Are 8th Grade Graduation Ceremonies Worth The Cost?

To the Editor:

In The Newtown Bee’s June 29 issue I read that the school board has had to make $1.9 million in budget cuts in order to satisfy the voting citizens of Newtown. Whatever position you take on the town budget, these must be difficult decisions. The schools in Newtown have many wonderful teachers and offer a great education to students willing to make the effort to learn.

I also read about the Middle School Moving-Up Ceremony in the June 29 issue. Some of the students were very successful and accomplished and certainly deserve recognition for their talent and diligence. It was fun to look at the photos and read the names of those who were recognized. Does anyone ever consider the expenditure of money for the Middle School Moving-Up Ceremony? It is held in the cavernous O’Neill Center at WCSU’s Westside Campus in Danbury. My own child was a participant in that magnificent solemnity several years ago and at the time I wondered why there was such a big to-do about completing eighth grade! I even missed work for it. Now that the Reed Intermediate School has reduced middle school to a two-year “sentence,” completing middle school is even less of a momentous achievement. Does the intermediate school also have a graduation ceremony at the O’Neill Center?

In recent months there have been references to renovations that are badly needed in the middle school. Why not use the money for maintaining the school rather than rent the O’Neill Center for a ceremony? The students have numerous activities that celebrate the end of middle school. The handful of higher achieving students and their parents could have an award ceremony in town at the middle school or the high school that would in no way be diminished by a smaller audience. A ceremony in a rented facility with every student and his or her family attending seems absurd, out of proportion and extravagant for the completion of eighth grade.

Perhaps the school administrators think that the parents expect it and as parents we feel obligated to attend it. At our house we are elated to see every school year end. We have a ceremony called: “Taking the Homework to be Recycled at the Landfill” and it is very inspiring. If there is no cost to use the O’Neill Center for eighth grade graduation, the word is out! See if you can get it for your next birthday party! Even if the expense of renting the O’Neill Center is an insignificant sum to the school board, it might be put to better use for the good of the middle school or other school facilities that may be affected by the budget cuts.

Nancy Cullen

10 Orchard Hill Road, Newtown                                                                     July 2, 2007