No Vision For Newtown

To the Editor:

Congratulations Mr Rosenthal. Under your inspired leadership, Newtown High School (NHS) is on the verge of being placed on probation. If this were to occur, NHS would join only five other schools in Connecticut accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) that are currently on probation. There are 132 secondary schools accredited by NEASC that have avoided this dubious distinction. Furthermore, the latest round of proposed budget cuts will have a ripple effect throughout our entire public school system. For example, the number of children in some of our elementary school classrooms may have to be increased and the quality of the education that our youngest students receive will likely suffer.

As first selectman, you had the ability to set the tone of the debate over the school budget. You could have used this opportunity to explain to the residents of Newtown how important it is to maintain a well-regarded and competitive school system; how devastating a high school on probation would be to the perception of our town; that we face potentially the same problem the residents of Bethel have faced — their high school on probation and their property values languishing behind those of surrounding towns. Your failure to do so indicates that either you don’t care or you’re in denial. Neither possibility is very flattering.

The group that has voted down prior budget proposals is well-motivated and organized and the elected officials that are beholden to them, of which you are the most prominent, Mr Rosenthal, claim that their goal is to keep Newtown “affordable.” If you persist in supporting these budget cuts, you may well achieve your goal of keeping Newtown “affordable”; it just won’t be very desirable. An “affordable” town with a mediocre school system isn’t a very attractive option to potential home purchasers and as interest in our town declines, so will our property values.

Anyone who is familiar with the debates over the Fairfield Hills Master Plan and the current budget recognize that Mr Rosenthal and his political allies have no real vision for Newtown. They view Newtown through sepia-tinted glasses; enamored with the idea that Newtown could and should remain and be governed like the quaint little town it was 30 years ago. They are certainly a nostalgic bunch, but not very realistic or innovative or up to the challenges we face today.

For any town to be successful, to prosper and grow, its vision must be forward-looking. If the desire to keep Newtown “affordable” results in a high school on probation and a public school system in decline, we will lose something more precious than our ability to compete with school systems in Redding, Easton, and Ridgefield. We will have saddled our children not only with a substandard education but with the knowledge that their parents and neighbors had the opportunity to provide them with the type of education that would make them productive and well-rounded citizens and failed to do so.

Robert Murray

19 Farm Meadow Road, Newtown                              May 24, 2006