Debunking School Propaganda

To the Editor:

Debunking the school propaganda regarding the need to spend $41 million for a new high school addition.

The school’s flyers say:

“We will lose Accreditation.” This is false. NEASC is a political association of principals and superintendents, etc. They are not a state regulatory agency. No Connecticut school ever lost accreditation by this political organization. This was even admitted by the head of NEASC in a recent Newtown Bee article, dated April 4 [“School Officials See Options If NHS Expansion is Rejected”].

NEASC could place NHS on probation — hurting college admissions. Also again, a former director of admissions at West Point told me that is not what universities look at. They look at class rank, leadership, SATs and what your teachers have to say.

We will lose $2.75 million in design fees. This is false. We paid for and own the design. And no one is saying to throw the plans out and start again. For a small fee, the same architect would modify these plans.

Only eight new classrooms of 22 students each equals 176 students versus the current overcrowding of 166 students. And 18 new classrooms plus four new labs and a new track for $34 million more than addresses future growth. Our country’s growth rate does not support the BOE’s growth projections that require 17 percent more spending. Note: The US birth rate is down to 1.5 per family, not the 2.1 births per family needed to sustain Social Security.

Cutting the school budget $900,000 necessitates layoffs of teachers. False again. Forget the number. Look at the percentage cut. The cut by selectmen was only 1.34 percent of a $66,931,000 dollar budget. This cut could be handled by cutting periodicals, seminars, and shifting when you pay bills by 30 days or so. Such small cuts should not force cuts of teachers or technology. But these threats are standard practice by school officials. This tactic holds our kids hostage so school officials can maximize spending.

Class Size. Yes, class size is important, but it is most important at kindergarten and the first four grades. Everyone gets in a lather about high school, but our school superintendent, as well as our selectmen and your grandparents, all went to school with 30 to 40 students per class and all did just fine. When the students go to college in the first two years they will often have classes of 50, 60, or even 100 students. So in some sense, a class of 25 or 26 at the high school level is not terrible. In fact, it is good preparation for college.

Check out this fact regarding John Reed school (which I voted for). We could have built the same school (the exact square footage) for a few million less. What cost so much is that we have both full air-conditioning and all the associated duct work, we could have saved big time. But guess who did not want to save money? The school officials.

Realize that the only thing parents and taxpayers have control over is the final spending number. Because once it is approved, the schools have no real oversight and accountability. They in fact can move the money around and spend it wherever they want.

Voting No and demanding a reasonable plan solves the overcrowding and also sets a realistic future growth by keeping Newtown affordable for all, not just a select few.

Daniel Kormanik

85 Great Ring Road, Sandy Hook                                                                   April 15, 2008

(Editor’s note: The Bee article referenced in this letter quoted a NEASC deputy director who said that in her experience, no Connecticut school had lost accreditation because of overcrowding. Also, a longer version of this letter has been circulated in town under the words “Editor The Newtown Bee.” Neither The Bee nor its editor had anything to do with its creation or distribution.)