19 February, 2011
To the Editor:
As a mother who has had two of her three sons attend Center School , I was involved as a parent volunteer and spent many an hour inside the building, never really putting much thought to the infrastructure of the building , just focusing on the education and warmth my children received. I love that building and often expressed to others my fondness for its "old charm" look and feel. After having recently gone on a tour of the building, my thinking on its fitness as a place of learning has changed drastically. Before you vote, I urge you all to take time to learn the severity of the problems that are associated with the current dwelling; and you will learn as I did. Here are just a few things I learned on the tour of the school that were very alarming to me as a mother and taxpayer
• Most of the building's defects cannot be seen, they are structural.
• Code violations are numerous.
• Curriculum call for ten stations, but most rooms at Center only have room for five stations. That is 50% less than what the guidelines call for.
• If someone used the photocopier when students are in a computer lesson, it blows a circuit and the computer must be restarted. Imagine this in your place of business for a second, think of the lost productivity and then apply that same thinking to children with half your attention span. Should Center School teachers and administrators be forced back to the stone age of purple ink mimeograph machines? Alternatively, should we get rid of the computer instruction?
• Teacher -student on-one one tutorials are often conducted in the heavily trafficked main foyer of the building or overcrowded office with minimal to no privacy. There is nowhere else to conduct these meetings.
A common misconception of building a new school is that it will only affect elementary age children. Not so. After the Fruit Street School is completed, districting will alleviate certain busing burdens allowing for later school start times. Numerous studies prove the benefits of adolescents starting school later. At the middle school benefits would include gaining back the space currently occupied by the preschool, which could be used for classrooms, project rooms, etc. Additionally, the cost savings in transportation could either be used to reduce the overall budget, or possibly used to support other goals of the strategic plan (e.g. foreign language or 1:1 at the HHS).
It’s time that we as a community do the right thing and fund a replacement for Center School for our next generation, just like we funded the wonderful Senior center for another generation.
The School Committee has been diligently working towards this change since 2002, and the time to execute is now. The MSBA funding to subsidize the Fruit Street project is an opportunity that cannot be left on the table. Change is not easy on any level and can be very emotional to some. I urge you to take a few moments to educate yourself on the all the benefits this school will create for the growing minds of Hopkinton.
Allison Murphy
