The Town Needs To Work Together

To the Editor:

Our high school is overcrowded today — 119 students over capacity. It has already affected the quality of our children’s education — just ask students, teachers, and parents. NEASC has put the school on warning and has threatened probation.

Prowda’s projections show us at 240 over capacity in seven years, and 173 over capacity in ten. What’s scary about Prowda’s projections is he does not take into account the fact that Newtown has thousands of acres of buildable land — unlike all of the nearby towns. Bothwell’s projections include real estate, and his high projection in ten years takes us to 410 over today’s capacity.

Graduation requirements will likely increase, which has the effect of increasing the overcrowding. These requirements will have a real effect; for example, today more than ten percent of our students never take a science lab course. In 2011, they may need to take science labs for three years. That requires space.

We cannot afford to underbuild. The expansion plans support capacity for 422 more students than today’s facility. This seems like a reasonable target for the 20 years we will be paying for this facility.

We also can’t afford to delay. Newtown has already paid $2.75 million in architect fees. If we decide to create another proposal, or if a referendum on the expansion fails to pass in April, we lose $2.75 million and one year of building (by state statute), and construction costs will inevitably go up. It also shifts the building to 2009-2010 — when the largest class ever (today’s seventh grade) reaches high school.

There have been numerous studies done over the last several years. The design is done. The state has approved it (including a $12 million grant). The Board of Education has approved it. The finance board has approved it so far. The Legislative Council has approved it so far. In each case, the details of the expansion were presented and discussed. And then, Monday night, Paul Mangiafico and Herb Rosenthal decided to stop the project, before the public got a chance to vote on it. They didn’t ask the Superintendent or Board of Education to participate. They didn’t ask for information. Based on the article in The Bee, they obviously had some bad information (like the expected tax increase). Our high school students are not a political football. We can’t afford this. This town needs to work together to build a better Newtown for us and our children, now.

Thomas J. Bittman

17 Rose Lane, Sandy Hook                                           March 20, 2008