The Not-So-Secret Agenda to Commingle Hurlbutt Elementary School with Town Space Continues Ready to start your holiday break tomorrow? Great! It would be easier if you were too preoccupied to catch the meeting of the Board of Selectmen at 2pm TOMORROW, MONDAY, DECEMBER 22nd, to discuss the Towns newest request to occupy Hurlbutts North House building. AGAIN. The March to carve up (and in my opinion, eliminate) Hurlbutt began in September of 2012 when the District announced that the decision had been made to give HES North House to the town. Met by strong parent outcry, the process was slowed to allow parents to express their opinion. Unprecedented numbers spoke against the ceding of North House citing concerns from bogus declining enrollment numbers, to safety concerns, to crowded classrooms. After Newtown, Dr. Palmer declared that she could not in good conscience move forward with the plan to mix town offices and school children, and told a cheering, standing room only BOE meeting on December 17, 2012, that the idea was tabled indefinitely. Yet, just weeks later, in June 2013, the District contracted with architects to explore that very option. Once again, parent outcry was fierce. More importantly, the very architects employed by the District recommended that giving North House to the Town is an untenable option. It was declared off the table by the BOE Facilities committee chairman to another packed BOE meeting last year. Furthermore, parents investigated and collected documentary evidence from local, state and national experts (including the Department of Homeland Security) declaring the commingling of School and a Town space to be unsafe. Ignoring that evidence, the District gave most of the South House to the Senior Center, including the old gymnasium, or multi-purpose room. (North House is where the remaining gymnasium is located. Hurlbutt has no auditorium for school-wide gatherings.) And now, armed with an email to the BOE members from the Superintendent dated February 13, 2014, entitled My Vision for moving forward, where Dr. Palmer discusses her preference to take North House offline within five years, the march continues to do: that which parents oppose, that which local police and the US Department of Homeland Security advise against, that which only the BOS and the BOE have the power to do: carve up our elementary school and put public offices on school property. You can attend tomorrows meeting to (yet AGAIN) voice your opinion. (It wasnt in the Hurlbutt Buzz, so dont feel bad for not clearing your schedule to be there.) You can email the BOS and the BOE to tell them to stop this: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] You can watch this page and get ready to build a new, student-oriented BOE when several seats are up for re-election this Fall. But, You can not sit this one out. Happy Holidays.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 03:38:23 +0000
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