A Wake Up Call To The Town

To the Editor:

The report that was just issued by the Commission on Public Secondary Schools of NEASC should be a wake up call to the town. If you haven’t read about it in last week’s Bee article, the Newtown High School has been put on warning. I think it’s a disgrace that there is a concern “regarding the inadequate and inconsistent level of funding to provide and maintain the school’s programs and services, staffing levels, technology, facilities, space and equipment...”

In order to fix these problems, most resources will now be given to the high school as top priority to get the school off the warning list by next year. All this to just get the high school to meet a minimum standard! This should not be acceptable to any reasonable person who values a quality education for their child or any reasonable person who understands the importance of education for children! This means that our other Newtown schools will not get the funding they need. It’s a domino effect. Have you ever worked for a company in a department where they cut the budget? You ended up having to do more work, later hours, type your own letters, no raise etc. We’ve all experienced that and it stinks. The school budget is the same scenario, except hundreds of children are the unfortunate victims of this town’s short-sightedness.

Moving into a town that has no tax base other than residential property owners comes with a big responsibility. We have to fund the town! Taxes will go up every year and they will be high. We understood that five years ago when we moved here. We came here because we believed education was the top priority in the town, and our agent told us the town always voted Yes for education. Well that certainly turned out to be not true. If we were looking today, Newtown would not have been on our list and several other people who I’ve spoken to have shared the same sentiments. That’s a shame because I’m sure there are others who feel the same way. Eventually Newtown will be a mediocre school system and our property values will go down. Saving a few bucks on our yearly taxes is drop in the bucket when you want top dollar for the most important investment the average person makes in their life come house-selling time. Saving a few bucks on property taxes is a drop in the bucket come college-searching time and your child doesn’t measure up to the competition of their peers to the college of their choice!

That said, go vote on Tuesday, May 30. Vote Yes. Don’t worry about your taxes going up. Worry about your kids’ education! We need to pass this budget now.

Linda Watson

51 High Rock Road, Sandy Hook                                   May 24, 2006