First let me start off that is my personal opinion only and does not
reflect the opinion(s) of any member of the Board of Education
The Bethany
BOE has asked that an armed guard be hired to protect our school, and
specifically mentioned that is was the protection for the children in the
down because of health and safety issues with the buildings . In fact, one of
the board members stated we are “1 wheelchair away from a catastrophe.” This
was why the BOE proposed an 8 room addition, which if everything goes as they
hope, could be in use in about 3 -4 years and allow the annexes to finally be
closed
End of story..or is it?
Why can't they close the annexes sooner?
Because there are not 8 rooms available in the main building to house the
current 5th and 6th grades. That is true. But what about closing 1 building?
That COULD be accomplished now. And herein lies the paradox.
If they close 1
building now, there is the chance it could derail plans for a new addition in
the future. And so it was decided the students will stay in both annexes.
However ,There IS a way to close 1 annex and bring in about half of the 150
children now.
First, take the room currently used for Spanish, and have
Spanish go class to class on a cart is it was previously . Second, Health as a
subject will not exist next year - there is the second room Third, the current
third grade is only 64 children,which are divided into 4 classes. if you make 3
classes, it frees up an additional room. That opens up 3 classes. Other ideas
were suggested to free a fourth room, but like the previous 3, all were
disregarded.
The reasons cited were that taking Spanish out of its own room
would decrease the “flair” students receive from Spanish. Crowding children into
larger class sizes can decrease their learning, so we were told THAT was not an
option
The question that needs to be asked is if the “flair” our children
receive once every 3 days from Spanish is more important than removing children
from the unsafe and unhealthy annexes now? Why is it okay to have crowded
kindergarten, 5th and 6th grades at 20+ kids per class, but not 3rd grade?
Particularly if it means 70+ children can come into the main building now? Why
is it so important that we have to build a new 8 room addition to close those
annexes as soon as possible, but not so important that Spanish or Health be
required to give up their rooms? Do you see the paradox? Depending on the
question, the annexes are either so horrible or not so bad that we can wait
until a new building is built to close them. So which is it? Horrible or not so
horrible Is the Board worried that this temporary solution may harm the chances
of success for their ultimate goal?
Why not do this now and not worry about
how it affects the future of the proposed addition? These should be 2 separate
issues. Why not ask the parents which is more important to them – getting their
kids out of the annex now, or having Spanish and Health have dedicated rooms?
If the annexes are as unsafe as claimed, then we need to do what’s right for our
children. Close 1 annex now.
