Dear Editor:
As a resident and taxpayer of the Berlin School District I am deeply troubled by what I’ve been witnessing at the BOE Buildings workshop meetings. I was invited to tour the Berlin Elementary School with the BOE and the Architects Monday night, September 8, and what I saw was disastrous, and I don’t know how we got to this point.
First, the taxpayers need to know that they are going to be asked very soon to support a flawed rehabilitation plan for the Berlin Elementary School. We are going to be asked to support a plan that only addresses 50-75 % of the building issues but costs upwards of 15 million dollars. This School Board was presented many options by the blue ribbon committee they formed [the LRPC] two years ago, and they seem to be dismissing all of the options. The only thing that the BOE agrees on is that the “status quo” could not be maintained. As Chairman of the Facilities and Transportation committee of the LRPC, I know we clearly gave them options that are not being explored. After we presented all the options this School Board [minus a few members] buried their heads in the sand and cried that the only option that made economic sense was to consolidate all the elementary schools and students into one school in Berlin, close and sell off the other buildings and use the savings to pay for the Berlin rehabilitation project. If that were only the truth. As the BOE explores all the problems and looks over all the repairs they are missing the point. The point is that we need to find new ways to educate our children. We need to add to the classroom experience by upgrading materials and resources for the teachers and students;. One improvement would be by adding a certified librarian/media instructor to the BES and putting in place new strategies to reach every learner. I was so disheartened by the BES library facilities. I now have a better understanding why the students don’t achieve their full potential. I have never seen such a mismanaged resource in all my days. The BOE should be ashamed to allow students to go there.
We as taxpayers spend over $14,900 per child to educate our children in the BCSD. That’s over 18 million dollars a year, for what? At that price I think that we should be able to send all our children to private school and get a first class education. I now understand why some of my friends are taking their children out of this school district. They tell me that the unhealthy conditions in Berlin, the longer commute and the substandard education that their children will be receiving in Berlin during the consolidation and rehabilitation project were major factors. But they told me more. They don’t want larger class sizes for elementary students, and they are less than impressed with the extracurricular activities, sports and educational programs that this district offers.
I want to commend those teachers and a few administrators that over the years put up with all the politics and mismanagement that this school district has put them through. Good teachers can only go so far. We have had so many administrators come and go that it’s like a revolving door in these schools. Without some sort of consistent leadership it’s hard to have a good team of administrators all working together to make a better environment for our children. The leadership of this school district should flow from the school board to the superintendent and then to the building administrators. We have an interim-superintendent, who only rests on her past work to guide her, who has no clue what the Berlin School District really needs, and she has no long term commitment to the District, students, teachers, staff or the taxpayers. I find it troubling that this person will be leading us through one of the most dramatic changes that this school district has ever seen.
There are so many questions to be answered and so few facts that I as a voter and taxpayer am unable to support the course that the BOE is taking. I will be voting for our children but not for this building project. We need to spend our taxpayers money wisely and where we can have the best return for our investment because that’s what it is, a long term investment in not only my children’s future but the next generation of students who are being born today whose parents will no doubt have greater expectations for their children. I don’t see how any of these plans will be able to deliver on those expectations.
Andrew Zlotnick
Petersburgh