To the editor:
Regardless of the vote, I move that our next annual Town Meeting include funding for citizen therapy. “Renovate Monument” has become a hot lightning rod for a wide range of community grievances, anger and distrust — some entirely justified, some misplaced. Ill-will has been fired off from both camps, and apparently everyone in town is either “selfish” or “un-American –- and it’s a sad state of affairs in our so-called Best Small Town in America.
I will vote “yes” to improve our aging school, and to protect my taxes from unpredictable, unstable consequences of delayed fixes. I’m willing to pitch in $218 per year to create a safe, healthy and collaborative learning environment for our district’s teachers and students. I surely support the $23.2 million in school construction funds that the state is ready to send our way. My support is not a ringing, wild endorsement: the state has an extraordinary amount of control over what we can do with their (our) money — a key cost factor — which is very troubling.
But beyond the costs of yes and no, there is another risk: a second “no” vote against this project will force a third go-round on a project that has consumed our district’s educational leadership for far too long in a particularly hostile, divisive debate. The $51.2 million question: Will our educators — the current ones, the ones who bring strength to our district — hang in there for another round at bat?
We have a progressive superintendent, a terrific high school principal, a stable and dedicated school committee. They strive to balance the “courageous learning” mission of Monument with the unrelenting demands of standardized testing and funding limits. They have built a creative, responsive and inclusive high school that pushes conventional norms and achieves a four-year graduation rate of well over 90 percent. They place equal value on vocational and college-bound kids. This work takes individual and team leadership, professional chemistry, commitment and endurance under the best of circumstances — even without the defense of a common-sense renovation job. This cohesiveness is rare in a rural, middle-class school district with middle-class financial constraints. I would know nothing of this if not for the learning experiences of my two sons – now graduates – who benefitted remarkably from this particular leadership team and the school culture they foster.
Aside from concerns over administrative retention, I’d love to know this: what educational priorities, initiatives and projects have been sidelined, back-burnered or delayed because of this project? Will our district backslide educationally if our educators are drafted into yet another round of construction advocacy? I would rather be hearing about district efforts to improve sub-par teachers (we have them, trust me), develop more innovative programs and enriching the teaching and learning experience.
The notion that “if we build it, they will come” is wrong. Regardless of our legitimate upset over inequities in school choice and tuition rates, Monument Mountain is already a regional magnet school. New families have moved here from New York, Long Island and other urban areas, and they are not coming for our district’s shiny buildings. They are coming here for our quality education. These families are one reason that our particular corner of the county has a relatively stable population projection, according to two professional studies of this hot-button issue. However, we may lose our allure as an education destination if we become mired in yet another renovation battle.
Our local officials and educators have ushered this project forward to the best of their ability through a complex, imperfect maze of bureaucracy. I question the stamina of our community to weather another half-decade or more in crafting a slightly varied project that will cost much more on the next go round — not just in money, but, possibly in educational strength.
Sadly, the debate over our schools has been boiled down to divisive issues of whom we should believe, who is lying, who’s got the best numbers, who has the better alternative. I choose to put my faith in our educators with our high school building – as I put my faith in them with my kids’ educations. Beyond that, I hope that community members and town officials who have sliced and diced the numbers, and who have promised to address our town’s taxation system, will follow through. We taxpayers must push and support our state and local officials on these next steps — to ease the education cost burden on Great Barrington taxpayers.
Thankfully, there is one thing our community agrees on: our schools deliver on education for many, many students. This is no accident. It’s because we have strong leaders. Let’s keep them. Let’s return them to their day jobs on Nov. 5.
Ellen Lahr
Housatonic
Ellen G. Lahr is a resident of Housatonic. Her two sons graduated from Monument during the past five years.
