of applause for her appeal to civility.
Representing the Coalition of Concerned Citizens, John DeLutio then spoke. While asserting his opposition to the Rt. 35 site was only predicated on flaws in the site itself and not the need for the new school, his first recommendation was to urge the Board to conduct a complete and thorough enrollment study to see if the school will be needed in the next few years. "The town population has been hovering around 22,000 people for nearly two decades," he claimed, "but the school enrollment has fluctuated from almost 6,000 to about 3,400 students. Let's not build a permanent edifice for a temporary problem." He also urged support for the neighborhood school concept -- smaller schools, scattered around town. "Grade 5 is to early to be going into a big school," he suggested. Lastly, he urged prudence and deliberation. "Let's not go skating ahead too fast," he noted, "We've wasted $12 million and three years by rushing [into mistakes]."
(Photo, right:
Charlie Barr challenged the Coalition of Concerned Citizens.)
Charlie Barr then challenged Mr. DeLutio's comments. "I'm trying to make sense of the opposition to Eppoliti," he started. "They claim their opposition was only an objection to the site, but now they also are objecting to the enrollment forecasts, the traffic and the spending," he said. "I think I'd like to see a little more honesty in the discussions of the new school. More honesty and a lack of the slanderous literature will help this project move along."
Long-time resident Mike Venus spoke next, and urged the town to buy the Notre Dame school -- which he claimed would house 400 students -- plus sell both the Shadow Lake property and the Eppoliti property and use the funds to buy the subdivision on the old McKean farm, which would be a great spot for "a well-designed school."
(Photo, left:
Long-time public activist Joseph Heyman made several telling points.)
Joseph Heyman added that he felt the town should not plan for a school independently of the integrated needs of the whole town. Always eloquent and thought-provoking, Mr. Heyman also urged the town to get professional guidance on the development of the next plan, specifically to guide the proposed oversight committee.
Concerned about the escalating costs of education, long-time resident Marty Karr spoke of the need to move away from neighborhood schools and to centralize educational facilities for economies of scale in administration. "We should look at consolidation," he said, "not fragmentation." He felt the solution was to return to the K-6 configuration at the elementary schools, add the Notre Dame school as another elementary school, and expand the current Middle School as a 7-8 facility. "A few portable classrooms will solve this problem," he concluded.
Then the inimitable Bill Allen took the floor and spoke to two issues: the quick and easy conversion of the Rec Center into an elementary school, and the elimination of the house system at East Ridge. "Parks and Rec is a losing proposition," he said, "we're dumping money into it every year, and 25% of the users are from New York."
Paul Roche, Director of Parks and Rec for the town, happened to be in the audience. "The Rec center is profitable for the town, generating about $50,000 in profits every year." He also corrected Mr. Allen, in that only about 10% of the Rec Center users are non-residents.
Speaking from the back of the over-crowded and over-heated room, Carl Fortchesky spoke vigorously against the reactionary comments of some speakers. "The world is moving forward," he said, "and anybody who thinks we can go back to 32 kids in a class is thinking backward." His terse but pointed comments won him one of the few moments of applause on the evening.
One of the last speakers of the night, before the Chair opened the meeting up to rebuttals and further commentary, was from Jim Lane. "What we have just voted down would cost the average Ridgefield home about $300-400 a year to solve the problem forever." After comparing Ridgefield schools and taxes to other towns, especially in New York, Mr. Lane said he "was surprised to find some people thought this was a major issue."
By 7:15 or so, the meeting was going into a round of rebuttals, after which the standard BofE meeting begin. Overall, the discussion was vigorous, cordial, and most attendees were pleased the BofE had taken the time to get the issues on the table. While the debate may have been less informative than one might have hoped, it is always instructional to hear other ideas and see if public policy can be developed which will be sensitive to all of the fears, hopes, attitudes and assumptions.
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