To the Editor:

We are Newtown. And I like to imagine a parade of students from all over town, walking together to celebrate the new Sandy Hook School on opening day in 2016. Not everyone will be able to join that march, for different reasons we all must respect, but my family will be there, walking the road together to our son’s beloved school. We plan to walk there from Hawley School, a sister-school to Sandy Hook, where we have found another inspiring community in which our kindergartner has flourished. He’s not anxious about ending the school year, because, as he says, “I will see my old teachers all the time in the halls.”

That kind of historical and physical continuity was essential to my oldest son at Sandy Hook, and I believe it is still necessary for students in all the sister-schools that make-up our wonderful elementary system. It is the excellence and success of these schools—their intellectual rigor and emotional support—that will make Newtown a destination for new families—and new companies and commercial ventures. Outstanding schools and a strong sense of community drive economic growth in Newtown.

Elementary schools are the heart and soul of our identity as a community. They are different from other schools in the system. They nurture our youngest children and build relations among neighbors, shaping the identity of each section of our town. Sandy Hook, Middle Gate, Head of Meadow, Hawley: the unique history of our town—a coalition of villages—is based around our elementary schools. These sister schools should, like a family, work together for the common good. And at this juncture in our history, they, we should be focusing on one thing: celebrating the opening of Sandy Hook School in 2016.

That is not the case. Instead, the proposal to close one of these sister-schools has divided parents, caused deep hurt among friends, threatened one of the cherished institutions that have helped Newtown heal and prosper. The hasty announcement of this plan at the end of the school year, the lack of sustained public debate about the basis of the decision (enrollment numbers, grand list and tax outcomes, savings or potential costs), and the largely under-estimated emotional costs of even making this proposal at this time all suggest it is too soon to close an elementary school in Newtown. Too many questions remain. The long-term (and short-term) costs of making a mistake are too high. The potential reward (itself under debate) does not justify the risk.

Finally, the decision to take such a risk should not rest on one BOE meeting next Tuesday (just weeks after the announcement). I urge everyone to attend—but the outcome should not be influenced by attendance. We all need more time to assess the risk of closing a historic elementary school that has served generations of Newtowners so well. Let’s change our focus now: let’s all start planning the celebration of Sandy Hook School in 2016.

Dr Charles Baraw

9 Georges Hill Road, Newtown                   June 17, 2015